WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. | BY COLLEEN JENKINS AND JULIA HARTE (REUTERS)
North Carolina officials sued the U.S. Justice Department on Monday to defend a law that restricts use of public restrooms,
escalating a fight over the rights of transgender Americans.
North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory, a Republican, and the state's secretary of public safety accused the agency of "baseless and blatant overreach."
In March, North Carolina became the first state in the country to ban people from using multiple occupancy restrooms or changing rooms in public buildings and schools that do not match the sex on their birth certificate.
The Justice Department's top civil rights lawyer, Vanita Gupta, sent letters to North Carolina officials last week, saying the ban was a civil rights violation and the state could face a federal lawsuit if it did not stop enforcing it by Monday.
(REUTERS)
