North Carolina overrode Cooper's veto to enact S49, restricting K-4 gender-identity instruction and mandating parental notice of pronoun changes

On August 16, 2023, the Republican-controlled North Carolina General Assembly voted along party lines to override Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper's veto of Senate Bill 49, the "Parents' Bill of Rights," enacting it as Session Law 2023-106. Both chambers returned to Raleigh after weeks of inactivity to take the override votes, which passed largely on party lines.

As enacted, the law bars instruction on gender identity, sexual activity, or sexuality in kindergarten-through-fourth-grade classrooms, except in response to a student-initiated question, and requires school personnel to notify a parent before any change in the name or pronoun used for a student in school records or by school staff. Sen. Amy Galey (R-Alamance), the primary Senate sponsor, defended the measure on the floor as affirming a parent's "right to direct the upbringing" of their child and dismissed concerns about outing students as a "red herring."

LGBTQ advocates and educators warned that the notification mandate can force the disclosure of a transgender or gender-nonconforming student's identity to parents regardless of the student's safety or wishes, and that the instructional restrictions marginalize LGBTQ students and families in the classroom. S49 was one of three anti-LGBTQ bills whose vetoes the legislature overrode the same day, alongside a ban on gender-affirming care for minors and a restriction on transgender athletes.

Updates

2024-01-01 — School-district compliance deadline took effect [5]

January 1, 2024 was the deadline for North Carolina school districts to adopt policies implementing S49, including procedures for parents to report violations and for districts to respond, after a window granted for districts to build out local rules.

2024-01-30 — Advocates filed federal civil-rights complaint over the law [6, 7]

The Campaign for Southern Equality filed a Title IX complaint with the U.S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights and the U.S. Department of Justice's Civil Rights Division against the State Board of Education and the Department of Public Instruction, alleging that S49's mandates systematically marginalize and out LGBTQ students.