Thread: Does North Carolina's HB2 law violate our Constitution? A resounding NO!

See: North Carolina Guv Calls On Other States To Join Lawsuit Over Anti-LGBT Law

North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory (R) said Monday he hopes other states and private sector companies join his state’s lawsuit against the Justice Department over the federal government’s challenge to the state’s sweeping anti-LGBT law.

What is being disputed by North Carolina is the Obama Administrations, and Justice Departments repeated acts to re-write, through arbitrary interpretations and Executive Orders, various parts of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, when Congress has the exclusive power to write legislation. And this does apply to every State in the Union.

HERE IS A LIST containing a number of the Obama Administration’s arbitrary acts to alter the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

JWK


The accumulation of all powers, legislative, executive, and judiciary, in the same hands, whether of one, a few, or many, and whether hereditary, self-appointed, or elective, may justly be pronounced the very definition of tyranny. ___ Madison, Federalist Paper No. 47

The list below...plenty of time for this & planning ways to keep our border open & take everybody in from muslim countries too - truly a sick & sickening person - totally un-American - disgraceful.

What has he done for American citizens? ZERO! You can't call that presidential, you call that a traitor. His "bathhouse barry" days of homosexual activity, his crack use all tie in to these changes he made & the release of drug criminals, citizens or illegals & he being a muslim have seriously harmed USA. With his 2nd term, he really came all out. Hard to get him out & he knows it.

Would like to see Congress STAND UP to reckless changes he has made, the inclusion of kids/young adult gang members at the border taken in & spread all around the country. The Wilberforce act was for those exposed to human smuggling - why is he allowed to get away with this?


President Obama’s legacy of progress for the LGBT community is unmatched in history.

President Obama has signed the only signature pieces of LGBT-inclusive legislation to be passed by Congress:
- The Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act
- The repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell
- And the first-ever LGBT-inclusive Violence Against Women Act re-authorization.

The Obama administration has also made a record number of appointments of LGBT judges and ambassadors — part of 250 LGBT appointments to full-time and advisory positions in the federal government. (as well as hispanics, muslims, blacks)

The administration has also proactively instituted many far-reaching administrative and regulatory policy changes that have dramatically improved the lives of LGBT people in all 50 states and around the world.

Summary of Regulatory and Policy Changes

2009

• The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) adopted a regulation ending the ban on HIV-positive visitors and immigrants in October 2009.*
• The State Department reversed a Bush Administration policy in June 2009 that refused to use a same-sex marriage license as evidence of a name change for passports.
• President Obama issued two Presidential Memoranda (in June 2009 and June 2010) directing federal agencies to extend whatever benefits they could, under existing authority, to the same-sex partners of federal employees.
• In June 2009, the State Department extended numerous benefits to the partners of Foreign Service officers, including diplomatic passports, access to overseas medical and training facilities, inclusion in housing allocations, and access to emergency evacuation.*

2010

• In January 2010, OPM added gender identity to the equal employment opportunity policy governing all federal jobs. In September 2011, OPM issued additional guidance to federal managers regarding the equal treatment of transgender workers.*
• The Census Bureau overturned the Bush Administration’s overbroad interpretation of the Defense of Marriage Act and agreed to release data on married same-sex couples along with other demographic information from the 2010 Census in March 2010.**
• In March 2010, the IRS clarified that domestic partners (and their children) can be designated beneficiaries for VEBA funding/payment purposes.*
• President Obama issued a Presidential Memorandum in April 2010 directing HHS to issue regulations requiring all hospitals receiving Medicaid and Medicare to prohibit discrimination in visitation against LGBT people. HHS issued regulations that went into effect in 2011.**
• The second Presidential memorandum published in June 2010 directed the extension of additional benefits to the partners of federal workers, including travel and relocation assistance, child care subsidies, and certain retirement benefits.*
• In June 2010, the Office of Personnel Management published a final rule allowing same-sex domestic partners of federal employees to apply for long term care insurance, and to take funeral and sick leave to care for a domestic partner.*
• HHS’s Advisory Committee on Blood Safety and Availability reviewed the lifetime ban on blood donation by gay and bisexual men, concluding in June 2010 that it is a “suboptimal” policy that screens out low risk donors and called on HHS to conduct research to support a move to a policy based on risk behavior, regardless of sexual orientation. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has initiated research into alternative approaches.*
• In June 2010, the Department of Justice issued an opinion clarifying that the criminal provisions of the Violence Against Women Act related to stalking and abuse apply equally to same-sex partners.*
• In June 2010, the Department of State revised the standards for changing a gender marker on a passport, making the process less burdensome for transgender people.*
• The Department of Labor issued guidance clarifying in June 2010 that an employee can take time off under the Family and Medical Leave Act to care for a same-sex partner’s child, even where the partner does not have a legal or biological relationship to that child.*
• In July 2010, HHS revised its funding guidance around abstinence-only-until-marriage sex education programs, requiring that recipient programs are inclusive of and non-stigmatizing toward LGBT youth, and mandating that they include only medically-accurate information.*
• HHS awarded a $900,000 grant for the creation of a national resource center on LGBT aging issues to Services & Advocacy for Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual & Transgender Elders (SAGE) in February 2010. HHS also awarded a $13.3 million grant to the L.A. Gay and Lesbian Center to create a model program supporting LGBT and questioning youth in the foster care system in October 2010.
• In October 2010, the White House held a summit on school bullying and formed an interagency working group to look at ways to address this pervasive problem, including in regards to LGBT youth.

