LGBT Advocates File Complaint over N.C. 'Parents' Bill of Rights'

CHARLOTTE, NC — (01-31-24) — A federal complaint has been filed by LGBT Advocates of the Southern Equality, claims that North Carolina’s Parents’ Bill of Rights, “are systematically marginalizing lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) students.” The Title IX complaint includes testimonials from unnamed students, parents, educators and school staff.

Attorneys working with the Campaign for Southern Equality filed the Title IX complaint Tuesday. Senate Bill 49, otherwise known as the North Carolina “Parents’ Bill of Rights,” requires schools to tell parents if students ask to go by a different pronoun.

North Carolina’s 2023 law “Bans transgender students from playing sports on teams of the gender they identify with, and creating a chilling effect for educators and transgender students, according to the complaint. It also outlaws teaching about gender identity and sexuality before fifth grade.”

“When S.B. 49 passed we imagined all of the ways that students, parents, educators, and the North Carolina school system at large would be damaged,” said Craig White, with the Campaign for Southern Equality. “This complaint shows that those harms are actually happening right now in schools across North Carolina – endangering and marginalizing LGBTQ+ students and students from LGBTQ+ families.” said White.

White further stated that “The state’s public education system is now clouded by fear, discrimination, and censorship that interferes with students’ ability to learn. It is time for school districts to stop implementing S.B. 49 – because the anti-LGBTQ+ policies that this law requires are patently incompatible with the Title IX protections to which every LGBTQ+ student is entitled.” concluded White.

The majority of school districts in North Carolina have already changed their policies in recent months due to the new state law. The one exception is the board for the Chapel Hill-Carrboro School District.

The complaint says the new law violates students’ civil rights under Title IX of the Education Amendments Act of 1972.

JRL CHARTS LGBT Politics reached out to the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction for comment on this article, but have yet to receive a response for comment.