Dive Brief:
- University of North Carolina System President Margaret Spellings said in a federal court filing that she will not create any new regulations or guidelines to control bathroom use on campuses, leaving transgender students to use bathrooms relating to their gender identity, rather than biological sex.
- The Associated Press reports Spellings’ comments were included in a request to halt legal proceedings against the university system in North Carolina while a higher court decides a case in Virginia about the rights of transgender people and the Department of Justice investigates North Carolina’s controversial bathroom law.
- While state law says transgender individuals must use bathrooms consistent with their biological sex, five cases in North Carolina are challenging its legality based on federal antidiscrimination protections.
Dive Insight:
North Carolina lawmakers are not alone in calling for a state policy to address public bathroom use. Politicians in Tennessee, South Carolina, West Virginia, Arizona, Mississippi, and Maine have also advocated limiting the freedom transgender individuals have to choose their own bathrooms. At the federal level, the legal argument against such policies is that it violates Title IX, the gender-based anti-discrimination law that has lately been known for its impact on sexual assault investigations on college campuses.
When the North Carolina bill first passed, Spellings stopped short of criticizing it. Her recent comments through the court filings comprise her most direct refusal to enforce the new law, which comes with no enforcement mechanism on its own.