2011

• In February 2011, HHS rescinded provisions of a Bush-era rule which allowed health care providers to refuse to provide any health care service or information for a religious or moral reason.
• The federal Prison Rape Elimination Commission proposed national standards to reduce sexual abuse in correctional facilities, including standards regarding LGBT and intersex inmates. In early 2011, the Justice Department proposed regulations to implement those standards.
• At the request of HHS, the Institute of Medicine (IOM) issued a lengthy report in March 2011 detailing the range of areas in which more research is needed on LGBT health needs.
• In March 2011, HHS sent a number of recommendations to the White House for policy and regulatory changes that HHS could undertake to improve the health of LGBT people, including: collection of LGBT health data, guidance for states on including LGBT families in federal welfare programs, and guidance for states on protecting the financial resources of a same-sex partner when his or her partner enters long-term care under Medicaid.**
• In June 2011, the Department of Veterans Affairs published a directive establishing a policy of respectful delivery of healthcare to transgender and intersex veterans in all VA healthcare facilities.
• In June 2011, HHS’s Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services issued guidance clarifying that state Medicaid agencies have the authority to provide same-sex couples with equal access to the financial and asset protections available to opposite-sex couples when a partner enters a nursing home or care facility.
• In June 2011, the Department of Education held the first-ever LGBT Youth Summit. At that event, Secretary Duncan announced guidance to schools nationwide making clear that right of gay-straight alliances (GSAs) to form and meet in public schools is protected under federal law.
• In June 2011, HHS awarded a grant to Heartland Alliance in Chicago to create the first-ever resource center for LGBT refugees being resettled in the United States.
• In June 2011, HHS publicly committed to collecting data on sexual orientation and gender identity in federal health surveys and laid out a timeline for identifying the best ways to collect quality data on LGBT people and including the appropriate questions in surveys.
• In September 2011, the Social Security Administration announced that it would no longer issue “gender no-match” letters to employers during the clearance process for potential employees. This change protects transgender applicants from being unnecessarily outed to potential employers by the SSA.*
• In October 2011, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) adopted a policy “strongly encouraging” companies contracting with the agency to have nondiscrimination policies protecting LGBT employees and other workers in place.
• In November 2011, the Internal Revenue Service formally announced that medically-necessary treatments related to gender transition are deductible for income tax purposes.*
• In December 2011, President Obama issued a memorandum creating a strategy for U.S. government agencies to combat LGBT human rights abuses internationally.

2012

• In January 2012, the Department of Housing and Urban Development issued regulations recognizing LGBT families for federal housing programs, prohibiting discrimination against LGBT people in accessing federally-insured mortgage loans, and requiring HUD grantees to abide by LGBT-inclusive state and local antidiscrimination laws. HUD also announced it would conduct the first-ever nationwide study of LGBT housing discrimination.*
• In March 2012, U.S. Customs and Border Protection published a proposed rule that will expand the definition of family to include domestic partners for the purposes of processing the family when re-entering the U.S. from abroad.
• In April 2012, United States Citizenship and Immigration Services announced that the US will recognize marriages for immigration purposes regardless of a subsequent gender transition.
• In April 2012, the EEOC published its decision in Macy v. Holder which found that gender identity discrimination in employment is a form of sex discrimination and prohibited under Title VII.
• In May 2012, the Department of Justice (DOJ) published final regulations creating national standards aimed at eliminating sexual abuse in America’s prisons, jails, and local detention facilities as mandated by the Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA). These standards directly address the needs of LGBTI and gender nonconforming prisoners.
• In June 2012, the Internal Revenue Service published guidance specifically addressing the unique filing issues faced by same-sex couples, and clarified that eligibility for the adoption tax credit.**
• In July 2012, the Administration on Aging published clarifying guidance that LGBT older adults should be included as a population with a “greatest social need” for purposes of Older American Act programs and funding.**
• In July 2012, the Office of Personnel Management published a proposed rule that would expand eligibility for healthcare coverage for some non-biological, non-adopted children of LGBT federal employees. Children of an employee’s domestic partner will be considered step children for the purposes of the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program and the Federal Employees Dental and Vision insurance Program.*
• In July 2012, the Office of Personnel Management published a final rule extending the presumption of insurable interest annuity to families of same-sex federal employees.
• In August 2012, the Federal Aviation Administration released new certification procedures eliminating burdensome, additional psychological testing for transgender pilots.

