The Republican-led General Assembly on
Wednesday voted to override Democratic Governor Roy Cooper's vetoes
of three anti-LGBTQ bills.
Two of the bills target transgender
youth.
House Bill 808 prohibits transgender
youth from receiving gender-affirming medical treatments, while House
Bill 574 prohibits transgender girls from participating in school
sports consistent with their gender identity. Both bills immediately
became law.
Lawmakers also overrode the governor's
veto of a “Don't Say Gay” bill that bans instruction about
sexuality and gender identity in K-4 classrooms. Public school
teachers are now required to inform parents when a student asks to be
called by a different name or pronoun.
The Human Rights Campaign (HRC), the
nation's largest LGBTQ rights advocate, said in a statement that
lawmakers who voted to override the governor's vetoes “should be
ashamed of themselves.”
“These bills range in impact from
curriculum censorship to school sports to banning best practice
healthcare, but they have one important throughline: extremist
legislators are trying to gain political power by harming vulnerable
young people and their families,” the group said. “Once again,
the North Carolina General Assembly has prioritized anti-transgender
discrimination over the well-being of North Carolina. Governor Cooper
did the right thing by vetoing these hateful bills designed to rile
up hate against LGBTQ+ people, but legislators are sending a clear
message that North Carolina is not a safe place for us. We will not
stop fighting these discriminatory measures.”
North Carolina becomes the 22nd
state to restrict such medical treatments for transgender youth.
Minors who started treatment before August 1 will not be cut off from
receiving that care. Such treatments are considered medically
necessary by the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Medical
Association, and the Endocrine Society.
According to HRC, more than 550
anti-LGBTQ bills have been introduced in statehouses this year,
making 2023 the “worst year on record” for such legislation.