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WASHINGTON — Attorney General Loretta Lynch made a reference to transgender rights in a speech she delivered at the White House.

“The Department of Justice as a whole is remaining vigilant in protecting the rights of transgender women in American prisons,” she said on March 30 in remarks she delivered at a conference that focused on women and criminal justice. “In the past, being trans has too often meant a life of intolerance and isolation, not just in prison, but in life.”

“Even recently, we have seen state and local efforts to impose on trans people an identity that they do not recognize as their own,” added Lynch. “But I want to make clear that the Department of Justice and the Obama administration is determined to ensure that transgender individuals can live the lives they were born to lead — fully, without discrimination and with the support of their community and their country.”

Lynch’s remarks come two days after LGBT North Carolinians and advocacy groups filed a lawsuit against the state’s law that prohibits people from using public restrooms based on their gender identity and bans local governments from enacting anti-LGBT nondiscrimination measures.