2013

• In January 2013, the National Institutes of Health released a report response to the Institute of Medicine’s report concerning the health of LGBT populations in the country. The NIH report specified that the research needs of the LGBT community span a number of institutes, centers, and offices within NIH and shows that NIH understands the breadth of health needs and disparities that impact LGBT people across the lifespan.
• In February 2013, HHS published implementing regulations for the Affordable Care Act (ACA) prohibiting discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity in the context of coverage availability.
• In June 2013, the Social Security Administration announced a new policy modernizing and standardizing the process for changing the gender designation in Social Security records. This new policy allows transgender people to maintain their privacy and prevents unnecessary outing to Social Security staff and to healthcare providers. Under the revised policy, transgender people are able to change their gender on their Social Security records by submitting either government-issued documentation that reflects a change, or certification from a physician that confirms that they have received clinical treatment for gender transition.
• In June 2013, the Office of Personnel Management published guidance on the extension of benefits to same-sex spouses allowing all legally married same-sex spouses of federal employees to apply for health insurance, life insurance, dental and vision insurance, long-term care insurance, retirement, and flexible spending accounts.**
• In June and August 2013, the Social Security Administration issued guidance on the implementation of the Windsor decision. The Social Security Administration will process the claims of same-sex spouses domiciled in states that recognize same-sex marriage. **
• In July 2013, the Department of Homeland Security and the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services published guidance that all immigration visa petitions filed on behalf of a same-sex spouse will now be reviewed in the same manner as those filed on behalf of an opposite-sex spouse.
• In July 2013, the Department of Education and the Department of Justice resolved a discrimination claim filed by the National Center for Lesbian Rights on behalf of a transgender student in California who had been excluded from rooming with male peers on an overnight field trip and barred from using male restrooms. The government reached an agreement with the school district that it will treat the transgender student as male and revise its policies to ensure that all students are free from discrimination based on sex stereotypes as well as provide training to personnel and students.
• In August 2013, the Treasury Department and the IRS issued a ruling that all lawfully-married same-sex couples, regardless of where they live, will be recognized for federal tax purposes.**
• In August 2013, the Department of Health and Human Services issued guidance to Medicare providers directing them to allow beneficiaries to access skilled nursing care in the same facility as a same-sex spouse, regardless of where the couple lives.
• In September 2013, the Department of Labor issued guidance clarifying that the terms “spouse” and “marriage” in Title I of ERISA and in related regulations includes same-sex couples legally married in any state, regardless of where the couple currently lives. This guidance ensures that same-sex spouses have access to important protections under employer health insurance, retirement, and pension plans.
• In September 2013, the Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board published an interim rule providing that the board will look at the state of celebration of a marriage to determine the marital status of Thrift Savings Plan participants.
• In September 2013, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid issued guidance encouraging states to look to the state of celebration when determining marital status for eligibility purposes. CMS also issued guidance clarifying that the premium tax credits designed for the purchase of health coverage through the insurance exchanges are available to married same-sex couples, regardless of where they live.
• In September 2013, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) published guidance clarifying that state programs are no longer prohibited from recognizing same-sex marriages for purposes of Medicaid or the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP).
• In September 2013, the IRS issued guidance to employers and employees addressing the process for amending tax returns to correct overpayments of employment taxes for 2013 and earlier years for certain same-sex spouse benefits and certain remunerations paid to same-sex spouses.**
• In September 2013, DoD announced that same-sex spouses will have access to the same benefits that are available to different sex spouses. DoD will continue its practice of recognizing all marriages that are valid in their place of celebration. Entitlements will be retroactive to June 26, 2013, the date of the Windsor decision. The Department also announced a policy authorizing non-chargeable marriage leave when a service member is part of a same-sex couple and is assigned to a duty station located more than 100 miles from a U.S. state (or the District of Columbia) that allows same-sex couples to marry. Eligible service members stationed within the Continental United States may be granted up to 7 days of leave; those stationed outside of the Continental United States may be granted up to 10 days of leave.**
  
