H.B. 2 and H.B. 142 remain shameful and discriminatory attacks on LGBT people that should never have been signed into law. But today under a proposed consent decree, or legal agreement, North Carolina would finally affirm the right of transgender people to use facilities that match their gender.
Today we announced a proposed agreement in our legal challenge to House Bill 142, the anti-LGBT law that replaced House Bill 2 earlier this year. Under the proposed agreement, agreed to by Governor Roy Cooper and Attorney General Josh Stein, transgender people in North Carolina will not be barred from using public restrooms and other facilities that match their gender identity.
As Joaquín Carcaño, a transgender man who is the lead plaintiff in the case put it, “Nothing can make up for the cruel and senseless attacks transgender people have faced in North Carolina, but I am hopeful that the court will agree to clarify the law so that we can live our lives in less fear."
The work of fully protecting LGBT people from discrimination across North Carolina is far from over, however, and we will continue fighting to advance equality and hold all North Carolina officials accountable. H.B. 142 still prevents cities from passing any protections for employment discrimination or discrimination by places of public accommodation – for LGBT people or anyone – until December 2020. But if entered, the consent decree would alleviate some of the sweeping harms that vulnerable transgender North Carolinians suffered from the H.B. 2 and H.B. 142 saga.