Under a newly proposed bill targeting transgender youths in North Carolina, government employees would be required to notify the parents of any minors they witnessed “exhibiting symptoms of gender dysphoria” or “gender nonconformity.” The Youth Health Protection Act specifies that the notification should come in writing, describing “relevant circumstances” with “reasonable specificity.”
It’s good for laws to be as specific as possible, and so it’s worth pointing out that this proposed wording is vague. What, precisely, does the bill consider “a desire to be treated in a manner incongruent with the minor’s sex”? Is it when a student known as Samantha asks to now be called Sam and happens to have primarily male friends? Is it when a girl signs up for shop class instead of home ec? If a bunch of boys flout a rule about warm-weather school uniforms by showing up to class in skirts — as several teens did in England a few years ago — are they exercising their right to protest, or are they now gender incongruent? What should a reasonably specific note to their parents say?
This bill is bad. This bill is bad for many moral reasons, not the least of which because it puts random government bureaucrats in charge of personally deciding who is gender appropriate, and because outing transgender kids to their guardians could actively put them in danger. Continue reading.