How NC Republicans turned a bill with unanimous support into anti-LGBTQ legislation

Republicans in the NC House last week passed HB850 over Gov. Josh Stein’s veto by just one vote, despite it passing 113-0 in the spring. Why the change? Because Republicans added attacks on trans people into a bill intended to end “revenge porn.”

North Carolina Republicans last week, with the help of one Democrat, overrode Gov. Josh Stein’s veto of legislation officially recognizing only two sexes in North Carolina, one of several anti-LGBTQ+ provisions in the bill.

Although every Democrat other than Rep. Nasif Majeed (Mecklenburg) voted against it, the bill unanimously passed in the House just two months ago by  a vote of 113-0. So what changed?

House Bill 805, titled “Prevent Sexual Exploitation/Women and Minors,” originally intended to protect victims of “revenge porn” through stricter age and consent verification requirements on adult sites. It also outlined a clear process for removing such images.

It said nothing about the number of sexes.

Republican leaders in the Senate added the anti-LGBTQ+ and other “culture war” provisions to the existing protections in June. 

The addition of hyper-partisan and unrelated elements to a popular bill follows a recent Republican pattern, forcing Democrats to either vote for things they detest or vote against the things they care about.

In 2023, for example, Republicans used a bill originally intended to improve the care of abandoned infants as the vehicle for their 12-week abortion ban. SB20 passed the House and Senate unanimously in April of that year when it was about infants. The next month, Republicans took the bill back and turned it into an abortion bill that also protects abandoned infants. 

During the override debate in the House on Tuesday, Democrats called Republicans on their bait and switch.

“Everybody voted for it, and everyone supported it because it did one thing – it protected women and children and everybody else from internet pornography predators,” Rep. Laura Budd (D-Mecklenburg) said on the House floor.

Initial bill

According to the Cyber Rights Organization, 90% of victims of the distribution of non-consensual intimate imagery are women. HB 805 states that an “online entity operator” can not publish or allow users to publish pornographic images online unless the operator has verified that each individual in the image is at least 18 years old. 

These operators must also ensure that each individual provided explicit written consent for each act of sexual activity engaged in while creating the image, along with the distribution of the specific pornographic image.

Rules for the removal of images were also outlined, including the adoption of procedures for removing pornographic pictures at the request of a person. This section states that an online entity operator must display a prominent notice on their website on how a person can request the removal of these images.

The bill also establishes several civil penalties for individuals or websites that violate the law, including fines for every day a prohibited image remains on the site. 

Senate revisions

After being sent clean to the Senate in June, however, Republicans added a slew of amendments to the bill mirroring recent attacks by the Trump administration on trans Americans, including his executive order declaring the United States recognizes just two sexes. 

In its preamble, the bill now says that Trump’s executive order is “immutable and grounded in biological reality,” and that the General Assembly must comply with it to maintain eligibility for federal funding.

Section one of the bill now officially recognizes two sexes in all administrative rules, regulations, or public policies adopted by the state. This section also defines terminology such as “biological sex,” “gender identity,” “boy,” “girl,” “woman” and “man.”

During a Senate Judiciary Committee meeting on June 10, Senator Sophia Chitlik (D-Durham) questioned what problem they were actually trying to solve through these changes. 

In response, Senator Buck Newton (R-Greene) said it was time they clarify “what most people recognize would be obvious, which is that there are only two sexes.”

Republicans also added limitations on state funding for gender transition procedures, even though these procedures were never authorized or funded by state agencies to begin with. According to the bill, no state funds will be used for the performance of surgical gender transition procedures or to provide puberty-blocking drugs or cross-sex hormones to minors or any prisoner incarcerated in the state prison system. These funding limitations also include any support for the administration of governmental health plans or government-offered insurance policies offering these gender-affirming services.

Sen. Mujtaba Mohammed (D-Mecklenburg), however, questioned why these amendments focused on funding for gender transition procedures would be included when they implement “unnecessary laws.”

“We reached out to our state agencies, and they confirmed that they’ve never authorized sexual procedures, there’s never been gender affirming care, there’s never been any authorized gender affirming surgeries,” Mohammed said.

The last revision focused on gender identity defines procedures for when a person updates their sex on an amended or new birth certificate. State officials must now attach the original birth certificate to the updated document and file them both. Other changes to the bill allow parents or guardians to limit the books their child may check out from the school library or request that their child be excused from some classroom discussions, activities, or assigned reading if they believe they violate their religious beliefs. 

House response

During Tuesday’s debate over the vetoed bills, Rep. Neal Jackson (R-Moore) spoke in support of the revised HB 805, stating the bill fosters open dialogue between educators and communities.

“It also promotes transparency by empowering parents to review and appeal age-inappropriate materials in school libraries,” he said during the session.

Rep. Budd, however, said the Senate took HB 805 and wrapped it in “culture war policies.”

“It empowered, it uplifted, and it actively supported and protected victims of internet pornography predators,” she said.

Instead, Budd said, they were now being asked to vote on a bill that did none of those things anymore. 

“To be voting on it today is sad in the form that it is being presented to us in,” Budd said. “History will judge us, and it will not judge us kindly.”