State Drops Republican Bill Banning 'Gender Reassignment' Procedures for Youths
The office of North Carolina’s Republican Senate leader said on Tuesday the chamber won’t advance a bill put forward this month by three GOP members that sought to limit transgender medical treatments for people under 21.
The measure also aimed to punish doctors who perform such treatments.
“We do not see a pathway to Senate Bill 514 becoming law,” Pat Ryan, a spokesman for GOP Senate leader Phil Berger, said.
The measure prohibiting doctors from providing hormone treatment, puberty blockers or “gender reassignment” surgery to minors and young adults faced an all but certain death if it made its way to Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper.
Equality North Carolina, the state’s largest transgender advocacy group, welcomed the development on Twitter.
“This is welcome news, but the trauma and impact of these bills on the trans community over the past few weeks have been horrifying,” the group wrote. “Legislators who sponsored this bill, and the other two anti-trans bills at the [North Carolina General Assembly], have blood on their hands.”
One of the bill’s authors, Republican state Sen. Ralph Hise, did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Berger’s decision.
His proposal, the “Youth Health Protection Act,” was similar to other bills introduced by Republican state lawmakers across the country seeking to limit certain treatments for transgender adolescents.
Medical professionals who performed gender reassignment surgeries could have had their license revoked or faced civil fines of up to $1,000 per occurrence.
Democrats want the state to ban conversion therapy, or the practice of trying to change someone’s sexual orientation or “gender identity.”
Republicans are presently weighing a bill that would bar males from competing on female athletic teams in middle schools, high schools and colleges — an action Republicans in other states have taken as well.
Ryan did not comment on whether Senate leader Berger supports the athletics bill, noting that it was introduced by House Republicans and is still being considered in that chamber.
The Western Journal has reviewed this Associated Press story and may have altered it prior to publication to ensure that it meets our editorial standards.
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