Pro-LGBTQ legal groups are looking to build upon their win last week in which a federal judge blocked the University of North Carolina system from enforcing the state’s HB2 law prohibiting transgender individuals from using the bathroom of their choice. Lambda Legal and ACLU now want to extend those protections beyond the three plaintiffs in the case. ACLU writes:
On Friday, a district court judge blocked the University of North Carolina from enforcing the law against three transgender plaintiffs in the case and found that the challengers are likely to succeed in their argument that the law violates Title IX. In a notice of appeal filed [Monday], the groups challenging the law announced plans to ask the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit to extend that ruling more broadly in order to protect all transgender people in North Carolina from the harms imposed by H.B. 2.
“We are thrilled that H.B. 2 is starting to crumble and relieved for our clients who have had a huge burden lifted as a result of the court’s Friday ruling,” said Chris Brook, legal director of the ACLU of North Carolina. “But we know the harmful effects of H.B. 2 are far reaching, and that is why we are seeking broader relief for the thousands of transgender people who call North Carolina home.”
The key to this case is that the judge granted the injunction under the "likelihood" that the plaintiffs would succeed with their case, which challenged the transphobic bathroom portion of North Carolina's HB2 law as a violation of both Title IX and the 14th Amendment.
Last week's positive outcome followed several recent legal setbacks for transgender rights, including a federal judge in Texas blocking the Obama administration's nationwide rule seeking to protect transgender students from discrimination in bathrooms and locker rooms.