Three Plaintiffs Join HB2 Lawsuit

The American Civil Liberties Union of North Carolina has announced that three new plaintiffs have joined the lawsuit that is currently challenging House Bill 2.

A release says that a transgender high school student and a married lesbian couple have joined the lawsuit being brought by the ACLU of North Carolina, ACLU and Lambda Legal, along with counsel from the firm of Jenner & Block.

The lawsuit claims that the controversial legislation is unconstitutional and puts North Carolina in jeopardy of losing more than $4 billion in federal Title IX funding because the law forces transgender individuals to use the bathroom and changing facility in public venues that match their birth certificate rather than their gender identity.

A release says a 17-year-old transgender female, who is a junior at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts High School in Winston – Salem, along with a married lesbian couple who live in Charlotte have joined the lawsuit.

The ACLU of North Carolina says the teenage student stays in the girl’s dorm and was using the girl’s restroom by her sophomore year, but now she will be forced to use the boy’s restroom under the new law.

The student, Hunter, is quoted in the release:

“I just want to be able to concentrate on school, grow as an artist, and have fun while doing that. I’m not a man. I have always felt more comfortable in the girls’ dorm at school and the girls’ restroom and using them has never been a problem. It’s humiliating and scary that there’s now a law that would force me to go to a boys’ bathroom when I clearly don’t belong there.”

Beverly Newell, a 45-year-old realtor, and Kelly Trent, a 39-year-old nurse, who are married and live in Charlotte, have also joined the litigation.

Newell and Trent claimed to experience discrimination first-hand after the passing of House Bill 2 when a fertility clinic canceled the couple’s appointment saying that the business no longer served same-sex couples.

The original lawsuit was filed in March with a 27-year-old transgender UNC – Chapel Hill employee, Joaquín Carcaño, Payton McGarry, a 20-year-old UNC – Greensboro student, and Angela Gilmore, a 52-year-old law professor at North Carolina Central University as plaintiffs.

The lawsuit is challenging House Bill 2 saying it violates the Fourteenth Amendment.

A ruling from the United State’s Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals on Tuesday ruled a Virginia school board policy violated Title IX because it barred a transgender male student from using the boy’s restroom.