NC lawmakers could create religious exemptions policy for school assignments
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- Senate revises House Bill 805 to mandate religious exemption policies in schools
- Bill requires public school libraries to create searchable online book catalogs
- Law extends malpractice claim window for non-minors receiving gender care to 10 years
Legislation designed to prevent online sexual exploitation has been expanded by state lawmakers to limit transgender rights and allow parents to limit what books and assignments their children receive in school.
The N.C. Senate Judiciary Committee overhauled on Wednesday a bill that would require written consent from people before their images can be used on pornographic websites. The committee approved a revised version of House Bill 805 that declares there are only two sexes and that gender identity will not be treated the same legally as sex.
The revised bill also requires school boards to adopt policies allowing students to be excused from activities by citing a religious objection. Other new requirements allow parents to limit what school library books can be borrowed and requires school boards to set up a publicly searchable online database of school library books.
Republican senators said the changes will empower parents who are concerned about the content found in schools.
“We’re seeing a lot of instances of libraries being filled up with all kinds of materials that are, at the very least, are not age appropriate for the children who would check it out,” said Sen. Buck Newton, a Wilson County Republican. “Parents are totally in the dark. This body, this General Assembly, the Senate and the House has made a policy commitment that parent and we think it’s constitutionally based that parents are the determiners, the ultimate determiners, of their children’s education, and we choose to empower them.”
The bill still contains the original wording designed to prevent sexual exploitation of women and children. But some Democratic senators said they can’t support it now due to the unrelated measures added by the committee.
“There’s a narrative out there that librarians suddenly who we all grew up, you know, learning from and being guided by that somehow they’ve turned evil and they’re trying to harm children,” said Sen. Lisa Grafstein, a Wake County Democrat. “And I think it’s just a false narrative. And a false narrative really is a great description of everything that’s been added to House Bill 805 in the Senate.”
The bill was referred to the Senate Rules Committee, which is the final step before a floor vote. The House would also have to agree with the changes the Senate made before it could become law.
School religious objection policy
The legislation requires school boards to adopt policies to allow a student or the student’s parents to request that they be excused from specific classroom discussions, activities, or assigned readings if:
▪ It imposes a substantial burden on the student’s religious beliefs
▪ Invades the student’s privacy by calling attention to the student’s religion.
“To the extent practicable, the local board of education shall provide advance notice to students, parents, and guardians of the discussions, activities, or assigned readings,” the bill reads. “If a student is excused from a classroom discussion, activity, or assigned reading, the school shall provide the student with an alternative activity or assignment aligned with the standard course of study.”
Senate Democratic Leader Sydney Batch said the bill could allow a parent who doesn’t believe in evolution for religious reasons to opt their children out of assignments.
Newton said he’s confident schools will be able to accommodate parents who have religious objections.
“Why would we assume there’s not an alternative?” Newton said. “I mean, that’s what school boards are for.”
New school library rules
The bill allows parents to identify what school library books their children will not be allowed to borrow.
A legislative staff attorney admitted, under questioning from Sen. Sophia Chitlik, a Durham Democrat, that the bill would allow a parent who is a Holocaust denier to prevent their children from borrowing books about the Holocaust.
The legislation also requires school boards to provide ongoing public access through a searchable web-based catalog to the titles of any library books available at each school.. Each school would display its catalog on its homepage.
“I’m really surprised that there would be pushback from anybody wanting to enable parents to have more information about what educational materials are put before their children,” Newton said.
Grafstein complained the bill doesn’t have any funding for school districts to create the catalog.
“This is going to be another unfunded mandate,” Grafstein said.
Bill only applies to school districts
The religious objections and school library requirements in the bill would only cover school districts. Charter schools and private schools, including those that receive voucher funding, are exempt.
Newton rejected a request from Batch to amend the bill to include charter schools and private schools.
“We give hundreds of millions of dollars a year now to private schools,” said Sen. Terence Everitt, a Granville County Democrat. “We can have them follow the same rules as public schools.”
Newton also rejected a request from Batch to identify the constituents he said he had talked to before proposing the changes to the bill.
“I have lots of conversations with lots and lots of people, many of which are confidential,” Newton said. “I’m not going to stand at the podium and go through all that.”
Malpractice suits for gender transition care
The bill also extends the deadline to file malpractice lawsuits related to gender transition care for non-minors.
Last year, lawmakers also passed, over the governor’s veto, several other bills enacting new restrictions on LGBTQ+ rights.
Medical malpractice claims generally must be filed three to four years after a given procedure.
Under this bill, claims “arising out of the performance of or failure to perform” gender transition services to non-minors could be filed within ten years.
Grafstein asked why these types of malpractice cases should be treated differently from others.
Newton said, “a lot of these folks that from our experience and our investigating and talking with them are in a very precarious frame of mind when they make these decisions. A lot of times they’re not given full information. A lot of times they’re not aware of a lot of the circumstances — negative implications for themselves until much, much later.”
Grafstein responded that studies show the percentage of people who regret gender transition or affirming care is lower than the regret rates for other procedures, such as knee surgeries.
She added, “our malpractice system has been carefully managed by this body for a long time to make it difficult for people, and part of the rationale for that has been it’s going to drive away doctors.”
“It seems to me that this is an intentional effort to try to drive providers out of the state by threatening them with malpractice,” she said.
The bill also bans doctors and hospitals from asking patients to waive their right to sue over gender transition-related care.
It also states that another law—which limits how damages are awarded in medical malpractice cases—does not apply to lawsuits over gender transition care, meaning plaintiffs may be able to recover more money or different types of damages than in regular malpractice cases.
It’s not the first time language similar to this has come up this year. House Bill 606, which has already passed the House but has not moved in the Senate, would also extend the statute of limitations to 10 years but for minors.
Bill supported by conservative groups
Speakers from conservative groups such as the N.C. Values Coalition, Moms for Liberty and the Pavement Education Project spoke in favor of the bill during the committee meeting.
“It solves, or attempts to solve, the obscenity problem in our schools, both related to curriculum and library books,” said Tami Fitzgerald, executive director of the N.C. Values Coalition. “Giving parents access to what books are in the library and what curriculum it’s being taught returns them to their rightful position as parents.”
But Reighlah Collins. policy counsel of the ACLU of North Carolina, told lawmakers the bill is a harmful attack on transgender people. Collins said the school sections will “chill speech” because it is administratively impossible to do all the alternative assignments that would be required for parents who cite religious objections.
“Some kids could get pulled out of talks about evolution,” Collins said. “Some could get pulled learning parts of world history. Some could get pulled learning about gender equity. The list goes on, and the burden this will place on schools, on the teachers and the administrators, is extremely significant.”
This story was originally published June 18, 2025 at 3:36 PM.
