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Three More Plaintiffs Join Lawsuit Against North Carolina's Discriminatory Anti-LGBT Law
ACLU and Lambda Legal Add Transgender High School Student and Lesbian Couple to Lawsuit to Fight HB 2
RALEIGH, NC
The American Civil Liberties Union and ACLU of North Carolina, joined by counsel from the law firm of Jenner & Block, announced today that they have added three new plaintiffs -- a transgender student and a married lesbian couple -- to the federal lawsuit challenging North Carolina's sweeping anti-LGBT law, HB 2.
Hunter Schafer is a 17-year-old young woman and high school junior at University of North Carolina School of the Arts High School in Winston-Salem. Hunter was diagnosed with gender dysphoria in the ninth grade. By her sophomore year she was using the girls' restroom and feminine pronouns, and that year was elected to the Queens Court. This year, because of her talent as a visual artist, Hunter started at UNCSA-HS, where she stays in the girls' dorms. Because of the passage of HB 2, Hunter could be forced to use the boys' restroom, which would cause her serious anxiety and expose her to threats of harassment and violence.
"I just want to be able to concentrate on school, grow as an artist, and have fun while doing that," Hunter said. "I'm not a man. I have always felt more comfortable in the girls' dorm at school and the girls' restroom and using them has never been a problem. It's humiliating and scary that there's now a law that would force me to go to a boys' bathroom when I clearly don't belong there."
Beverly Newell, 45, a realtor, and Kelly Trent, 39, a registered nurse, are a married lesbian couple who live in Charlotte. As alleged in the amended complaint, Beverly and Kelly recently experienced discrimination first-hand, when a fertility clinic where they had scheduled an appointment called the couple to cancel the appointment saying that they do not serve same-sex couples.
"It's unnerving to know that we could be turned away by any business for being a same-sex couple and have no recourse because of HB 2," Beverly said. "HB2 has encouraged this type of conduct and we no longer have the ability to file discrimination complaints when this type of thing happens in our home city of Charlotte. The bill has made it OK to harm LGBT people. The state of North Carolina is better than this. "
"High school students like Hunter should be able to go to school to learn and thrive. She should have the same privacy and respect that every student in North Carolina has, and she shouldn't be treated differently simply because she's transgender," said Tara Borelli, senior attorney with Lambda Legal. "HB 2 is an attack on some of the most vulnerable members of our community, transgender young people. A law like this has devastating effects on transgender students who already feel vulnerable and alone."
"Beverly and Kelly deserve to feel secure in knowing that when they go about their daily lives in Charlotte and interact with businesses open to the public, any discrimination they encounter is illegal. HB 2 robs them of that," said Chris Brook, legal director of the ACLU of North Carolina. "This law gives people the green light to discriminate against LGBT people and sends a daily message that LGBT people across the state are not worthy of dignity and respect."
The other plaintiffs in this case are: Joaquin Carcano, 27, a UNC-Chapel Hill employee from Carrboro; Payton McGarry, 20, a UNC-Greensboro student who was born and raised in Wilson; and Angela Gilmore, 52, a North Carolina Central University law professor. The ACLU of North Carolina is also a plaintiff in the lawsuit.
In March, Lambda Legal, the ACLU, and the ACLU of North Carolina filed the lawsuit together as co-counsel in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina. In the complaint, the plaintiffs allege that through HB 2, North Carolina sends a purposeful message that LGBT people are second-class citizens who are undeserving of the privacy, respect, and protections afforded others in the state. The complaint argues that HB 2 is unconstitutional because it violates the Equal Protection and Due Process clauses of the Fourteenth Amendment, as it discriminates on the basis of sex and sexual orientation and is an invasion of privacy for transgender people. The law also violates Title IX by discriminating against students and school employees on the basis of sex.
To read the amended complaint:
https://www.aclu.org/sites/default/files/field_document/first_amended_complaint_filed.pdf
To read more about the case:
https://www.aclu.org/cases/carcano-et-al-v-mccrory-et-al
The American Civil Liberties Union was founded in 1920 and is our nation's guardian of liberty. The ACLU works in the courts, legislatures and communities to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed to all people in this country by the Constitution and laws of the United States.
