(LifeSiteNews) — North Carolina House Bill 805, which went into effect January 1, officially recognizes only two sexes in all official state proceedings. The bill formally acknowledges a person’s sex as being determined exclusively by reproductive capacity.
The bill defines “biological sex” as the “biological indication of male and female in the context of reproductive potential or capacity, such as sex chromosomes, naturally occurring sex hormones, gonads, and non-ambiguous internal and external genitalia present at birth, without regard to an individual’s psychological, chosen, or subjective experience of gender.”
Aside from clarifications on gender, the bill also enacts several provisions to protect the rights of children, parents, and people entrapped in pornography. The bill requires age verification and written consent by people depicted in pornography, bans federal funding of gender transitions for minors, allows parents to opt their children out of class material that contradicts their religious beliefs, requires parents to be given access to school library books for review, and requires schools to provide separate sleeping quarters for male and female students on overnight trips.
What began as a bill to combat the spread of malicious pornography content ultimately moved on to encompass the protection of children from aspects of gender ideology. This transition was labeled as “mean-spirited” in Governor Josh Stein’s original veto of the bill.
“I stand ready to work with the legislature when it gets serious about protecting people, instead of mean-spirited attempts to further divide us by marginalizing vulnerable North Carolinians,” wrote Stein.
READ: Maine mother petitions Supreme Court after school hid daughter’s ‘gender transition’
The American Civil Liberties Union of North Carolina formally denounced the North Carolina Republicans’ overriding the governor’s veto in a July 29 press release, stating that the move “imposes rigid definitions of sex,” and “enables parents to restrict their child’s access to library books and opt them out of any classroom activity they believe burdens their religion – further fueling censorship in education.”
Republican Rep. Neal Jackson sponsored the bill, telling ABC 11 that the new law is intended to align North Carolina with the federal standards on gender biology outlined in Executive Order 14168, “Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government.”
“It’s just biology defining, so state law meets up with federal mandate and what biology says,” stated Jackson.
Jackson also defended the law’s pornography provision, highlighting how many people are exploited by the industry.
“I’ve been a pastor for the last 18 years and so many people are trapped from an early age (in the pornographic world) … There’s so many sexual predators out there.”
