House bill about sexuality, religion in schools now law after veto override
The NC General Assembly voted to override Gov. Josh Stein’s veto on a controversial bill tackling sexuality, religion in schools and school libraries — a win for Senate and House Republicans.
The House voted 72-48 to override the veto, with Rep. Naisf Majeed being the only Democrat to vote with Republicans. The bill then moved to the Senate, receiving a 30-19 final vote.
Majeed, a Mecklenburg County Democrat who rarely votes with Republicans, proved to be the decisive vote in overriding Stein’s veto.
“I had some moral issues and I had to lean on my values,” he told reporters when asked about his vote.
Senate Democratic Leader Sydney Batch said that as campaign season draws closer, constituents are looking to see how their representatives are voting. Batch said Democrats who voted against their party on Tuesday, including Majeed, risk their constituents voting for another candidate to replace them for voting with Republicans.
“What I believe is that their district did not ask them to vote for that,” Batch said.
What is House Bill 805?
HB 805, titled “Prevent Sexual Exploitation/Women and Minors,” originally created strict guidelines for the protection of people who have explicit content of themselves on pornography websites. The bill passed unanimously in both chambers but later additions to the bill caused a partisan divide, heated debate and a veto from Gov. Stein.
The additions made in the Senate tackle several Republican talking points this session, including barring state funds to be used for gender transition procedures for inmates in state prisons, requiring school districts to create an infrastructure to allow parents to make lists of books their children can’t read and create a searchable database for library books at each school.
It also handles other issues in K-12 education. Under the bill, students can excuse themselves from instruction and activities that “impose(s) a substantial burden on the student’s religious beliefs or invade(s) the student’s privacy by calling attention to the student’s religion.”
The bill also prohibits students from sharing rooms with the opposite sex on school trips, with the exception of special permission from parents and immediate family members.
In addition to withholding state funds for gender transition treatment, the bill now allows patients who received gender transition procedures to sue for malpractice up to 10 years after their procedure.
Protests in response to the bill
Rep. Neal Jackson, a Moore County Republican, said that he placed his support in the bill because it will “safeguard our daughters and support survivors and uphold fairness and accountability in our schools.”
Rep. Laura Budd, a Mecklenburg County Democrat, shared her frustrations about the changes made by the Senate to what was once a unanimously supported bill strictly targeting consent laws for explicit online material.
“It’s not that I disrespect the personal opinion depositions from where some of my colleagues come from,” Budd said. “But when we decide we are going to legislate based on our personal morality?”
Tuesday’s override voting sessions drew more than 100 protesters, young and old, to the hallways and the galleries of the House and Senate, with HB805 appearing to gather a large number of protesters.
Tami Fitzgerald, executive director of the NC Values Coalition, said she is excited about the outcome of Tuesday’s voting session. Fitzgerald, who lobbied for the creation of the bill, also said she is thankful to Rep. Majeed for voting in favor of the override.
“The bill defines throughout state law the terms man, woman, male, female, and sex according to biology. And that’s important because we’re seeing attacks on biological sex everywhere throughout our society,” Fitzgerald said.
But for Eliazar Posada, the executive director of Equality NC, a statewide pro-LGBTQ+ organization, the veto override was “deeply disappoint(ing).”
“We need to stand for the rights of our queer community because we know that that’s just a slippery slope for other things coming down the pipeline,” Posada said, who also serves as a Carrboro Town Council Member.
“An attack on one is an attack on all.”
Janet Peterson, a retired teacher and a member of the Pavement Education Project, said that she grew passionate about making sure parents know “what’s in their children’s schools.”
“It’s not that we think writers should stop writing these books. It’s just that they should not be available in public schools if they’re age inappropriate or if they’re obscene.”
Why Josh Stein vetoed the bill
Stein said that he chose to veto the bill because it, along with other controversial bills about immigration and diversity, equity and inclusion “stoking culture wars.”
“These mean-spirited bills would marginalize vulnerable people and also undermine the quality of public services and public education. Therefore, I am vetoing them. I stand ready to work with the legislature when it gets serious about protecting people and addressing North Carolinians’ pressing concerns,” Stein said in a press release.
A previous version of this story misspelled Tami Fitzgerald’s first name. It also incorrectly listed her as a protestor. She’s a lobbyist.
Reporter Kyle Ingram contributed to this story.
This story was originally published July 29, 2025 at 10:29 AM with the headline "House bill about sexuality, religion in schools now law after veto override."
