The Obama administration may be going to battle with North Carolina, but the state's congressional delegation is going to bat for it. While the Justice and Education Departments plot their revenge for the Tar Heel's Public Facilities Privacy & Securities Act (H.B. 2), a few blocks away in Congress, House members from North Carolina are demanding some answers of their own. In a letter to the Department of Education signed by 10 Tar Heel Congressmen -- Richard Hudson, David Rouzer, Renee Ellmers, Virginia Foxx, Walter Jones, Mark Walker, George Holding, Mark Meadows, Robert Pittenger, Patrick McHenry -- the group demanded an explanation for the financial blackmail the administration is threatening over what they call a "perceived violation" of Title IX.
"Federal discrimination law is set by Congress, and it does not single-handedly evolve by executive fiat; therefore anything not specified in federal discrimination law by Congress is left up to the states. The purpose of federal law is to set a floor for all states to abide by, and North Carolina law meets the federal standard... The administration cannot unilaterally rewrite current law or redefine the law in a way that Congress never intended. The United States Constitution makes clear that it is Congress's job to write the law and the Executive Branch's job to enforce those laws."
In the not too distant future, North Carolina's members may not be the only ones weighing in. FRC's team has been in conversations with leaders in Congress about the possibility of oversight hearings into the DOE's nationwide intimidation campaign. As the letter's signers made quite clear: "We strongly believe that any move to withhold federal funding from North Carolina is without legal merit and an unprecedented overreach by the federal government." No one in the Obama administration should be using taxpayer dollars to strong-arm schools into carrying out the White House's agenda on sexual chaos.
Meanwhile, you have to hand it to the Left. They're a persistent bunch. Even after state leaders repealed Charlotte's bathroom ordinance, filed two lawsuits against the federal government, and stared down opposition from Big Business, the media, and entertainers, North Carolina Democrats are still trying to move their radical agenda forward. In a head-shaker, the state's liberals have introduced the very legislation the governor and the rest of the General Assembly rejected. Calling it the "Equality for All Act," Democrats claim that the "need for nondiscrimination protections for LGBT" is more urgent than ever. "This bill, along with the repeal of H.B. 2, is the important next step that this General Assembly and Governor McCrory must take in order to make North Carolina a true state of equality and help heal our national reputation."
Unlike H.B. 2, which gave businesses the freedom to set their own policies, this measure would force them to adopt restroom policies as unsafe as Target's. By adding the terms "gender identity" and "sexual orientation" to the state's statute, the LGBT community would also enjoy preferential treatment in "real estate transactions, housing practices, employment, places of public accommodation, credit lenders, insurance, and education." And that's not all. The Act would also create a "human relations" commission, which is just code for a government board that would crack down on anyone with natural views of marriage and sexuality under the guise of "promoting understanding, respect, and goodwill for all citizens." Fortunately for everyone, the proposal has almost zero chance of passing through a legislature that, less than six weeks ago, laid everything on the line to protect North Carolina's freedom and privacy.
