By Peyton Majors
Christian Action League
May 5, 2023
A bill that would prohibit transgender surgery and treatments on children and teens under the age of 18 passed the North Carolina House along a largely party-line vote Thursday.
The bill, S. 808, passed 74-44, with 72 Republicans joining two Democrats in supporting it. All the “no” votes came from Democrats.
The bill’s language would make it “unlawful for any medical professional or mental health care professional or counselor” to perform surgeries that sterilize minors. That includes “castration, vasectomy, hysterectomy, oophorectomy, orchiectomy, or penectomy.” Mastectomies, puberty blockers and hormones on minors also would be illegal.
“The State of North Carolina has a compelling government interest protecting the health and safety of its citizens, especially vulnerable children,” the bill’s language says in its findings.
Children often grow up to regret trans treatments and trans surgeries, the findings say.
“The cause of the individual’s impression of discordance between sex and identity is unknown, and the diagnosis is based exclusively on the individual’s self-report of feelings and beliefs,” the findings say. “… This internal sense of discordance is not permanent or fixed, but to the contrary, numerous studies have shown that a substantial majority of children who experience discordance between their sex and identity will outgrow the discordance once they go through puberty and will eventually have an identity that aligns with their sex.”
Last year in Florida, a 17-year-old girl who formerly identified as a transgender boy testified in favor of bans on trans treatments on minors. The girl, Chloe Cole, said doctors allowed her to have a mastectomy she now regrets. She began transitioning at age 13.
“I really didn’t understand all of the ramifications of any of the medical decisions that I was making,” she said. “… I was unknowingly physically cutting off my true self from my body, irreversibly and painfully.”
Supporters of the bill emphasized that the bill only applies to minors.
“What we’re dealing with here is limited to surgical procedures that are used for gender transitioning on minors, that is people under the age of 18,” said Republican Rep. Hugh Blackwell, who is a primary sponsor of the bill. “This is not a bill that is about denying surgical procedure to those 18 and older who choose to have those types of procedures.”
“We’re simply suggesting with this legislation, that that’s something because of the age significance or its life significance that is a choice that should be made when the child is of age, and that’s essentially all that you’re trying to accomplish here.”
Rev. Mark Creech, executive director of the Christian Action League, watched the debate. The Christian Action League supports the bill.
“It was painful to watch the champions of this bill excoriated by people in the audience when they were really doing a very courageous thing,” Creech said. “Most of the press has been quite hostile towards them and the proposal, treating them like insensitive, bigoted brutes when they are trying to protect these youngsters from making a decision that will forever alter their lives long before they are mentally, emotionally, or spiritually prepared.”
Creech’s comments echo those of author and social commentator Jordan Peterson, who previously said the issue should not be partisan or ideological.
“You’re aiding and abetting the surgical mutilation of minors — that is not compassionate, and it’s not tolerant,” Peterson said.
Too many parents, Creech said, have bought the media’s lies on the issue.
“It was painful to see so many misguided parents angry at lawmakers over the bill when they ought to be mad at themselves. Some gender identity confusion among children can be pretty common, especially during the tempestuous days of puberty. And because the vast majority of them will come through it with their inborn gender identities intact, do we allow for their genitalia to be mutilated? For heaven’s sake, no!” Creech said. “… These children really need to be lovingly led to see how wonderful it is to be the sex God made them. These children also need a strong role model of their same sex. If a father or mother is not available, then perhaps a stepparent or a friend or a relative. Children also need to know from God’s Word what it says about such matters. This should be done in a way the child is not hammered over the head with it, but lovingly led to see that what God orders for us is always in our best interest.” The bill, Creech said, is “life-saving legislation.”