RALEIGH, N.C. -- The University of North Carolina System told a federal court Friday that it won't enforce a law requiring transgender students to use restrooms corresponding to the sex on their birth certificates.
The declaration came in a motion asking that proceedings against the university system be halted pending the outcome of a case on transgender rights being heard by the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Virginia as well as a separate case by the Justice Department against North Carolina.
University system President Margaret Spellings wrote in an affidavit that, pending the outcome of the North Carolina case: "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."
The university system's lawyers went further, noting in a filing that the state law contains no enforcement mechanism and that the university system hasn't "changed any of its policies or practices regarding transgender students or employees."
"There is nothing in the Act that prevents any transgender person from using the restroom consistent with his or her gender identity," the lawyers wrote.
Five dueling cases over the law are pending in federal courts in North Carolina.
The university system had been named as a defendant along with Gov. Pat McCrory in a case filed on behalf of plaintiffs including students and university employees. Plaintiffs say the law requiring them to use restrooms matching the sex on their birth certificate is discriminatory.
Friday's filings go a step further than previous statements by Spellings, who said in a May 9 letter to the Justice Department that the system was "in a difficult position," caught between state and federal laws.
The North Carolina law, enacted in March, requires transgender people to use bathrooms corresponding with the sex on their birth certificate in public schools, universities and many other public buildings. It also excludes gender identity and sexual orientation from statewide anti-discrimination protections.
In the Virginia case, a three-judge appeals court panel ruled in favor of a transgender student seeking to use high school restrooms in line with his gender identity. The Virginia school board he sued has asked for a new hearing before the full appeals court.
A Section on 05/29/2016