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Woman Killed by ICE Identified as Protesters Take to Streets in Minneapolis and Beyond
"Say it once. Say it twice. We will not put up with ICE," Minnesotans chanted at the site of the shooting.
Jan 07, 2026
Protests broke out in Minnesota and beyond on Wednesday after a US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent fatally shot a Minneapolis woman identified by her mother as Renee Nicole Good.
Good's mother, Donna Ganger, told the Minnesota Star Tribune that the family was notified of her death Wednesday morning. Good was a 37-year-old US citizen, Minneapolis resident, and mother.
As the newspaper reported:
"That's so stupid" that she was killed, Ganger said, after learning some of the circumstances from a reporter. "She was probably terrified."
Ganger said her daughter is "not part of anything like that at all," referring to protesters challenging ICE agents.
"Renee was one of the kindest people I've ever known," she said. "She was extremely compassionate. She's taken care of people all her life. She was loving, forgiving, and affectionate. She was an amazing human being."
The deadly shooting came shortly after President Donald Trump sent over 2,000 federal agents to the Twin Cities, similar to other invasions of Democrat-led US communities by immigration teams carrying out the Republican's mass deportation agenda.
Trump and the US Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE, have claimed that the woman was trying to run over the agent with her vehicle, which DHS called "an act of domestic terrorism," but videos circulating online and witness accounts to reporters have undermined those statements.
"They are already trying to spin this as an action of self-defense. Having seen the video... myself, I want to tell everybody directly, that is bullshit," said Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey. "This was an agent recklessly using power that resulted in somebody dying—getting killed."
The Democratic mayor also told ICE to "get the fuck out of Minneapolis," a sentiment shared by various politicians and residents.
The federal agent shot Good on Portland Avenue, where protesters remained "long after ICE agents left, chanting and yelling at law enforcement officers as they set up metal barriers around the scene," according to the Star Tribune. "Law enforcement closed off several blocks of Portland Avenue as hundreds gathered at the scene of the shooting throughout the early afternoon. Dozens of local police watched from the street, and a crew of state troopers in fluorescent green showed up shortly before 1:30 pm."
As CNN reported, some protesters at the scene threw snowballs at law enforcement. Later Wednesday, the network detailed, residents and activists held "a vigil around a makeshift shrine of flowers and candles on a patch of snow."
"Say it once. Say it twice. We will not put up with ICE," vigil attendees chanted. They also chanted the victim's name.
In Minneapolis, protesters also gathered outside the Hennepin County Courthouse and chanted, "ICE out now!"
Good's killing has also drawn demonstrations and denunciations beyond Minnesota, including at Foley Square in Manhattan—which, as WABC noted, "sits between the federal courthouse and 26 Federal Plaza," which is DHS headquarters in New York City.
NYC's newly inaugurated democratic socialist mayor, Zohran Mamdani, said that "the news coming out of Minneapolis is horrific. This is one part that has been a year full of cruelty, and we know that when ICE agents attack immigrants, they attack every one of us across this country."
"This is a city and will always be a city that stands up for immigrants across the five boroughs," Mamdani said of New York, pledging that "we are going to adhere to" local sanctuary city policies.
There were also multiple protests planned for the Chicago area, which was recently targeted by Trump's immigration agents.
"Today, the Little Village Community Council, alongside community members, faith leaders, and allies, gathers in solidarity and grief to denounce the killing of a 37-year-old woman in Minneapolis, an innocent US citizen whose life was taken during an encounter involving ICE agents," said the council's president, Baltazar Enriquez, in a statement.
"We are outraged," Enriquez added. "Today's gathering includes candles, prayers, and support from the faith community, honoring the life that was lost and all families harmed by unjust enforcement practices. We call on the people of Chicago to stand together—to demand justice, to protect one another, and to insist on a nation where no one is killed for existing, for migrating, or for being brown."
Little Village was among the Chicago neighborhoods stormed by federal immigration agents last year. Others include Brighton Park, where a Border Patrol agent shot and injured a woman, and suburban Franklin Park, where an ICE agent shot and killed Silverio Villegas-Gonzalez.
