RALEIGH – It was a flurry of lawsuits in connection with House Bill 2, which could eventually clarify federal civil rights laws in connection with transgender individuals.

Gov. Pat McCrory filed a lawsuit Monday asking the federal court system to clarify federal law on the HB2 issue. The Department of Justice responded with a lawsuit of its own saying that part of the controversial law "constitutes a pattern or practice of employment discrimination on the basis of sex in violations of Title VII of the civil rights act of 1964".

The Justice Department is seeking a permanent injunction to block the law.

The federal lawsuit says that "transgender individuals seeking access to covered facilities have suffered and continue to suffer injury, including, without limitation, emotional harm, mental anguish, distress, humiliation, and indignity as a direct and proximate result of compliance with and implementation of HB2."

The U.S. Justice Department warned last week that the state law passed in March violates civil rights protections against sex discrimination on the job and in education for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people.

According to the Governor's lawsuit, he seeks "declaratory and injunctive relief" against the United States of America, the United St  tes Department of Justice, Attorney General Loretta Lynch and Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Vanita Gupta, "for their radical reinterpretation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Acts of 1964 which would prevent plaintiffs from protecting the bodily privacy rights of state employees while accommodating the needs of transgendered state employees."

At a news conference Monday afternoon, Lynch accused McCrory and the General Assembly of creating "state-sponsored discrimination" and likened HB2 to laws of the Jim Crow era.

She said she will be looking at curtailing federal funding to the North Carolina Department of Public Safety and the UNC school system.

In a statement Monday, McCrory said: "The Obama administration is bypassing Congress by attempting to rewrite the law and set restroom policies for public and private employers across the country, not just North Carolina. This is now a national issue that applies to every state and it needs to be resolved at the federal level."

Republican Senate Leader Phil Berger and GOP House Speaker Tim Moore (R-Cleveland) have filed their own lawsuit that is similar to McCrory's. They also question the Justice Department’s definition of sex in the Civil Rights Act.