'You're killing my kid': Over protests, House advances bill to ban gender surgery for trans teens

The House Health committee voted Tuesday to approve a bill that would ban teens from receiving gender-affirming surgery, even with a parent's consent — a decision that drew vocal protests from opponents who were prevented from speaking out against the bill.

House Bill 808, known as the Youth Health Protection Act, is one of several bills before the legislature targeting transgender people. It would also block the use of state funds for any gender transition-related medical care. The measure could advance to the House floor for a vote Wednesday.

"What we are calling for is relatively simple: to not resort to irreversible procedures that are dangerous before we absolutely, positively, without a doubt, know that they will actually help," said state Rep. Ken Fontenot, R-Wilson, a co-sponsor of the bill.

Fontenot blamed "social contagion" for the increasing number of transgender teens. He claimed that most transgender people have other mental or physical health issues that are more likely to be the true cause of their dysphoria. He compared gender transitioning to "medical experimentation."

Opponents of the bill, including doctors and parents, had signed up to speak during the committee meeting. But they weren't allowed to speak. Chairwoman Rep Erin Paré, R-Wake, said the committee had no time for questions or comments from members, or for public comment. She called the voice vote, which appeared to be along party lines.

After the vote, lawmakers were met with chants of "Shame!" and "Let us speak!"

"You're killing my kid" one woman shouted.

"Blood on your hands," another yelled.

General Assembly police responded to the outburst. Nobody was arrested.

An earlier version of the bill also included a ban on gender-affirming hormone therapy, also known as puberty blockers, as well as gender-affirming counseling. Those prohibitions were removed by sponsor Rep. Hugh Blackwell, R-Burke.

Blackwood pointed out that state law doesn't allow minors to get a tattoo or body piercing without parental consent.

"We're simply suggesting with this legislation that something — because of its life significance, that it's a choice that should be made when the child is of age," Blackwell said. "And that's essentially all that we're trying to accomplish here."After the meeting, people who had traveled hours on short notice to speak against the bill vented their frustration.

Rupal Yu, a doctor who works with trans people and teens, said the changes made to the bill at the last minute were an improvement, but added there's nothing stopping lawmakers from restoring the ban on hormone therapy and counseling in the next committee. "It's a total disgrace," she said. "As a citizen, it’s extremely upsetting and surprising how undemocratic this process is."

Joshua Dumas, the father of a transgender child, had also signed up to speak.

"When HB2 was around in this state, there was a massive upswelling of support. There were sports teams, there were concerts, there were businesses that said, ‘We’re not going to participate in this, we don’t want to do business with your state if it traffics in this type of hate,’" Dumas told WRAL News.

"Right now, with the trans bills we’re seeing going around the country, all those communities are silent," Dumas continued, growing emotional. "We need you. We need your help. We need corporate sponsors and political donors and people who can bring money into the state to withhold that and stand with us."

After the vote, the NC Values Coalition, the group behind HB2, released a statement from executive director Tami Fitzgerald saying H808 is needed "to protect children from the devastating, life-altering effects of gender surgery.”

"Children are being irreversibly damaged at the hands of medical and trans activists,” said Fitzgerald, "sterilized, castrated and given mastectomies with experimental transitioning in North Carolina at medical facilities such as Cone Health, ECU, Duke, UNC, and Levine Children’s Hospital."

Representatives for Equality NC and the Campaign for Southern Equality, groups that advocate for transgender rights, issued a press release Monday calling the bill an “extreme overreach” that ignores the advice of medical professionals.

“North Carolina’s leading medical experts are demanding that lawmakers listen to their concerns, and accepted medical best practices, before rushing through this dangerous anti-LGBTQ+ agenda,” Allison Scott with the Campaign for Southern Equality said in a statement.