North Carolina Republicans override governor’s vetoes of three anti-trans bills

North Carolina’s Republican-led House of Representatives and Senate overrode the state’s Democratic governor’s vetoes of three bills targeting transgender youth on Wednesday.

The three bills, vetoed by Gov. Roy Cooper (D) in July, mirror other anti-LGBTQ+ legislation that has been passed in state houses across the country recently.

Related:

North Carolina governor vetoes trio of anti-trans bills

Big Republican majorities in the state legislature mean the victory is likely temporary.

H.B. 808 bans North Carolina doctors from providing gender-affirming healthcare to transgender minors, including puberty blockers and hormone therapy. Every major medical organization in the United States recognizes that gender-affirming healthcare is evidence-based, safe, and effective and can be medically necessary to treat gender dysphoria.

Stay connected to your community

Connect with the issues and events that impact your community at home and beyond by subscribing to our newsletter.

Daily

Weekly

Good News

H.B. 574 bans transgender women and girls in middle school, high school, and college from competing on women’s and girls’ sports teams. S.B. 49 bans instruction on “gender identity, sexual activity, or sexuality” in kindergarten through fourth grade and also requires school officials to notify parents if a student asks to be addressed by a name or pronouns that do not align with those they were assigned at birth, potentially outing trans and nonbinary kids.

In July, Cooper condemned the bills, calling them “a triple threat of political culture wars” and accusing North Carolina Republicans of “scheming for the next election” at the expense of vulnerable children.

The state’s House and Senate voted to override Cooper’s vetoes in a late session Wednesday evening. Republicans in the North Carolina House of Representatives gained a veto-proof majority earlier this year when state Rep. Tricia Cotham, who was elected as a Democrat on a platform that included her support for LGBTQ+ rights, switched parties. Cotham voted in favor of all three anti-LGBTQ+ bills.

CNN reports that opponents of the three bills chanted “protect trans kids” after the House voted on H.B. 808. While all three bills go into effect immediately, H.B. 808’s restrictions on gender-affirming care will not apply to kids who began treatment prior to August 1 as long as a doctor has determined that treatment is “medically necessary” and their parents have consented.

In a statement on Tuesday, Cooper blasted the Republican-led legislature for passing “legislation that discriminates” while failing to pass a state budget or expand Medicaid.

“These are the wrong priorities, especially when they should be working nights and weekends if necessary to get a budget passed by the end of the month,” Cooper said.

“Every lawmaker in North Carolina that voted to override the Governor’s veto should be ashamed of themselves,” Cathryn Oakley, senior director of legal policy at the Human Rights Campaign, said in a statement. “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. 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.”

“We need to call this what it is: An all-out attack on queer and transgender youth in North Carolina,” Allison Scott, director of Impact & Innovation at the Campaign for Southern Equality, said in a statement. “The NCGA is going out of its way to blatantly enact the far-Right’s anti-LGBTQ wish list, causing harm and discrimination to young people in every area of life, from school to the doctor’s office to the athletic fields.”

Scott went on to note that North Carolina Republicans don’t seem to have learned anything from the state’s ill-fated H.B. 2. The 2016 law, which banned transgender people from using public restrooms that aligned with their gender identity, led to a huge backlash, from canceled concerts to loss of the NBA All-Stars game. The law was repealed in late 2020.