North Carolina’s Republican legislators overruled the Democratic Governor. Roy Cooper was opposed to the practice.
The supermajority of the Republican Party in both the House and Senate of California enacted legislation on Wednesday that prohibits medical professionals from performing surgical sex changes, hormone therapy, and puberty-blocking drugs on anyone younger than 18.
The law is effective immediately. Minors who began treatment before August 1 can continue to receive that care, if doctors determine it is medically necessary. Parents must also consent.
The Senate overrode the House’s 74-45 vote earlier by a vote of 27-18. Two House Democrats voted with all the Republicans to support the override.
Lisa Grafstein (Democrat), North Carolina’s lone-out LGBTQ+ senator, called the bill the “most heartbreaking bill of a truly heartbreaking legislative session.”
The primary sponsor of the bill, Republican Senator Joyce Krawiec, said that the state had a duty to protect children against receiving potentially irreversible medical procedures before they were old enough to make informed decisions.
North Carolina is among the nearly two dozen States that have passed legislation restricting or prohibiting sex-change surgery for minors. Local LGBTQ+ advocates have promised to challenge the ban in court.
This law was one of a number of bills that were passed on Wednesday, including those addressing gender issues in sports and LGBTQ+ education in the classroom.
The Senate and House had voted just minutes apart earlier to override a second veto, this time of a law that limited LGBTQ+ education in the early grades. In most cases, the law requires public school teachers to notify parents before calling a student a different pronoun or name. The law also prohibits teaching about sexuality and gender identity in K-4 classes, a practice that critics likened previously to a Florida “Don’t Say Gay” law.
The two chambers also voted on Wednesday to override Cooper’s veto against another bill that would have prohibited transgender girls from playing sports in girls’ teams from middle school and high school through college. This bill also became law immediately.
