Cooper: Transgender North Carolinans can use public bathrooms that match gender identity

Gov. Roy Cooper and Attorney General Josh Stein have proposed a solution for transgender North Carolinians who are prevented from using public restrooms that match their gender identity in legislation enacted to replace House Bill 2.

Cooper signed a non-discrimination Executive Order today for the state “to promote diversity and prohibit discrimination in government agencies and government contracts in an effort to make North Carolina a welcoming place to all.”

The order prohibits discrimination in his administration on the grounds of race, color, ethnicity, sex, National Guard or veteran status, sexual orientation, and gender identity or expression in employment, and it also requires those doing business with the state to do the same.

This means that transgender individuals will not be prohibited under HB142, which repealed HB2.

Cooper and other parties to the lawsuit over HB142 (formerly over HB2), Carcano v. Cooper, also submitted a consent decree to the court to resolve the dispute.

“Earlier this year, I said there was more work to do to protect against discrimination and make North Carolina a welcoming state,” Cooper said in an email. “Today’s executive order and consent decree are important steps toward fighting discrimination and enacting protections throughout state government and across our state.”

In a statement, the ACLU, which represents Joaquín Carcaño, a transgender man who is the lead plaintiff in the case, said some parties to the suit agreed to the decree because of the significant constitutional harms HB142 has caused transgender North Carolinians.

“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,” said Carcaño.

The original sponsor of HB2, Sen. Dan Bishop (R-Mecklenburg), was not so thrilled with the news. He tweeted simply, “truce torched” with a link to a Facebook rant.

“Gov. Cooper, Attorney General Josh Stein and the ACLU propose a court ‘settlement’ that would guarantee access to opposite-sex restrooms, showers and changing facilities, statewide. They have joined together to ask for a ‘consent decree’ from the federal court that would prohibit officials ‘to … block, deter or impede’ anyone from using any ‘public facilities’ ‘in accordance with … gender identity.,'” he wrote. “It is the epitome of a collusive settlement. And an attack on the rule of law worthy of … well, I won’t say who. So much for the truce. I warned it would be fleeting. For anyone still prosaic enough to have regard for rights to physiological privacy — to be ‘distressed’ by ‘[t]he thought of male genitalia in girls’ locker rooms,” as the Observer put it many months ago — call the Governor’s office. Same goes for the business interests who pleaded for the HB2 controversy to be quelled by good faith compromise.”

You can read more thoughts from Cooper here and more from the ACLU here.