On Wednesday, North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper, a Democrat, vetoed three bills that would have implemented restrictions on how doctors and schools should treat minors who believe they are “transgender.”
The three bills vetoed were H.B. 574, known as the “Fairness in Women’s Sports Act,” S.B. 49, the “Parents’ Bill of Rights,” and H.B. 808, the “Gender Transitions/Minors” bill.
The first bill, H.B. 574, states that “a student's sex shall be recognized based solely on the student's reproductive biology and genetics at birth” and that “athletic teams designated for females, women, or girls shall not be open to students of the male sex.” This would exclude male-bodied athletes, like Will “Lia” Thomas, who “identify” as women.
“We don’t need politicians inflaming their political culture wars by making broad, uninformed decisions about an extremely small number of vulnerable children that are already handled by a robust system that relies on parents, schools and sports organizations. Republican governors in other states have vetoed similar bills because they hurt their states’ reputation and economy and because they are neither fair nor needed,” Cooper said in a press release about the bills, alluding to Republican Gov. Eric Holcomb (IN) and Gov. Spencer Cox (UT). Both governors vetoed legislation that would have protected women’s sports, which Townhall covered.
The Parents’ Bill of Rights would not allow curriculum surrounding sexual orientation and gender identity from kindergarten through fourth grade. In a statement, Cooper called it the “Don’t Say Gay” bill, which was what liberals called Florida’s parental rights law that was enacted last year.
"Parents are the most essential educators for their children and their involvement must be encouraged, but this bill will scare teachers into silence by injecting fear and uncertainty into classrooms. This ‘Don’t Say Gay’ bill also hampers the important and sometimes lifesaving role of educators as trusted advisers when students have nowhere else to turn,” he said.
The final bill, which pertains to gender transitions for minors, clearly states: “It shall be unlawful for a medical professional to perform a surgical gender transition procedure on a minor or to prescribe, provide, or dispense puberty-blocking drugs or cross-sex hormones to a minor.”
In a statement, Cooper claimed that the “doctor’s office is no place for politicians, and North Carolina should continue to let parents and medical professionals make decisions about the best way to offer gender care for their children.”
Instead of scheming for the next election, Republicans should get to work investing in our public schools and teachers, lowering the cost of living and creating more stability for middle class families. - RC 2/2https://t.co/9HphczndDB
— Governor Roy Cooper (@NC_Governor) July 5, 2023
Late last month, Townhall covered how over 20 states have passed legislation restricting this type of care for minors. The new study in the journal General Psychiatry showed that girls as young as 11 and boys as young as 13 are now seeking out this kind of care.
In February, Dr. Rittakerttu Kaltiala, one of Finland’s top experts on pediatric gender medicine, said in an interview with Helsingin Sanomat, the country’s top subscription newspaper, that “four out of five” children who believe that their biological sex does not align with their gender identity will eventually grow out of their gender confusion in their teenage years.
"The young person tries out different identities and is prone to suggestion. In one situation he feels that he is one and in another another. It's normal in adolescence,” Kaltiala said. In the interview, she pushed back against the narrative from transgender advocates that transgender people will commit suicide if they do not have access to irreversible surgeries and hormone treatments.
"It is not justified to tell the parents of young people experiencing transgenderism that without corrective treatment the young person is at risk of suicide without corrective treatment and that the danger can be countered with gender reassignment treatment,” she said.
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