By John Mack Freeman
The United States Justice Department issued a letter to the state of North Carolina this week informing them that the state’s anti-GLBT law commonly known as HB-2 was a violation of the Civil Rights Act’s ban on discrimination on the basis of sex. The letter gave the state until Monday, May 9th to respond that they would repeal or not comply with the law. A similar letter was sent to the University of North Carolina.
Violation of the law puts over $2 billion in federal education money at risk in the state.
Governor Pat McCrory and the Republican-led legislature in that state have said that they will not comply with the letter’s request. This action will probably lead to the state being sued by the Justice Department and to possible loss of the state’s federal education funding.