California Attorney General Kamala D. Harris announced today that California has joined friend-of-the-court briefs in two cases supporting transgender rights.
“I urge the courts to strike down hateful and degrading laws that perpetuate fear and intolerance and to uphold policies like those in California that protect transgender people from discrimination,” Harris said in a statement. “I will continue to fight for LGBTQ communities to live free from prejudice.”
In the U.S. District Court of the Middle District of North Carolina, California joined nine other states: New York, Washington, Connecticut, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Mexico, Oregon, and Vermont — along with the District of Columbia. The intent is to challenge North Carolina’s H.B. 2, the so-called “bathroom bill.”
“The amicus brief … argues that H.B. 2 undermines public safety by encroaching on transgender persons’ civil rights — often relying on invidious stereotypes — and exposing vulnerable people to hostile situations,” Harris said.
In the U.S. District Court of the Northern District of Texas, California joined 11 states: Washington, New York, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Mexico, Oregon, and Vermont — along with the District of Columbia.
This brief supports the United States’ guidance that discrimination based on gender identity constitutes unlawful discrimination based on sex, and that schools risk losing Title IX-linked funding unless they permit students to use facilities consistent with their gender identity.