Democratic members of Congress from coast to coast—including Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (NY) and Eric Swalwell (Calif.)—condemned Good's killing as "murder" and demanded that the agent be prosecuted.
"ICE shouldn't be allowed to act with impunity after shooting and killing a woman in Minneapolis," said US Sen. Elizabeth Warren. (D-Mass.) "This rogue agency's escalating presence brings more and more danger to our communities. Donald Trump and ICE must be reined in by Congress and the courts before more people get hurt."
Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) said that "it is clear from that video that an ICE federal agent just shot a woman four times in cold blood. Abolish ICE now."
Tlaib later added that "an ICE agent fired multiple shots at Renee Nicole Good, murdering her at point blank range."
A fellow progressive in the House of Representatives, Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.), "just offered a subpoena in the Oversight Committee for all information from DHS related to her murder today in Minneapolis," Tlaib noted. "Republicans blocked it. We need answers."
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Walz Puts National Guard—and Trump—On Notice as Protests Erupt Over ICE 'Murder' in Minneapolis
"We've been warning for weeks that the Trump administration's dangerous, sensationalized operations are a threat to our public safety and that someone was going to get hurt."
Jan 07, 2026
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz on Wednesday put his state's National Guard on standby—and the Trump administration on notice—after a federal immigration officer fatally shot a woman in Minneapolis.
Walz, a Democrat who was former Vice President Kamala Harris' running mate in the 2024 election, said during a press conference that he issued a warning order to the Minnesota National Guard, which means troops are preparing for a possible mobilization.
This, after a US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officer shot and killed a woman later identified by her mother as Renee Nicole Good, a 37-year-old US citizen and mother of a 6-year-old whose father died in 2023.
Good was killed Wednesday morning while driving a sport utility vehicle in south Minneapolis during heightened ICE operations in the Twin Cities. The US Department of Homeland Security and DHS Secretary Kristi Noem said Good was shot in self-defense while committing "an act of domestic terrorism."
President Donald Trump said on his Truth Social network that Good "was very disorderly, obstructing and resisting, who then violently, willfully, and viciously ran over the ICE officer, who seems to have shot her in self defense."
However, bystander video shows Good slowly trying to pull away from federal agents before several gunshots are heard and the SUV crashes. Law enforcement authorities and witnesses said Good was shot in the face and head.
“It’s beyond me that the Homeland Security director already decided who this person was and what their motive was—before they were even removed from the vehicle," Walz said during a press conference, referring to Noem. "We’re not living in a normal world.”
ICE agents also reportedly prevented a physician bystander from attending to the victim.
Turning to the Trump administration and its deadly anti-immigrant crackdown, Walz said, "We've been warning for weeks that the Trump administration's dangerous, sensationalized operations are a threat to our public safety and that someone was going to get hurt."
"What we're seeing is the consequence of governance designed to generate fear, headlines, and conflict. It's governing by reality TV," he continued. "And today that recklessness cost someone their life."
"From here on, I have a very simple message: We do not need any further help from the federal government," Walz added. "To Donald Trump and Kristi Noem: You've done enough."
Walz's comments echoed the frustration of other elected officials in Minnesota, including Democratic Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, who had a blunt message for ICE following Wednesday's shooting: "Get the fuck out of Minneapolis!"
Congresswoman Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.)—a member of her state's large Somali American community, which is enduring racist attacks by Trump and his supporters—called Wednesday's shooting "unconscionable and reprehensible" and accused the administration of "unleashing violence" and "terrorizing neighborhoods."
At least hundreds of people took to the streets of Minneapolis to protest Wednesday's killing, gathering at the site of the shooting and at other locations including the Hennepin County Courthouse to demand ICE leave their city. Some protesters hurled snowballs and insults at federal agents.
“Shame! Shame! Shame!” protesters at the scene of the killing chanted loudly from behind police tape. “ICE out of Minnesota!”
"ICE out Now!" they shouted at the courthouse doors.
NOW: Anti-ICE protesters outside of Minneapolis Court House demanding "ICE OUT NOW" after ICE involved shooting in Minnesota pic.twitter.com/gmgT8zFAx0
— Oliya Scootercaster 🛴 (@ScooterCasterNY) January 7, 2026
Additional emergency protests are planned for cities across the nation.
