GOP lawmakers have filed 6 anti-transgender bills this week. Here’s what they would do.
Legislation barring transgender females from playing on North Carolina girls high school sports teams is just one of six bills filed this week directed at the LGBTQ community.
Some bills filed by state Republican lawmakers would impose “biological participation requirements” for high school sports. Other legislation would limit gender-affirming treatment for transgender minors.
Sen. Vickie Sawyer, who is a primary sponsor on the athletics bills, said at a news conference Thursday that all the legislation was introduced at this time due to this week’s filing deadline.
Here’s a look at the transgender-related bills filed this week.
Medical Bills
▪ Senate Bill 560: Medical Treatment for Minors Act prohibits a physician or other health care provider from providing gender transition procedures to any persons under 18 years old unless the procedure meets certain conditions. The requirements includes at least six months of visits with a pediatric psychiatrist before the procedure is performed and the consent of both parents.
▪ Senate Bill 639: Youth Health Protection Act prohibits giving puberty blockers and cross sex hormones to minors. It also prohibits surgeries such as mastectomies or genital construction that alter the appearance of a minor if that appearance is inconsistent with the person’s sex.
▪ Senate Bill 641: Medical Ethics Defense Act allows a medical practitioner, health care institution or health care payer “not to participate in or pay for any health care service which violates his, her, or its conscience.” This would include not being required to perform abortions and transgender-related medical procedures.
Sports Bills
▪ House Bill 574 and Senate Bill 631: Fairness in Women’s Sports Act says high school athletic teams or sports designated for females, women or girls “shall not be open to students of the male sex.” The bill says “a student’s sex shall be recognized based solely on the student’s reproductive biology and genetics at birth.”
▪ Senate Bill 636 The Sports Transparency bill mirrors the language in the Fairness in Women’s Sports Act. It also says athletic eligibility will be based on “biological participation requirements.”
‘Deserve a natural childhood’
Conservative groups are praising the legislation as protecting young people.
The sports bills will give a girls a level playing field “from being forced to play against biological males on sports teams,” according to Tami Fitzgerald, executive director of the NC Values Coalition.
The Youth Health Protection Act will protect North Carolina children from genital mutilation and irreversible damage from gender transitioning surgeries and chemical castration, according to Fitzgerald.
“North Carolina children deserve a natural childhood with all the typical changes and discoveries, shaping who they will become as individuals without medical professionals manipulating the gender confused to line their pockets, permanently altering the bodies of healthy children,” Fitzgerald said.
The Medical Ethics Defense Act will protect medical professionals and entities from being forced to provide any health care service that violates their conscience, according to Fitzgerald.
“Every American has a constitutional right to operate according to their moral, ethical and religious beliefs, and medical professionals are no different,” Fitzgerald said. “There has been an attack on the ethics and personal beliefs of medical professionals, driving out doctors, nurses and other entities from medical practice, and this bill would shield them from discrimination while stopping the hemorrhage of people leaving the profession.”
‘Bully transgender children’
The legislation has been denounced by the LGBTQ+ community as an attack on transgender youth.
“Far-right lawmakers in North Carolina” are trying to bully transgender children, according to Allison Scott director of Impact and Innovation at the Campaign for Southern Equality.
“In NC we’ve been on the right track when it comes to LGBTQ+ equality, and the state has been better for it, welcoming LGBTQ+ residents and becoming a place where everyone can thrive,” Scott said in a statement. “This attack seeks to drag us back to the days of the infamous HB2, and we can’t let that happen.
“To every trans young person reading the news about these new bills in North Carolina, please know that you are loved and supported and there is an entire community fighting alongside you.”
Kendra R. Johnson, executive director of Equality NC, said the health care bills will prevent parents from making decisions on their child’s healthcare. Johnson said the bills are harmful and life-threatening.
“These bills do nothing to address the real issues facing our youth, like gun violence in schools or the mental health crisis, Johnson said in a statement. “Instead of working to make schools safe environments, our lawmakers are bullying queer and trans kids.”
This story was originally published April 6, 2023 at 4:14 PM.
