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.

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