If you thought “Don’t ask, don’t tell” was an ambiguous policy, try understanding the rules affecting transgenders. Until this past March, a transgender person could walk into most any bathroom in the state without drawing attention, providing that he or she went into a private stall. We should have left well enough alone. Unfortunately the crusading mayor of Charlotte decided to politicize the issue by passing an ordinance that would have required all private businesses to accommodate transgenders who wanted to use the bathroom of the gender to which they identified. In doing so, Charlotte City Council superseded its authority under the state constitution.
That illegal ordinance forced the General Assembly to act, and act fast. Given only a matter of days to respond before the Queen City law went into effect, Republican legislators drafted what became known as House Bill 2, or HB2. The bill was backed by House Republicans and supported by eleven House Democrats. A number of Senate Dems were also prepared to support HB2, so Senate leadership staged a walk-out, then claimed they were denied input. The walk-out was politically motivated and disingenuous.
Despite the uproar and objections, HB2 does not prevent private businesses from accommodating transgenders. It only requires transgenders to use state-owned bathrooms and facilities in accordance with their biological sex. The problem is that such a law is virtually unenforceable. Moreover, language in HB2 included extraneous provisions that had nothing to do with the Charlotte ordinance. For example, state employees who have a workplace grievance would have to take their case to Federal court. Meanwhile HB2 left out language that made it seem as though people of color and sexual orientation could be discriminated against. Clearly the wording in HB2 was ill-advised, but with no time to conduct public hearings before the Charlotte ordinance went into effect, Governor McCrory signed the bill into law.
Before the ink was dry on McCrory’s signature, HB2 ignited a firestorm of controversy in which performers cancelled concert tour dates in North Carolina, and businesses threatened to leave the state. And, just recently, the NBA announced it was moving its 2017 All-Star Game from Charlotte. Regardless of how odious HB2 is, nothing in the bill would prohibit transgender patrons from using the bathroom of their choice at the Charlotte Coliseum. Nevertheless, the NBA commissioner opted to make a political point. In the meantime, various courts as well as state and federal officials have weighed in on HB2, leaving government agencies, businesses, and sports venues in a quandary as to how to deal with HB2. But while McCrory awaited a definitive ruling from the high court, President Obama jumped into the fight and superseded his authority in the process.
For better or worse, HB2 had nothing to do with public education per se, yet the President sent a letter to 13,000 school superintendents, ordering them to accommodate transgender students or else face the loss of federal funding. It was a cruel threat which, if enforced would harm the students who could least afford the loss of federal support. McCrory was compelled to take legal action, and that caused Attorney General Loretta Lynch to double down on her boss’s threat, by claiming that HB2 violated the civil rights of students under provisions of Titles VII and IX.
Apparently Ms. Lynch hadn’t read either regulation. Title VII deals with discriminatory employment practices, not school bathrooms or locker rooms. It also does not extend protections to anyone who merely “identifies” with a particular race, color, religion, or gender. HB2 also does not violate Title IX, a law enacted in 1972 to ensure that female students would have access to educational and athletic programs on par with those of male students. In fact, Title IX lists ten specific criteria for determining if equal treatment exists among the sexes. Criteria number 7 deals with locker rooms, showers and bathrooms in public schools, and defines them as “competitive facilities”. Applying HB2 to Title IX, that means a transgender student is only guaranteed an “equal” facility, not the same shower as a student whose biological gender is one with which the transgender student “identifies”.
It’s no wonder that Judge Jeanie Pirro said, “The White House does not have the force of law. They cannot force the schools to do this. This is a local issue. This is a state issue. This is not about discrimination, it’s about accommodating students”.
Last week, a federal judge in Texas agreed with Pirro. U.S. District Court Judge Reed O’Connor blocked Obama’s misguided threats to schools, by ruling that Title IX “is not ambiguous about sex being defined as the biological and anatomical differences between male and female students as determined at their birth.”
Suddenly HB2 has gone from being a bill designed to invalidate a Charlotte ordinance, to an excuse for the White House to order that educators allow a high school boy who thinks he’s a girl, to shower with a high school girl who is biologically a girl.
Right now, everything is up in the air, but if Hillary Clinton leads a Democratic sweep in November, look for Roy Cooper and the General Assembly to repeal HB2. And look for Attorney General Lynch (who will undoubtedly retain her job under a Clinton administration) to resurrect Obama’s threat to schools, which will be upheld by a newly liberal Supreme Court.
HB2 opened up a can of worms that no one wanted or needed, yet it may end up affecting every school and business in the nation. I’m no fan of Donald Trump, but if you don’t want your daughter having to shower with a boy who identifies as a girl, then you better not vote for Hillary. And if you’re too embarrassed to admit that you’re voting for Trump, then just keep your vote to yourself. In other words, “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.”
