The US Justice Department has filed a lawsuit against North Carolina for its law requiring that individuals must use the lavatory corresponding with their birth gender.
The Department claims that this legislation, which was implemented to protect the privacy and safety of citizens, is "discriminatory" to those who identify as transgender.
In response, North Carolina announced on Monday that it would sue the Justice Department for its attempt to nullify the legislation, named House Bill 2 (HB2).
The legislation has garnered worldwide attention in the midst of international debate over bathroom access.
What is House Bill 2?
HB2 is a response to a law passed in February in North Carolina, that expanded the state’s antidiscrimination laws so that those who identify as LGBT would be granted protection in places of public accommodation.
This included provision for those who identify as transgender to use the bathroom of their choice, and was due to go into effect in April.
However, on March 23, the state’s General Assembly passed HB2, and Republican governor Pat McCrory signed it into law on the same night. This protected the state’s existing law on antidiscrimination, which does not cover sexual orientation or gender identity, as "final word", repealing the ordinance. This means cities and local governments cannot expand "employment" or "public accommodation" protections to other characteristics, therefore individuals must use bathrooms corresponding to the gender on their birth certificate.
'Common-sense measure'
The justice department has warned that HB2, which was passed in March this year, violates civil rights protections against sex discrimination on the job and in education for those who identify as LGBT.
US attorney general Loretta Lynch claimed HB2 amounts to "state-sponsored discrimination" and that it has caused those who identify as transgender to suffer "emotional harm, mental anguish, distress, humiliation and indignity".
Gov. McCrory disagrees, and has described the law as common-sense measure which protects the privacy of those using bathrooms or locker rooms.
Republican lawmakers have no plans to repeal the law. Last week, the Senate leader, Phil Berger said that he was frustrated because "we have a federal administration that is so determined to push a radical social agenda that they would threaten" federal funding. "I just think the people should be frustrated and people should be angry."
The state believes that federal intervention was a “baseless and blatant overreach” of its power, arguing that the "overwhelming weight of legal authority recognises that transgender status is not a protected class under Title VII."
Boycotting of the state
North Carolina has faced a backlash for implementing HB2.
It may lose funding for state universities if it upholds the law, and several groups have boycotted the legislation, including PayPal, Bank of America, Deutsche Bank and Apple.
Musicians such as Bruce Springsteen, Pearl Jam, Ringo Starr and Demi Levato have cancelled concerts that were to be held in the state, and sports leagues including the NBA and the NCAA.
Rejection of objective binary
Commenting on the current bathroom debate, Dr Peter Jones of TruthXChange highlights how this issue is another example of society’s increasing rejection of an objective binary.
"Clear-headed theology reveals what is happening in our Left-leaning, progressive world. We are witnessing the reappearance of an old heresy, Gnosticism," he writes.
He also refers to a recent incident in the UK, where students in UK schools have demanded the installation of women’s sanitary bins in male toilets "for men who menstruate."
Dr Jones states that this in itself deconstructs transgender theory because it forces acknowledgement of biological factors determining gender:
"This is logical lunacy. The inevitable demand for urinals in women’s restrooms will surely follow. This demand actually affirms the opposite of what these progressives claim, forcing them to admit that women pretending to be men still need sanitary bins, because they menstruate, and men don’t."
'Symptom of a fallen world'
Writing for the Gospel Coalition, Trevin Wax expands on flaws in transgender theory, and in conclusion reminds us as Christians to reject the ideology but to love the individual.
"We believe God’s design of male and female to be structurally good, but we also understand gender dysphoria to be another symptom that reminds us we live in a fallen world," he said.
"For this reason, we must extend love and compassion to anyone who experiences this kind of distress, even as we reject society’s efforts to establish a fluid understanding of personhood."
Related Links:
Women’s Sanitary Bins & Bathroom Theology (TruthXChange)
7 Troubling Questions About Transgender Theories (The Gospel Coalition)
North Carolina and Justice Department set for legal battle over 'bathroom bill' (Guardian)
Obama administration sues North Carolina over anti-LGBT law (BBC)