  DoD has also issued guidance extending Survivor Benefit Plan (SBP) coverage to same-sex spouses of military members and retirees. The military’s SBP allows retired service members to designate their spouses, and in some instances their minor children, as beneficiaries to their military pension. This allows the spouse or children to continue to receive a portion of the military pension upon the veteran’s death. Military retirees who were married to a same-sex spouse on or before June 26, 2013 may now have spousal coverage under the SBP.
• In September 2013, the VA has announced that it will no longer deny marital benefit claims because a "spouse" or a "surviving spouse" is not a person of the opposite sex. Servicemembers may also designate a same-sex spouse as a beneficiary for a number of programs including the Service Members Group Life Insurance (SGLI), the Veterans' Group Life Insurance (VGLI), the Post Vietnam-era Veterans Assistance Program (VEAP), and the Montgomery GI Bill. See Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Servicemembers.**
  
  The VA also has announced that individuals with a same-sex spouse, living in a state that recognizes same-sex marriage will be considered married for the purposes of the Home Loan Guarantee Program. This program offers veterans and their families mortgages that feature low interest rates and monthly payments and no down payments or closing costs on their real estate transactions, among other advantages. The program can be used to buy new construction, buy an existing home or condo, refinance a mortgage, or make repairs or home improvements, including improvements to energy efficiency.
• In November 2013, OPM published final regulations recognizing the children of federal employees’ same-sex domestic partner as step-children for purposes of federal benefits, allowing these children to receive coverage.**

2014

• In January 2014, the U.S. Customs and Border Patrol announced a proposed regulatory change expanding the meaning of “members of a family residing in one household” for the purposes of the customs declaration form, which must be completed prior to re-entry to the United States. The policy change will ensure that children of same-sex parents are recognized as members of the family regardless of adoption status. Also, the proposed change will acknowledge individuals in committed relationships, for example long-time companions, and couples in civil unions or domestic partnerships, within the definition of “family.”
• In April 2014, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) published guidance providing that Medicare will begin same-sex marriages for determining entitlement to or eligibility for Medicare.
• In May 2014, the Departmental Appeals Board at HHS issued a ruling in an administrative challenge brought by the ACLU, Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders, and the National Center for Lesbian Rights determining that Medicare’s policy of categorically excluding coverage of sex-reassignment surgery is unreasonable and contrary to contemporary science and medical standards of care.*
• In May 2014, the Administration on Community Living (ACL) at HHS published guidance directing all ACL programs to recognize same-sex spouses who were lawfully married in any state, territory, or foreign jurisdiction as family members regardless of where the couple is currently residing. For purposes of OAA programs, this policy will ensure that same-sex spouses are recognized by the Administration on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities as well as the Administration on Aging (AOA). These spouses will now be recognized and have access to critical caregiver support programs and will be recognized as "family" within the definition of the OAA.**
• In June 2014, the Department of Labor published a proposed rule revising the definition of “spouse” for purposes of the Family and Medical Leave Act to extend eligibility to all spouses, including same-sex, regardless of where they live.**
• In June 2014, the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) announced it was removing the exclusion of transition-related health services for Federal Employee Health Benefits plans (FEHB).*
• In July 2014, President Obama signed an executive order protecting federal employees from discrimination on the basis of gender identity.
• In August 2014, the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) published new guidance directly addressing application of the HUD Equal Access Rule to emergency shelter and continuum of care programs, affirming important protections available to same-sex couples and their families seeking emergency shelter and other assistance from programs receiving HUD funds.
• In August 2014, the Department of Labor issued official guidance and enforcement protocols clarifying the reach of the federal non-discrimination laws enforced by the Department and ensuring full protection for transgender individuals who work for federal contractors and subcontractors covered by these laws.
• In September 2014, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) filed two historic lawsuits challenging cases of discrimination against two transgender people, which is the first time the EEOC has used the protections of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to bring lawsuits challenging discrimination based upon gender identity.
• In October 2014, the Department of Education implemented regulations requiring campus crimes based on a person’s gender identity to be compiled and published, in addition to national origin, race, gender, religion, sexual orientation, ethnicity, and disability.
• In December 2014, the Department of Education released guidance clarifying that transgender students may enroll in single-sex classes and activities based on their gender identity.
• In December 2014, the Department of Justice released guidance prohibiting federal law enforcement officers from profiling based on sexual orientation or gender identity
• In December 2014, the Department of Justice announced it would no longer assert that gender identity is not covered Title VII’s prohibition on sex discrimination, consistent with the EEOC’s decision in Macy v. Holder.