"Today, ICE murdered a woman in Minneapolis. Tonight, we’ll be mourning her and the other lives that have been taken and traumatized by ICE," progressive Illinois congressional candidate Kat Abughazaleh said on Bluesky. "I hope to see you there."
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DeSantis Joins Trump Map-Rigging Push, Calling Florida Special Session
"This poses another dangerous threat to free and fair elections in this country, and other Democratic states must act now to ultimately protect a fair and representative democracy," said one national expert.
Jan 07, 2026
President Donald Trump's push to rig US congressional maps for Republicans ahead of this year's elections expanded to his home state of Florida on Wednesday, when GOP Gov. Ron DeSantis announced the Legislature will hold a special session in April.
While Trump has openly pressured Republican state leaders to take action—and threatened those who don't—DeSantis tried to frame the plans as an effort to "ensure that Florida's congressional maps accurately reflect the population of our state."
DeSantis also explained during a press conference that he is pushing the session to April 20-24 because of a forthcoming US Supreme Court decision "that's gonna affect the validity of some of these districts nationwide, including some of the districts in the state of Florida."
While the high court's right-wing supermajority last month gave Texas Republicans a green light to use their recently redrawn political map in the midterm elections, DeSantis was referring to the expected ruling on a case about Louisiana's congressional districts that predates Trump's gerrymandering push.
The outcome of Louisiana v. Callais could be "the GOP's best chance of defending its narrow, five-seat majority in the House of Representatives," Bloomberg reported Wednesday. "In oral arguments last fall, the conservative justices appeared poised to significantly limit, if not completely overturn, the provision of the 1965 Voting Rights Act that bars changes in election laws that have the effect of discriminating against racial minorities."
In a statement, the Florida Democratic Party called DeSantis' map-rigging effort "reckless, partisan, and opportunistic."
"This is nothing more than a desperate attempt to rig the system and silence voters before the 2026 election," the party said. "Now, after gutting representation for Black Floridians just three years ago, Ron is hoping the decimation of the Voting Rights Act by Trump's Supreme Court will allow him to further gerrymander and suppress the vote of millions of Floridians."
Florida Senate Minority Leader Lori Berman (D-31) said that "Florida's Fair Districts Amendment strictly prohibits any maps from being drawn for partisan reasons, and regardless of any bluster from the governor's office, the only reason we're having this unprecedented conversation about drawing new maps is because Donald Trump demanded it."
"An overwhelming majority of Floridians voted in favor of the Fair Districts Amendment and their voices must be respected," Berman declared. "The redistricting process is meant to serve the people, not the politicians."
Florida House Minority Leader Fentrice Driskell (D-67) similarly said during a press briefing that "people should pick their politicians. Politicians should not pick their people. Florida's government should not be rigging elections. That's what they do in places like Cuba and Venezuela, not America. This is a cynical swamp-like behavior that makes people hate politics, and Florida doesn't have to do this, period."
The National Democratic Redistricting Committee, founded and chaired by former Attorney General Eric Holder, also condemned the move. The group's president, John Bisognano, said that "the proclamation that the state should wait for 'guidance' from the US Supreme Court is just a thinly veiled call for Florida Republicans to further gerrymander, no matter the court's decision."
"The Sunshine State is already one of the most egregiously gerrymandered states in the country, with a DeSantis-drawn congressional map that robs millions of voters—particularly voters of color—of their rightful representation," Bisognano noted.
"Right now, Florida Republicans are aiming to enact an even more extreme gerrymander on top of an already extreme gerrymander, not because Floridians want this, but because they want to cater to the DC politicians and special interests and dilute Black and Latino voting power," he added. "This poses another dangerous threat to free and fair elections in this country, and other Democratic states must act now to ultimately protect a fair and representative democracy."
In addition to Texas, Republicans have recently redrawn maps to appease Trump in Missouri and North Carolina—while GOP state senators in Indiana joined Democratic lawmakers to block an effort there.
Voters in California responded by approving new congressional districts for their state that favor Democrats, which swiftly drew a lawsuit from the Trump administration. Democratic lawmakers in Maryland may follow the Golden State's lead.
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