Transgender youth in North Carolina have lost access to gender-affirming treatments after the state’s Republican-controlled General Assembly voted to override Gov. Roy Cooper’s veto of that legislation and others involving gender in sports and LGBTQ classroom instruction. GOP House and Senate supermajorities rejected the Democratic governor’s veto late Wednesday. Though a court challenge is expected, the law takes effect immediately and bars medical professionals from providing hormone therapy, puberty-blocking drugs and surgical gender-transition procedures to most under 18. North Carolina now becomes the 22nd state to enact legislation restricting or banning gender-affirming medical care for minors. Cooper blasted legislation enacted over his veto as discriminatory.