2015

• In February 2015, the Department of Labor published revised regulations to ensure that all married same-sex couples could access benefits under the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) regardless of state of residence.**
• In February 2015, the State Department appointed a Special Envoy for the Human Rights of LGBTI Persons with the specific goal to, "reaffirm the universal human rights of all persons, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity."**
• In February 2015, the White House released the 2015 National Security Strategy (NSS) that specifically mentions, for the first time, the need to protect LGBT human rights as an objective of U.S. national security.
• In February 2015, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) presented a new toolkit for integrating LGBT rights into the Europe and Eurasia (E&E) region. The goal of this toolkit is to create positive impact in development work, which will align with the Obama administration’s vision to promote LGBT rights as human rights around the world.
• In May 2015, the FDA published draft guidance revising the deferral on gay and bisexual male blood donors from a lifetime ban to a 12 month deferral period. Although HRC acknowledges that this policy change will allow some gay and bisexual men to become blood donors, it will continue to prevent sexually active gay men and bisexual men having sex with men from donating.
• In June 2015, the Department of Defense announced that it will extend non-discrimination protections to LGB troops by updating the Military Equal Opportunity program to include sexual orientation as a protected class.
• In July 2015, the Department of Defense announced the establishment of a working group to study lifting the ban on transgender military service, allowing transgender service men and women to serve openly.**
• In July 2015, the Department of Justice confirmed that married same-sex couples would receive all federal benefits regardless of state of residence and directed agencies to take steps to implement the landmark Supreme Court decision Obergefell v. Hodges.**
• In July 2015, the EEOC published its decision in Baldwin v. Foxx which found that sexual orientation discrimination in employment is a form of sex discrimination and prohibited under Title VII.
• In August 2015, the Obama Administration appointed the first openly transgender White House Official, Raffi Freedman-Gurspan.
• In September 2015, the Obama Administration nominated the first openly gay Secretary of the U.S. Army, Eric Fanning.
• In September 2015, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office for Civil Rights proposed a regulation that provides explicit protections from discrimination on the basis of sex stereotyping and gender identity in healthcare and insurance under the Affordable Care Act. **
• In September 2015, the White House held the first Community Bisexual Policy Briefing.
• In October 2015, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) published a report calling for an end to dangerous so-called “conversion therapy” for minors.
• In October 2015, the IRS published proposed regulations clarifying the definitions of “spouse”, “husband”, and “wife” in the tax code to ensure equity for same-sex couples, and clarified that legally married same-sex couples would be recognized by the tax code regardless of their state of residence.
• In November 2015, the White House announced support for the Equality Act, a bill to prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity in employment, housing, credit, education, public accommodations, federally funded program, and jury service.
• In November 2015, the Department of Housing and Urban Development announced new guidance that will help to ensure transgender individuals have equal access to HUD-funded emergency shelters. **
• In December 2015, the FDA finalized guidance that outlines the implementation of a deferral-based blood donation policy that utilizes a one year period of abstinence from same-sex sexual activity for men. Although HRC acknowledges that this policy change will allow some gay and bisexual men to become blood donors, HRC will continue to work with the FDA towards an eventual outcome that both minimizes risk to the blood supply and treats gay and bisexual men with the respect they deserve.**

2016

• In January 2016, the Department of Education announced that it would publish a searchable database in the coming months of educational institutions which have sought and/or received an exemption from federal civil rights law in order to discriminate.**
• In March 2016, the Obama Administration appointed Raffi Freedman-Gurspan to Associate Director for Public Engagement—in addition to her current position as Outreach & Recruitment Director for Presidential Personnel—making Raffi the first transgender White House LGBT Liaison.
• In April 2016, the White House Office of Personnel Management revised the definition of spouse in its Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) regulations to permit Federal employees with same-sex spouses to use FMLA leave in the same manner as Federal employees with opposite-sex spouses.

