The University of North Carolina school system is reversing course and will no longer enforce the state’s controversial bathroom law requiring transgender individuals to use public restrooms corresponding to their gender at birth.
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The school system initially signaled that it would attempt to enforce the law (but didn’t really know how), but changed its mind in a federal court motion filed last week. UNC system president Margaret Spellings wrote in an affidavit that, “I have no intent to exercise my authority to promulgate any guidelines or regulations that require transgender students to use the restrooms consistent with their biological sex.”
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UNC’s lawyers are asking the court to halt ongoing legal action against the school system until a higher court rules on a similar case in Virginia. A group of students and university employees are suing the UNC system and Gov. Pat McCrory on the grounds that the bathroom law is discriminatory. The lawyers went a step further and argued that the bathroom law, as written, cannot prevent transgender individuals from using a restroom of their choosing.
Spellings’ actions are especially significant given her relationship with the conservative state legislature that approved the bathroom law. Spellings was installed as system president in 2016 amid great controversy after the Republican-led Board of Governors essentially ousted her predecessor, Tom Ross, who was viewed as being too liberal.
The state is currently embroiled in a legal battle with the Obama administration, which has threatened to withhold education funding for states deemed to be in violation of federal laws preventing sex-based discrimination. The case could ultimately make its way to the Supreme Court.
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