GOP Leaders Agree to Streamline Dueling Cases Over LGBT Law

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS RALEIGH, N.C. — Jul 28, 2016, 3:54 PM ET

North Carolina Republican legislative leaders have agreed to streamline dueling lawsuits over a state law that limits protections for LGBT people.

Lawyers for state Senate leader Phil Berger and House Speaker Tim Moore filed a motion Thursday voluntarily dropping their lawsuit because they are pursuing the same arguments in another case.

In that other case, Moore and Berger have intervened as defendants to fight U.S. Justice Department allegations that the North Carolina measure violates federal civil rights laws.

The North Carolina law requires transgender people to use restrooms in many public buildings corresponding to the sex on their birth certificates. It also excludes gender identity and sexual orientation from statewide antidiscrimination protections.

Several cases are before a federal judge in Winston-Salem, while one remains in a Raleigh federal court