NC bill limiting medical treatments for young transgender people won’t get Senate vote

A bill moving through the North Carolina legislature that seeks to limit treatments for transgender people under the age of 21 will not advance after a top state lawmaker said that the proposal will not receive a vote from the state’s Senate. 

The legislation, sponsored by three GOP state senators, proposed prohibiting doctors from providing gender confirming hormone treatments, surgery or puberty blockers to trans people under the age of 21.

It also would have called for government employees, including teachers, to notify parents if a child displays “gender non-conformity.”

A spokesperson for GOP Senate leader Phil Berger confirmed to The Hill that “the bill will not be voted on the Senate floor.”

“We do not see a pathway to Senate Bill 514 becoming law,” the spokesperson, Patrick Ryan, said, adding that the legislation has not been referred to committees.

WFAE radio in North Carolina first reported on the move from the Senate leader’s office. .  

The legislation was expected to be vetoed by Democratic North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper if legislators did vote to approve it.

Equality North Carolina, an LGBTQ organization, called the move in the state’s Senate “welcome news” on social media, but it added that “the trauma and impact of these bills on the trans community over the past few weeks have been horrifying”

This is welcome news, but the trauma and impact of these bills on the trans community over the past few weeks have been horrifying.

Legislators who sponsored this bill, and the other two anti-trans bills at the NCGA, have blood on their hands.https://t.co/rEvnumnSJh

— Equality NC (@equalitync) April 20, 2021

Republican state lawmakers across the country have introduced legislation aiming to limit treatments for transgender young people. The Arkansas state Legislature earlier this month voted to override Gov. Asa Hutchison’s (R) veto on legislation that bans gender reassignment surgeries and other care.