Bill would usurp rights of parents, doctors and teenagers on transgender decisions

You can always rely on state Sen. Ralph Hise. Apparently having (at least temporarily) tired of removing qualifying poor kids from the food stamp rolls and giving taxpayer dollars to religious outfits who use Jesus to try to talk women out of getting an abortion, Hise has now turned to bullying transgender teens, their parents and their doctors.

Maybe Hise noticed that Dan Bishop’s moves to permanently wound North Carolina with HB2 – provoking international boycotts of the Tar Heel state – proved to be his ticket to the United States Congress. Hise, too, seems to be aiming for the top. Even given the stiff competition, the Advocate reports that the new bill introduced by Republicans Hise, Norman Sanderson and Warren Daniel, is likely “the most repressive anti-transgender health care bill in the nation.”

Senate Bill 514, the Youth Health Protection Act, would make it illegal for doctors to provide health care to teenagers that helps them transition. It would also force school and government employees to out “gender nonconforming” teenagers to their parents and guardians. Senate leader Phil Berger argued a couple years ago that the North Carolina Republican Party’s entire agenda could be summed up by the aphorism: “That government is best which governs least.” Henry David Thoreau must be trying to cut his tongue out.

So that you understand I’m not making this up, I’ll quote the bill. Any “government” or “school employee” with “knowledge that a minor … has exhibited symptoms of gender dysphoria, gender nonconformity, or otherwise demonstrates a desire to be treated in a manner incongruent with the minor’s sex, shall immediately notify, in writing, each of the minor’s parents, guardians or custodians. The notice shall describe all of the relevant circumstances with reasonable specificity.”

Read that again, if you’re up to it.

It takes no great feat of imagination to wonder what all North Carolina public school teachers, counselors, administrators, football coaches, bus drivers and the like might do with this new mandate. What, precisely, is it to act ‘in a manner incongruent with a minor’s sex”? What is normal gender expression and conformity? What is a teacher or a coach’s idea of the appropriately masculine or feminine; and more importantly, what does that have to do with the exercise of state power?

Does a girl dress in camo, a boy wear makeup and spangles? Are teachers to act on their own biases, or, somehow, those of the state of North Carolina? How should a “reasonably specific” indictment be worded? Can a teacher be punished for not ratting out her students quickly and precisely enough? And far worse, will we now make immensely vulnerable students feel even more potently targeted by the institutions and adults meant to protect them – reporting to parents who might endanger them through the violent enforcement of gender norms. This is cruel and creepy statism on stilts.

The bill is also contradictory at its core. On the one hand, it is said to be rooted in the “protection of parental rights” – preserving the fundamental right of parents, custodians and guardians to care for their children. But if, God forbid, parents choose to support their children’s medical treatments, the state of North Carolina will intervene and veto the parents, doctor and teenager’s choice.

In that case, once again, Ralph Hise and his buddies know better. They’ll make the decision for them. That government is best where those who know least decide.

This story was originally published April 20, 2021 at 12:00 AM with the headline "Bill would usurp rights of parents, doctors and teenagers on transgender decisions."