Transgender Rules Still Up in the Air
If you thought “Don’t ask, don’t tell” was an ambiguous policy, try understanding the rules affecting transgenders. Until this past March, a transgender person could walk into most any bathroom in the state without drawing attention, providing that he or she went into a private stall. We should have left well enough alone. Unfortunately the crusading mayor of Charlotte decided to politicize the issue by passing an ordinance that would have required all private businesses to accommodate transgenders who wanted to use the bathroom of the gender to which they identified. In doing so, Charlotte City Council superseded its authority under the state constitution.
That illegal ordinance forced the General Assembly to act, and act fast. Given only a matter of days to respond before the Queen City law went into effect, Republican legislators drafted what became known as House Bill 2, or HB2. The bill was backed by House Republicans and supported by eleven House Democrats. A number of Senate Dems were also prepared to support HB2, so Senate leadership staged a walk-out, then claimed they were denied input. The walk-out was politically motivated and disingenuous.
Despite the uproar and objections, HB2 does not prevent private businesses from accommodating transgenders. It only requires transgenders to use state-owned bathrooms and facilities in accordance with their biological sex. The problem is that such a law is virtually unenforceable. Moreover, language in HB2 included extraneous provisions that had nothing to do with the Charlotte ordinance. For example, state employees who have a workplace grievance would have to take their case to Federal court. Meanwhile HB2 left out language that made it seem as though people of color and sexual orientation could be discriminated against. Clearly the wording in HB2 was ill-advised, but with no time to conduct public hearings before the Charlotte ordinance went into effect, Governor McCrory signed the bill into law.
Before the ink was dry on McCrory’s signature, HB2 ignited a firestorm of controversy in which performers cancelled concert tour dates in North Carolina, and businesses threatened to leave the state. And, just recently, the NBA announced it was moving its 2017 All-Star Game from Charlotte. Regardless of how odious HB2 is, nothing in the bill would prohibit transgender patrons from using the bathroom of their choice at the Charlotte Coliseum. Nevertheless, the NBA commissioner opted to make a political point. In the meantime, various courts as well as state and federal officials have weighed in on HB2, leaving government agencies, businesses, and sports venues in a quandary as to how to deal with HB2. But while McCrory awaited a definitive ruling from the high court, President Obama jumped into the fight and superseded his authority in the process.
For better or worse, HB2 had nothing to do with public education per se, yet the President sent a letter to 13,000 school superintendents, ordering them to accommodate transgender students or else face the loss of federal funding. It was a cruel threat which, if enforced would harm the students who could least afford the loss of federal support. McCrory was compelled to take legal action, and that caused Attorney General Loretta Lynch to double down on her boss’s threat, by claiming that HB2 violated the civil rights of students under provisions of Titles VII and IX.
Apparently Ms. Lynch hadn’t read either regulation. Title VII deals with discriminatory employment practices, not school bathrooms or locker rooms. It also does not extend protections to anyone who merely “identifies” with a particular race, color, religion, or gender. HB2 also does not violate Title IX, a law enacted in 1972 to ensure that female students would have access to educational and athletic programs on par with those of male students. In fact, Title IX lists ten specific criteria for determining if equal treatment exists among the sexes. Criteria number 7 deals with locker rooms, showers and bathrooms in public schools, and defines them as “competitive facilities”. Applying HB2 to Title IX, that means a transgender student is only guaranteed an “equal” facility, not the same shower as a student whose biological gender is one with which the transgender student “identifies”.
It’s no wonder that Judge Jeanie Pirro said, “The White House does not have the force of law. They cannot force the schools to do this. This is a local issue. This is a state issue. This is not about discrimination, it’s about accommodating students”.
Last week, a federal judge in Texas agreed with Pirro. U.S. District Court Judge Reed O’Connor blocked Obama’s misguided threats to schools, by ruling that Title IX “is not ambiguous about sex being defined as the biological and anatomical differences between male and female students as determined at their birth.”
Suddenly HB2 has gone from being a bill designed to invalidate a Charlotte ordinance, to an excuse for the White House to order that educators allow a high school boy who thinks he’s a girl, to shower with a high school girl who is biologically a girl.
Right now, everything is up in the air, but if Hillary Clinton leads a Democratic sweep in November, look for Roy Cooper and the General Assembly to repeal HB2. And look for Attorney General Lynch (who will undoubtedly retain her job under a Clinton administration) to resurrect Obama’s threat to schools, which will be upheld by a newly liberal Supreme Court.
HB2 opened up a can of worms that no one wanted or needed, yet it may end up affecting every school and business in the nation. I’m no fan of Donald Trump, but if you don’t want your daughter having to shower with a boy who identifies as a girl, then you better not vote for Hillary. And if you’re too embarrassed to admit that you’re voting for Trump, then just keep your vote to yourself. In other words, “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.”