I have no problem with policies that end discrimination and/or problems for LGBT people. These are nice people who are different than we are for reasons they don't control. Every American has the right to try to be comfortable, safe and happy in their own skin and sometimes things didn't get made or put together the same way as for most other people. We should understand and accept that and help them to have good lives the same as we all want. That's why I support same sex marriage so gay people aren't forced to be alone by government or society. That's why I support letting transgender women use the same bathroom facilities in public places. People don't disrobe and show themselves in women's bathrooms. There are private stalls inside so there's just no problem at all. In men's restrooms it's different because of the urinals but women won't be using the urinals in men's bathrooms. Same in locker rooms and showers. People don't disrobe in public in these facilities. They have changing rooms and separate showers. Any environment today that requires children or adults to disrobe and be naked in front of other people to change clothes or take showers is the problem that needs fixing, not who is using the showers.

Judy,

Standing up to our federal government when the federal government decides to blackmail a state into withdrawing a law made to promote the general welfare and safety of the people living in North Carolina is what this fight is about!


Let us look at the facts. The HB2 law was adopted as a regulatory measure for the general welfare and safety of the people in North Carolina, and it is intended to apply equally in every political subdivision throughout the State. In addition, the law as written applies equally to all "people" and simply commands that all people are required to use public bathrooms, locker rooms, and shower rooms which are designated for the gender which appears on their birth certificate. As such, it is in full harmony with both the text and legislative intent of Section one of the Fourteenth Amendment.

It is not only an absurdity, but downright disingenuous, for Loretta Lynch to allege the 14th Amendment was intended to forbid the various states from adopting legislation which makes distinctions based upon sex, or to allow all people access to public bathrooms, locker rooms and/or shower rooms without requiring such entry must match one's sex as determine at time of birth and recorded on one's birth certificate.

There is a fundamental principle of constitutional construction which applies to this discussion and requires our courts, when questions arise as to the meaning of a constitutional provision, to discover and enforce "legislative intent". This rule is summarized as follows:

The fundamental principle of constitutional construction is that effect must be given to the intent of the framers of the organic law and of the people adopting it. This is the polestar in the construction of constitutions, all other principles of construction are only rules or guides to aid in the determination of the intention of the constitution’s framers.--- numerous citations omitted__ Vol.16 American Jurisprudence, 2d Constitutional law (1992 edition), pages 418-19 - - - Par. 92. Intent of framers and adopters as controlling.

So if the assertion that such a law (HB2) violates the 14th Amendment has any merit, as alleged by Loretta Lynch, she should simply provide documentation from the debates of the 39th Congress which framed the 14th Amendment which establishes the amendment was intended to forbid the states to make distinctions in law based upon sex.

The problem with her thinking is, the notion that the 14th Amendment was intended to forbid distinctions in law based upon sex is immediately refuted by the adoption of the 19th Amendment which would not have been necessary if the 14th Amendment already forbid distinctions is law based upon sex.

Additionally, the Equal Rights Amendment which was before the states for ratification in the 1980s, but was rejected, would not have been proposed if the 14th Amendment, as Loretta Lynch alleges, already forbids distinctions in state laws based upon sex.

Do you have a problem with North Carolina defending our written Constitution and refusing to submit to this Administration's blackmail?


P.S. Maybe it's time to resubmit the Equal Rights Amendment to the States to see if the people really support this kind of stuff.

JWK



The whole aim of construction, as applied to a provision of the Constitution, is to discover the meaning, to ascertain and give effect to the intent of its framers and the people who adopted it._____HOME BLDG. & LOAN ASS'N v. BLAISDELL, 290 U.S. 398 (1934)

NEWSGENDERTue May 10, 2016 - 4:11 pm EST
These sex assault victims want you to know why open bathroom bills are a bad idea (Video)




May 10, 2016 (LifeSiteNews) – In the national debate over how opening female showers to biological males would affect the country, one constituency has been left out: women who have been raped and sexually assaulted.

In a powerful new video, female sexual abuse victims – including one who was abused by a man in a women's locker room – speak out about the trauma they would feel encountering a man in their private spaces and warning that ordinances like the one passed by Charlotte are setting up a whole new generation to be exploited.

The new video from the Alliance Defending Freedom features the testimonies of five separate people, each exposing new aspects of how transgender restroom ordinances inflict a very personal cost on the most vulnerable.

Easing Pedophiles' Access to Young Victims

Gretchen Flores remembers how, as a 10-year-old girl, her male swim coach talked her into letting him “help” massage the cramps out of her legs in the locker room. His assistance turned into sexual abuse, and a secret that burned a hole in her memory.

