News • April 6, 2021
North Carolina Republicans took a page out of Arkansas's conservative playbook on Monday morning, as Republican Ralph Hise, the deputy president pro tempore of the Senate, filed a bill that would prohibit anyone under 21 years old from accessing gender-affirming healthcare, such as hormone blockers. The bill was filed days after the fifth anniversary of HB2, a day during which legislative Democrats filed a series of bills that would protect LGBTQ North Carolinians.
Hise has not made a public statement about the bill on his website or social media channels. Neither have Senators Warren Daniel or Norman Sanderson, the other two primary sponsors of the bill.
SB 514 is pretty grim. It says that because hormone blockers and surgeries like mastectomies are destroying "a minor's healthy reproductive organs," these therapies, surgeries, and medicines couldn't be given to anyone under the age of 21—despite the fact that state law currently allows 14-year-olds to get married to adults. This is more severe than the controversial Arkansas bill, which banned gender-affirming medical care for children under age 18.
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