*Liverpool was not the first choice of location for the July 6 wedding of Russell Wilson and Ciara.
The Seahawks quarterback and R&B singer were hoping to tie the knot in North Carolina, but scrapped the idea in protest of the state’s transgender bathroom law, wedding planner Mindy Weiss recently told TheKnot.com. In March, North Carolina’s governor signed a bill blocking cities from allowing transgender individuals to use public bathrooms matching their gender identity.
The couple’s second choice was Paris, but it was Fashion Week there, so Russell and Ciara ended up exchanging vows in England, their third choice.
North Carolina’s transgender bathroom law has received a lot of public criticism. The NBA announced it was moving its All-Star Game out of Charlotte in late July due to the law. Ciara and Wilson, who attended college at North Carolina State, opted to keep their protest of the legislation quiet, as they never publicly mentioned their decision to move the nuptials out of the state.
On Sunday (Aug. 21), a federal judge blocked the Obama administration from enforcing its new transgender bathroom guidelines, granting a nationwide injunction sought by 13 dissenting states just in time for the new school year.
Judge Reed O’Connor of the Federal District Court for the Northern District of Texas said in a 38-page ruling, which he said should apply nationwide, that the government had not complied with federal law when it issued “directives which contradict the existing legislative and regulatory text.”
While a setback for transgender advocates, the ruling is only the latest salvo in a larger legal and cultural battle over transgender rights that could be headed toward the U.S. Supreme Court.
