North Carolina bill would ban medical gender transition for children

Senate Bill 514, also called An Act To Protect Minors From Administration of Puberty Blockers and Cross-Sex Hormones and Other Related Actions, Procedures, and Treatments, would bar doctors from performing gender reassignment surgeries, and prescribing hormone treatments and puberty blockers to North Carolina youth.

Medical professionals that assist in helping a transgender person present themselves in a way that does not agree with their biological sex would be fined at most $1,000, and potentially stripped of their medical license.

The bill also urges state employees to notify parents if their child is expressing a desire to be treated as a gender other than the one they were born as. LGBTQ advocates worry the bill would oust transgender youth under 21.

This law goes much further than other proposed or enacted laws on this type as it equates gender nonconformity with medical gender transition.

"Transgender youth have the best chance to thrive when they are supported and affirmed, not singled out and denied critical care that is backed by virtually every leading health authority... A person's gender identity shouldn’t limit their ability to access health care or be treated with dignity and respect," said executive director of the Campaign for Southern Equality Rev. Jasmine Beach-Ferrara.

In contrast, North Carolina Democrat lawmakers revealed legislature that would ensure greater legal protections for LGBTQ residents in the state. The legislature would fully repeal House Bill 2, or the controversial "bathroom bill" that was passed in 2016 but later partially repealed. It would also push to ban gay conversion therapy practices.

This law comes on the heels of a recent ban of medical treatments for minors in Arkansas, and a ban on biological males playing women's sports in South Dakota.