The North Carolina legislature has overridden the veto of Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper and passed multiple laws specifically targeting trans youth on issues including gender-affirming care, sports, and education. It’s the latest of several states with GOP-led legislatures to approve such bills, and it highlights how Republicans are continuing to make these policies central to their platform ahead of 2024.
“The disrespect and disregard shown for the people of North Carolina by this body is contemptible, and it all serves the purpose of bullying trans kids and their families in service of an extreme agenda,” Equality NC, an organization dedicated to protecting LGBTQ rights in the state, said in a statement.
As North Carolina — a battleground state that has leaned more conservative in recent years — becomes the most recent state to institute bans focused on minors and trans rights, it’s clear Republicans intend to continue using this issue in order to rally their base, particularly Evangelical voters, prior to next year’s presidential election. That these laws went into effect in a state with a Democratic governor also signals the power the GOP has been able to attain in state legislatures when they get a supermajority.
What’s in North Carolina’s three anti-trans rights bills
In North Carolina, the Republican-majority House and Senate originally passed three bills that curbed trans rights earlier this summer, only to see Cooper veto them. Because the GOP has a supermajority in both chambers, however, they were able to get the three-fifths support needed in both to overrule Cooper’s veto.
Here’s what’s in the three bills:
North Carolina joins a growing list of states passing anti-trans laws
As Vox’s Nicole Narea and Fabiola Cineas have explained, the North Carolina legislature’s actions echo a trend that has taken place in many states with Republican legislatures. According to a Washington Post analysis, there have been at least…
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