Health care ban for transgender kids will not become law, top NC Republican says
There’s no path forward for a GOP bill that would ban health care treatment for transgender teens, a spokesperson for the top Republican in the North Carolina Senate said Tuesday.
The legislation is the most controversial of eight bills filed by North Carolina state lawmakers this year related to LGBTQ rights. In addition to banning doctors from providing gender-affirming health care to transgender teens — like puberty blockers and hormone therapy — it would force teachers and other school employees to tell parents or guardians if their kids identify as transgender.
The legislation has brought North Carolina into the national spotlight along with dozens of other states that have introduced a flurry of bills chipping away at LGBTQ rights. Senate leader Phil Berger’s statement, first reported by WFAE Monday night, all but kills the legislation, which already faced a likely veto from Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper if it ever made it to his desk. It now has slim-to-no chance of becoming law this year or next.
Berger spokesperson Pat Ryan told The News & Observer in a text message Tuesday morning that Senate Bill 514 will not come to a vote on the Senate floor.
Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson vetoed similar legislation this month, but the Republican-majority legislature overrode the veto, making it law.
It’s unclear what the move means for the rest of the bills related to LGBTQ rights pending in North Carolina’s General Assembly, however. One bill proposed would ban transgender girls from playing on girls’ sports teams.
Neither the health care bill nor the sports bill have advanced in North Carolina’s legislature since they were introduced, which typically signals a lack of support for the legislation by committee chairs and other top lawmakers.
Outing transgender teens
Supporters of SB 514 have argued that treatment helping teenagers transition is unhealthy, harmful to children and experimental, The News & Observer reported.
But workers with Duke Health Care who provide the treatment told the N&O that it has a proven record of helping prevent suicide.
One of the Duke health care workers said lawmakers have a misconception that teenagers come to their clinic on a whim to change genders, but that the process actually involves psychological, mental and physical assessments, counseling and extensive discussion with patients and their parents, The N&O reported.
Critics have also focused on a requirement in the bill for government officials to inform parents or guardians about gender-nonconforming behavior, saying such a mandate would require educators to out children to parents who aren’t supportive, the N&O reported.
Supporters countered that it would be wrong for an official to withhold that kind of information from parents.
Transgender youth and their advocates and health care providers say the debate is a matter of life and death.
“We’ve already lost a few of our patients to suicide,” said Kristen Russell, a Duke Health Care clinical social worker. “Self harm is just so prevalent, and that’s when they have access to care.”
For more North Carolina government and politics news, listen to the Under the Dome politics podcast from The News & Observer and the NC Insider. You can find it on Pandora, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, iHeartRadio, Amazon Music, Megaphone or wherever you get your podcasts.
This story was originally published April 20, 2021 at 10:59 AM.