“As far as I know, he was never arrested,” Flores says.

Yet, even decades ago, he was able to find a technicality to gain access to young girls' changing facilities.

“I think about the countless victims of this man in the locker room,” she says. “Back then men were not allowed in women's locker rooms. The only reason he had access was that he was the swim coach.”

Emory University psychiatrist Dr. Gene Abel found that the average male pedophile who abused girls had victimized 52 girls over the course of his lifetime. Another study discovered that pedophiles harm 12 victims before being caught.

Biological males using transgender ordinances to enter women's private facilities may not begin with molestation, another victim warns.

Janine Simon, who was molested from ages eight to 10, remembers her torment did not begin with physical contact but “exposures to pornography.”

She said she experienced “many times of seeing them naked before any piece of clothing was removed from me.”

Pornography and exposure to nudity is often used to groom young victims like Janine.

“I've only been telling my personal story for a few months. I don't enjoy it,” she says. “But I do it, because I know there are so many kids out there already being abused.”

Pedophiles, she says, are “just looking for a chance” to hurt children due to a compulsion that seemingly defies treatment. “It is an addiction like no other. And yet, we’ve just created a law that makes it easier for them to access their victims,” she says, at times openly sobbing.

I have no doubt that the person who abused me would have been more than willing to use that [transgender law] as access, as well,” she adds. “No doubt.”

Transgender Triggering

For other victims, the concern is less the fear of future molestation as it is the memory of previous assaults.

Kaely Triller reveals that she was fired from her job as communications director at a YMCA last March for saying that she opposed the new policy of gender identity-based locker rooms.
Triller had never publicly revealed her own secret: She had been abused “from the time I was in diapers.”

As a result, she could not bear the thought of being naked in front of anyone. “I showered in my underwear all the way through college, which is sad,” she says.

She told her employer that she could not imagine facing a man in a women's facility. Grouping males and females in such an intimate setting would traumatize her and a percentage of other women who had similar, tragic experiences.

“The presence of a male of any variety – whether he's somebody who identifies as trans or not, whether he has devious motives or not – that's irrelevant to the reality that for survivors of sexual trauma,”

Triller says, “to just turn around and to be exposed to that is an instant trigger.”

She says laws granting males access to female facilities are promoted in the name of transgender rights, and people often support them because “they think that's it's a compassionate thing to do. I think what they're not considering, and what I'm hoping that they will, is that this has such devastating implications for people like me.”

Unfortunately, not all victims of such memories are adults.

One of the women interviewed in the video – the adoptive mother of five children, some in junior high school – says the restroom is already problematic for abuse survivors.

“They have unfortunately gone through some major things in their little lives,” including “some sexual abuse.”

Since her school district adopted a new policy allowing biological males to use women's restrooms and changing areas, “my children don't want to use the bathrooms anymore,” she says.

The woman – who would only speak anonymously for fear of threats and intimidation – says her daughter was abused when she pulled down her pants in the restroom and continues to have accidents during the day.

Education is the Answer?

Instead of hearing the concerns of parents, victims, and protectors, Flores says that legislators tell people like her they “need to be more educated on the issue.”

The victims all agree: They did learn from their rape and sexual assault, and they want lawmakers to heed those lessons.

“It doesn't take much access or opportunity for a child to be abused,” Flores says. “I am well educated in that fact.”

“I really strongly dislike being told I need to be educated on this issue,” Triller says. “I already know the education I learned the hard way about predators.”

Janine Simon adds that she has “been educated very well about what happens when boundaries have been crossed.”

Blaming the Victims

Instead of learning from their experience, politicians who pass transgender laws – which male pedophiles could use to find new victims – turn the tables by implying the victims are the problem.

Triller says this is not a hypothetical concern. Shortly after Washington state changed gender identity status under the law, a man exposed himself to a girls swim team. When asked what he was doing, he replied, "The law has changed, and I have a right to be here."

“The message that sends really loud and clear to those teenage girls,” Triller says, finally breaking out into tears, “is that that's OK, that a grown man can come and watch them shower, and we're not going to do anything about it. That tells me that the lack of education isn't on our side.”

The only way to end the “rape culture,” a continual concern of feminists, is to deny men access to potential victims and protect women from the jarring, scarring memories that always lurk near the surface.

