Civil rights group says N.C. public schools are harming LGBTQ students, violating federal law
A civil rights group alleges that N.C. public schools are “systematically marginalizing” LGBTQ youth with new state laws that bar certain sex-related instruction in early grades and limit athletic participation by trans students.
ASHEVILLE, N.C. — A civil rights group alleged Tuesday that North Carolina’s public schools are “systematically marginalizing” LGBTQ youth while new state laws in part are barring certain sex-related instruction in early grades and limiting athletic participation by transgender students.
The Campaign for Southern Equality filed a complaint with the U.S. Department of Education and U.S. Department of Justice against the State Board of Education and the Department of Public Instruction, alleging violations of federal law. The complaint also alleges that the board and the department have failed to provide guidance to districts on how to enforce the laws without violating Title IX, which forbids discrimination based on sex in education.
“This discrimination has created a hostile educational environment that harms LGBTQ students on a daily basis,” the complaint from the group’s lawyers said while seeking a federal investigation and remedial action. “And it has placed educators in the impossible position of choosing between following the dictates of their state leaders or following federal and state law, as well as best practices for safeguarding all of their students.”
The Asheville-based group is fighting laws it opposes that were approved by the Republican-controlled General Assembly in 2023 over Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper’s vetoes.
Craig White of the Campaign for Southern Equality argues the Parents Bill of Rights forces North Carolina schools to discriminate against LGBTQ students. WCNCOne law, called the “Parents’ Bill of Rights,” prohibits instruction about gender identity and sexuality in the curriculum for K-4 classrooms and directs that procedures be created whereby schools alert parents before a student goes by a different name or pronoun. The athletics measure bans transgender girls from playing on girls’ sports teams from middle and high school through college.
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