Federal judge to hear arguments on blocking HB2

WINSTON-SALEM -- As legal bills for the governor and legislators defending House Bill 2 climb above $176,000, lawyers arguing for and against the controversial law will step into a federal courtroom on Monday to begin a judicial process of great interest to people outside this state.

North Carolina has been an epicenter of the national debate over transgender rights since Charlotte adopted its ordinance barring discrimination against gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people and the state responded by adopting HB2 to overturn the city’s ordinance.

On Monday, U.S. District Judge Thomas Schroeder will hold a hearing in federal court in Winston-Salem on a request from the first challengers of HB2 to block the law until they can make their case at trial.

The U.S. Justice Department has made a similar request in a lawsuit that in many ways mirrors the arguments brought by the first challengers – three transgender residents, a lesbian law professor at N.C. Central University and a lesbian couple in Charlotte.

Read more here: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/politics-government/article92961432.html