“That's a piece of this conversation that's been missing,” she says.

https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/th...om-bills-are-a

John, this issue is actually about a state law that is preventing the city of Charlotte from implementing its ordinance passed for the safety and general welfare of the people of Charlotte. Why can't Charlotte decide it's own bathroom ordinances? It sure sounds like a local issue to me. If the people of Charlotte decide they don't like it after it's implemented, then they can always change it, but I suspect it would have worked out just fine in Charlotte as it is in many cities throughout the country. The federal government isn't telling North Carolina what to do, it's telling North Carolina it can't bar Charlotte from doing what it wants to do. That's my understanding of the situation.

Just another morsel of food for thought.

Joan of Arc was a transvestite/transgender person. And burned at the stake for it. Haven't we passed beyond those days of if you're different than me, you should be punished for it? I would have thought we had moved far beyond that in our country.

Is there a more courageous and talented person in world history than Joan of Arc? The French made her a saint. Yet we in North Carolina don't want to tolerate people like Joan of Arc?

Really??!!

The arguments about sex-segregated bathrooms were exhaustively debated during the proposed Equal Rights Amendment and concluded that even if the ERA were passed sex-segregated bathrooms were protected!

See: SHE THE PEOPLE: THE NINETEENTH AMENDMENT, SEX EQUALITY, FEDERALISM, AND THE FAMILY

"But during the 1970s, the decade sex discrimination doctrine was born, the law of equal protection had begun to contract around segregation as the archetypal scene of racial harm, group classification as its technology, and blindness as its remedy. A particular -- and highly stylized -- memory of race discrimination thus supplied the legal template for constitutional debates about sex discrimination.

During the 1970s, constitutional debates over sex discrimination continually referred back to this historically particular conception of race discrimination. In debates over the ERA, a litmus test for commitment to the sex equality principle was willingness to treat sex like race, which in turn translated into the question, reiterated in debate after debate: but would you eliminate sex-segregated bathrooms?[26]"

Footnote 26 is as follows:

” JANE J. MANSBRIDGE, WHY WE LOST THE ERA 114 (1986) ("Unisex toilets became one of the four major themes that activists speaking to reporters and writing in the newspapers stressed as central to their opposition."). Proponents of the ERA denied that the amendment would necessarily lead to unisex bathrooms, and argued that privacy doctrine would protect bathrooms from sex desegregation. Barbara Brown, Thomas I. Emerson, Gail Falk & Ann E. Freedman, The Equal Rights Amendment: A Constitutional Basis for Equal Rights for Women, 80 YALE L. J. 871, 901 (1971) (arguing that "the right of privacy would permit the separation of the sexes in public rest rooms, segregation by sex in sleeping quarters of prisons or similar public institutions, and appropriate segregation of living conditions in the armed forces"); Ruth Bader Ginsburg, The Fear of the Equal Rights Amendment, WASH. POST, Apr. 7, 1975, at A21 ("Separate places to disrobe, sleep, perform personal bodily functions are permitted, in some situations required, by regard for individual privacy.")."


So where does the Obama Administration, or anyone else, get the notion that North Carolina's HB2 law is unconstitutional?


JWK



"If the Constitution was ratified under the belief, sedulously propagated on all sides, that such protection was afforded, would it not now be a fraud upon the whole people to give a different construction to its powers?"___ Justice Story

Who said it was unconstitutional? I thought the suit by the Justice Department was stating it violated federal civil rights law for Title 7 and Title 9 funding. Don't take the money, if you feel strongly about your beliefs, tell the feds to keep their money and you're good to go with States Rights to pick on people different than you! After all, that's been a very long legacy of "States Rights".

I'm looking forward to the day when States use their Rights to actually do something good that benefits our country and all of its citizens.

Target is openly telling "men" dressed as "men" that is ok to use the ladies room. This is very wrong! That is what happens when stupid laws from a stupid president are enacted.

Trans genders do whatever you want but don't push your agenda on everybody, we want our privacy rights protected. Any woman or child attacked in a Target store could sue their butts off & they deserve it.

Target will never see a dime from me.

Straight men in a ladies room is NOT what the law is supposed to be about, yet that is what it is! Dumbo never should have started this; he is warped & demented so par for the course.
http://wfla.com/2016/04/26/st-pete-m...-is-announced/

Saint Joan of Arc was burned at the stake for heresy - in March 1431 she went on trial before ecclesiastical authorities in Rouen on charges of heresy. Her most serious crime, according to the tribunal, was her rejection of church authority in favor of direct inspiration from God. She wore men's clothing to lead them into battle which would be more fitting than a dress and wore them again after she was molested in prison - not as easy to be raped as wearing a dress. Far cry from transgender.