University of North Carolina President Margaret Spellings on Tuesday announced the university will be seeking to hire lawyers to defend against a Department of Justice lawsuit over North Carolina's controversial House Bill 2 "bathroom bill" that mandates single-sex bathrooms in state-owned buidlings and mandates that all schools in the state provide single-sex bathrooms and changing facilities, with sex defined as one's biological sex. Photo courtesy of University of North Carolina

CHAPEL HILL, N.C., May 11 (UPI) -- The University of North Carolina will pursue a separate legal course of action as it faces a Department of Justice lawsuit over the state's controversial "bathroom bill."

After a meeting with the university's board of governors, University of North Carolina President Margaret Spellings announced on Tuesday she would seek to hire lawyers to defend the school against the Justice Department's lawsuit filed on Monday in which the university, the state of North Carolina and its governor, Pat McCrory, are named as defendants.


"We can't operate this place without federal funding," Spellings said before defending her university's action amid the controversial bill accused of targeting transgender people. "These institutions have been supportive, welcoming places for every type of individual. And we will continue to be ... We have not changed any of our policies ... We do not discriminate against anybody, and that will continue to be our stance."

The Justice Department and McCrory filed lawsuits against each other on Monday over House Bill 2 -- which mandates transgender state employees to use restrooms for the sex they had at birth, not the gender with which they identify.

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The U.S. Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch on Monday said that the state's decision to fight for H.B. 2 could ultimately cost them millions in federal funding.

"We retain the option of curtailing federal funding to the N.C. Dept. of Public Safety and University of North Carolina," Lynch said, noting that the Justice Department will wait to see how the case proceeds before deciding on such action.

In McCrory's lawsuit, he and North Carolina Public Safety Secretary Frank Perry sought "declaratory and injunctive relief" from the Justice Department, U.S. Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch and the department's civil rights attorney, Vanita Gupta.

The Justice Department's lawsuit accuses North Carolina of violating multiple provisions of federal law -- Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 and the Violence Against Women Act of 1994.

In the state's suit, McCrory and Perry criticized the federal government for what they call a "radical reinterpretation" of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, which they contend would "prevent plaintiffs from protecting the bodily privacy rights of state employees while accommodating the needs of transgender state employees."

Last week, the Justice Department in its letter refuted that assertion, saying that gender identity has been affirmed and reaffirmed by courts as a protected part of federal law. The issue of whether transgender people are protected under federal laws could potentially only be resolved by the U.S. Supreme Court.

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