Of all Barack Obama’s unforgivable sins, his corruption and politicization of the Department of Justice ranks near the top. Under Eric Holder and now Loretta Lynch, DOJ has become a lunatic enforcer of far-left fantasies. The latest instance is DOJ’s letter to the Governor of North Carolina, claiming that North Carolina’s law requiring that bathrooms, locker rooms and so on be used by those of the proper sex–male or female, based on physical organs–violates the federal civil rights laws:
Dear Governor McCrory:This letter is to inform you that the Department of Justice has determined that, as a result of compliance with and implementation of North Carolina House Bill 2 (“H.B. 2″), both you and the State of North Carolina are in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964…. Specifically, the State is engaging in a pattern or practice of discrimination against transgender state employees and both you, in your official capacity, and the State are engaging in a pattern or practice of resistance the full enjoyment of Title VII rights by transgender employees of public agencies.
So in 1964, Congress conferred a federal right on boys to use girls’ locker rooms if they felt so inclined, and vice versa? Who knew? Well, no one did, since nothing of the sort is written in the statute. You can read Title VII in its entirety here; let me know when you come to the part that says men must be allowed to use women’s shower and bathroom facilities if they are feeling girlish.
This is what the relevant provisions of that statute actually say:
It shall be an unlawful employment practice for an employer –(1) to fail or refuse to hire or to discharge any individual, or otherwise to discriminate against any individual with respect to his compensation, terms, conditions, or privileges of employment, because of such individual’s race, color, religion, sex, or national origin; or(2) to limit, segregate, or classify his employees or applicants for employment in any way which would deprive or tend to deprive any individual of employment opportunities or otherwise adversely affect his status as an employee, because of such individual’s race, color, religion, sex, or national origin.
So you are not supposed to discriminate on the basis of sex. What did “sex” mean in that faraway time of 1964?
(k) The terms “because of sex” or “on the basis of sex” include, but are not limited to, because of or on the basis of pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions; and women affected by pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions shall be treated the same for all employment-related purposes, including receipt of benefits under fringe benefit programs, as other persons not so affected but similar in their ability or inability to work, and nothing in section 2000e-2(h) of this title [section 703(h)] shall be interpreted to permit otherwise.
It sounds like what the framers of the law had in mind were actual women, with uteruses and so on. I can’t see any plausible theory on which Title VII required men to be allowed to shower in women’s locker rooms, or vice versa. Does the statute confer special rights on “transgenders,” those rare-as-unicorns beings who reportedly exist, but whom, like the fabled unicorn, I have never encountered in the flesh? Seemingly not: the word “trans” occurs nowhere in the statute.
How, for goodness’ sake, does it discriminate on the basis of sex to say that men must use one locker room, and women the other one? Perhaps there are a tiny number of women who feel uncomfortable using the women’s bathroom or locker room because they believe they *really* are or should be men, notwithstanding appearances to the contrary. But I can assure you there are vastly more women who will be uncomfortable when groups of men start invading their showers on the theory that they *really* feel like women.
Is there anything in Title VII, having lain unnoticed for 50 years, that requires such an assault on the women of North Carolina to be permitted? Of course not. The Obama Administration’s theory is insane. But that won’t stop Barack Obama and Loretta Lynch from endlessly threatening and harassing the people of North Carolina. For them, crazy legal theories are just a means to a political end.
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