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Bathroom Discrimination Law Could Cost North Carolina $861 Million in Federal Funds (Updated)

Vanita Gupta, principal deputy assistant attorney general for the Justice Department, wrote in the department's letter that the law violates Title VII and Title IX of the Civil Rights Act.

Business leaders have largely opposed North Carolina's HB 2. Bathrooms via Shutterstock

UPDATE, May 5, 2:44 p.m.: House Speaker Tim Moore (R-Cleveland) said Thursday that North Carolina’s GOP-majority legislature won’t meet the U.S. Department of Justice’s deadline. HB2 will be enforced, according to the Charlotte Observer.

North Carolina’s bathroom discrimination law violates the Civil Rights Act of 1964, according to a letter sent Wednesday by the U.S. Department of Justice to Gov. Pat McCrory (R).

North Carolina GOP lawmakers convened a special session of the state legislature in March and passed HB 2, which overrode the nondiscrimination ordinance passed by the Charlotte City Council the month prior.

HB 2 prohibits local governments from implementing nondiscrimination ordinances, and requires that people use the restrooms in public schools or government buildings designated for the gender on their birth certificate, among other provisions.

Vanita Gupta, principal deputy assistant attorney general, wrote in the letter that that the GOP-backed law violates Title IX of the Civil Rights Act, which bars discrimination in education based on sex, as well as Title VII, which makes illegal employer discrimination.

North Carolina state officials have until Monday to confirm whether the state will comply with the Civil Rights Act or implement HB 2. At stake is $861 million in federal funding for public education, which the state would be in danger of losing if it implements the bathroom discrimination measure, according to the Charlotte Observer.

Opponents of the law filed a federal lawsuit in March, challenging the law on the grounds that the measure violates the U.S. Constitution.