--- title: North Carolina: Attorney General Criticizes 'Bathroom Bill' description: U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch condemned a North Carolina law restricting transgender people's use of bathrooms. canonical: https://time.com/4323672/bathroom-bill-north-carolina-justice-department-loretta-lynch-remarks/ author: TIME article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-05-09T20:30:37.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T17:24:21.751Z article:section: Politics og:title: Read the Attorney General's Remarks About 'Bathroom Bill' og:description: She compared it to Jim Crow. og:url: https://time.com/4323672/bathroom-bill-north-carolina-justice-department-loretta-lynch-remarks/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte136962caa31dee5/698892783c163915d845d30c/loretta-lynch-transgender.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch speaks during a news conference for announcing a law enforcement action March 24, 2016 in Washington, DC. og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Read the Attorney General's Remarks About 'Bathroom Bill' twitter:description: She compared it to Jim Crow. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte136962caa31dee5/698892783c163915d845d30c/loretta-lynch-transgender.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Read the Attorney General's Remarks About North Carolina's 'Bathroom Bill' by [Ryan Teague Beckwith](https://time.com/author/ryan-teague-beckwith/) ## Ryan Teague Beckwith May 9, 2016 8:30 PM UTC  U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch speaks during a news conference for announcing a law enforcement action March 24, 2016 in Washington, DC. U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch speaks during a news conference for announcing a law enforcement action March 24, 2016 in Washington, DC.Alex Wong—Getty Images by [Ryan Teague Beckwith](https://time.com/author/ryan-teague-beckwith/) ## Ryan Teague Beckwith May 9, 2016 8:30 PM UTC U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch condemned a North Carolina law restricting transgender people’s use of bathrooms in strong language Monday, comparing it to segregation. In brief remarks before announcing the federal government [would sue the state over the law known as HB2](http://time.com/4322751/north-carolina-sues-government-bathroom-lgbt-law/), Lynch, a Greensboro native and the first African-American woman to serve as attorney general, compared the bill to Jim Crow, resistance to school desegregation and opposition to same-sex marriage. “This action is about a great deal more than just bathrooms,” she said. “This is about the dignity and respect we accord our fellow citizens and the laws that we, as a people and as a country, have enacted to protect them – indeed, to protect all of us.” Here is a transcript of her full remarks. --- > “” --- ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4323672/bathroom-bill-north-carolina-justice-department-loretta-lynch-remarks/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4323672/bathroom-bill-north-carolina-justice-department-loretta-lynch-remarks/"},"headline":"Read the Attorney General's Remarks About North Carolina's 'Bathroom Bill'","datePublished":"2016-05-09T20:30:37.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T17:24:21.751Z","description":"U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch condemned a North Carolina law restricting transgender people's use of bathrooms.","url":"https://time.com/4323672/bathroom-bill-north-carolina-justice-department-loretta-lynch-remarks/","keywords":["justice","Justice Department","loretta lynch"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte136962caa31dee5/698892783c163915d845d30c/loretta-lynch-transgender.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Ryan Teague Beckwith","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/ryan-teague-beckwith/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte136962caa31dee5/698892783c163915d845d30c/loretta-lynch-transgender.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch speaks during a news conference for announcing a law enforcement action March 24, 2016 in Washington, DC.","caption":"U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch speaks during a news conference for announcing a law enforcement action March 24, 2016 in Washington, DC.","creditText":"Alex Wong—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/justice/","name":"justice"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4323672/bathroom-bill-north-carolina-justice-department-loretta-lynch-remarks/","name":"Read the Attorney General's Remarks About North Carolina's 'Bathroom Bill'"}}]}] ```