Republicans in North Carolina have defied Democrat Governor Roy Cooper and approved a ban on transgender procedures for minors, including surgery and the use of puberty blockers.
This should not be controversial at all. In fact, it should be policy in all 50 states. We don’t allow children to get tattoos. We shouldn’t allow them to have unnecessary, permanent, life-altering surgeries.
Note how this report from the Associated Press via Politico continually uses the term gender-affirming care:
Veto overridden: Ban on gender-affirming care for minors takes effect in North CarolinaTransgender youth in North Carolina lost access Wednesday to gender-affirming treatments after the Republican-led General Assembly overrode the Democratic governor’s vetoes of that legislation and other bills touching on gender in sports and LGBTQ+ instruction in the classroom.GOP supermajorities in the House and Senate enacted — over Gov. Roy Cooper’s veto — a bill barring medical professionals from providing hormone therapy, puberty-blocking drugs and surgical gender-transition procedures to anyone under 18, with limited medical exceptions.The policy takes effect immediately, but minors who had begun treatment before Aug. 1 may continue receiving that care if their doctors deem it medically necessary and their parents consent.North Carolina becomes the 22nd state to enact legislation restricting or banning gender-affirming medical care for trans minors. But most of those laws face legal challenges, and local LGBTQ+ right advocates vowed to challenge the ban in court. The Senate voted 27-18 to complete the veto override after the House voted 73-46 earlier.Republican Sen. Joyce Krawiec, primary sponsor of the bill restricting gender-affirming care, said the state has a responsibility to protect children from receiving potentially irreversible procedures before they are old enough to make their own informed medical decisions.
The override also addressed the issue of trans women and girls in girls’ sports and the teaching of gender identity to small children:
The Hill reports:
State lawmakers also voted Wednesday to override Cooper’s veto of House Bill 574, which bars transgender women and girls from middle school through college from competing on female sports teams.Republicans said Wednesday that the bill is needed to maintain the integrity of women’s sports, while Democrats in both chambers criticized the legislation as “targeted abuse” toward transgender young people…The Legislature also voted Wednesday to override Cooper’s veto of a third bill, known as the Parents’ Bill of Rights, to prohibit kindergarten through fourth grade teachers from engaging in classroom instruction about gender identity or sexuality.
This video report features a quick clip of Lt. Governor Mark Robinson presiding over the state legislature:
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