LEXIE CANNES STATE OF TRANS — The North Carolina anti-transgender ‘Bathroom Bill’ saga has suddenly turned into a television legal drama miniseries. The actual drama unfolding in NC however, requires a suspension of disbelief previously unseen in a TV script.
The most historic moment on the Monday showdown occurred when Attorney General Loretta Lynch addressed transgender people: “We see you. We stand with you, and we will do everything we can to protect you going forward.”
A few hours prior the U.S. Department of Justice’s deadline for North Carolina to lift the transgender ban, Governor Pat McCrory filed a lawsuit in Federal district court to stop federal funds to the state from bring cut off. McCrory stated that the DOJ’s action was “a baseless and blatant overreach.”
McCrory: “Ultimately, I think it’s time for the U.S. Congress to bring clarity to our national anti-discrimination provisions. Right now, the Obama administration is bypassing Congress by attempting to rewrite the law.”
A few hours later, the Justice Department filed their own lawsuit against the state arguing that NC’s transgender ban forces “public agencies to follow a facially discriminatory policy.”
Attorney General Loretta Lynch: “They created state-sponsored discrimination against transgender individuals who simply seek to engage in the most private of functions in a place of safety and security. None of us can stand by when a state enters the business of legislating identity and insists that a person pretend to be something or someone that they are not.”
Lynch is a North Carolina native. More from Lynch on Monday:
“This is not the first time that we have seen discriminatory responses to historic moments of progress for our nation. We saw it in the Jim Crow laws that followed the Emancipation Proclamation. We saw it in the fears and widespread resistance to Brown v. Board of Education.
This action is about a great deal more than bathrooms. State-sanctioned discrimination never looks good and never works in hindsight. It was not so very long ago that states, including North Carolina, [had] other signs above restrooms, water fountains and on public accommodations, keeping people out based on a distinction without a difference. We have moved beyond those dark days, but not without a tremendous amount of pain and suffering and an ongoing fight to keep moving forward. Let us write a different story this time.”
Wow. Stay tuned.
My previous article on NC‘s transgender ban: https://lexiecannes.com/2016/04/08/bruce-springsteen-stands-up-for-transgender-people-pulls-rug-out-from-under-north-carolinas-governor/
Sources: News & Observer, New York Times and Politico.
Watch LEXIE CANNES right now: http://www.amazon.com/Lexie-Cannes-CourtneyODonnell/dp/B00KEYH3LQ
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Categories: Discrimination, Equality, Civil Rights, Judicial, Courts, Transgender, Transsexual, Trans
LEXIE CANNES STATE OF TRANS 
She’s my new hero.
Together, this world becomes a more just, and safe place for all of us sexual minorities.
Found posted on Facebook: Such a powerful, powerful statement [We see you . . .] As I was watching this, I could only imagine the effect it would have on some young trans kid who’s being bullied at school and thinks they’re all alone. With this statement, lunch, and the Obama Administration, literally saved lives today.
Also from Facebook:
Mara Keisling is the Executive Director of National Center for Transgender Equality. She eloquently summed up her response to the Attorney General’s statement this afternoon:
“The Attorney General’s powerful and historic remarks about why the Department of Justice is filing this lawsuit against the state of North Carolina shows what real leadership—both political and moral leadership—looks like. The Department has reaffirmed the simple truth that federal laws prohibiting sex discrimination protect transgender people in our daily lives. After months of hearing state legislators in North Carolina and around the country spread demeaning myths about transgender people, accuse us of being dangerous predators, and legislate state-sanctioned discrimination against us, it means a lot—to me, as a transgender woman, and everyone else who believes in equality—to hear our chief law enforcement officer tell the entire nation that transgender people are worthy of respect, that we do not endanger anyone, and that our government will do everything it can to enforce the law and protect us. It is time to recognize and respect transgender people for who we are.” – Mara Keisling
MS Lynch should run for president next term . So glad peace is coming to the trans community in NC.But it still won’t stop the hate down there.
I’ve been seeing (This is not our civil rights moment) & references to this not being our (I have a dream moment) & we’re getting to excited over something not all that important etc.. I’m sorry, not that important? not our civics moment? I see the outcome of this is going to set a legal precedence for the future, I think there might even be an attempt to question, or define our existence negativily. The world is going to be watching this if it actually goes that far, all NC has to do is repeal HB2 & the suits I imagine would end right here. My 2 cents