The North Carolina Senate will not vote on a controversial bill that would prohibit transgender people under 21 from receiving medical care related to gender transition, according to a spokesperson for GOP Senate leader Phil Berger.
Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper was expected to veto the bill, but it now appears he won’t have that chance.
Berger spokesperson Pat Ryan said there won’t be a vote on the bill, which was introduced two weeks ago.
“We do not see a pathway to Senate Bill 514 becoming law,” he said.
The state received national attention and scorn when the bill was introduced. It would prevent doctors from performing gender reassignment surgery for people younger than 21.
And the legislation would also require government employees, including teachers, to notify parents in writing if their child displays “gender non-conformity.”
S.B. 514 was written by GOP Sen. Ralph Hise of western North Carolina. Republican Sens. Warren Daniel and Norman Sanderson also support the bill.
Civil rights and LGBTQ activists have criticized the bill as mean-spirited.
In Arkansas, Republican lawmakers overturned the veto of Republican Gov. Asa Hutchison of a similar bill. Hutchison had said the state’s transgender legislation was “overreach.”
The North Carolina legislation comes five years after the state passed House Bill 2, the so-called bathroom bill. That that required people to use the bathroom in government buildings that matched the gender on their birth certificate. It was repealed in 2017, after boycotts from businesses like the NBA.
State House lawmakers have introduced a bill that would stop transgender women from competing in sports against other women at colleges and high schools. Ryan said Berger doesn’t comment on legislation from the House until it’s sent to the Senate.
