This article originally appeared in The Carolina Journal
A few years ago on a North Carolina high school volleyball court, Payton McNabb took a spike to the face. It wasn’t just any spike — it came from a trans-identified male competing on the opposing girls’ team. The hit left Payton with a concussion and longterm physical and cognitive issues. But perhaps the most lasting injury was the message she received from the adults in charge: that her safety was secondary to someone else’s identity.
North Carolina Gov. Josh Stein has joined a growing list of Democrat governors in rejecting basic basic biological reality and common-sense protections for women and girls. By vetoing HB 805 — a landmark bill that defines male and female in state law — Stein has chosen ideology over biology, and political posturing over public safety. The governor’s decision, cloaked in the usual fake rhetoric of empathy, ignores women’s safety, science, and the will of North Carolinians.
If not for the governor’s veto, North Carolina would have become the 18th state to define “man” and “woman” in state law.
Contrary to the governor’s misleading claims, HB 805 contained nothing radical to “stok[e] the culture wars.” Instead, the bill laid out legal backing for a basic proposition once considered apolitical: that men and women are biologically different. Polling shows this view is not extreme — it reflects not just the views of conservatives and Republicans, but those of independents and a not-small portion of Democrats. In fact, a New York Times/Ipsos poll earlier this year found that an overwhelming four out of five Americans support using this simple biological definition of sex to determine eligibility in sports.
In addition to enshrining the biological definition of sex, HB 805 would help protect the safety of students by prohibiting K-12 boys and girls from sharing the same sleeping quarters. Among other things, the bill also prevents taxpayer dollars from funding sex-trait modification procedures, puberty blockers, or cross-sex hormones for inmates.
These restrictions and protections are necessary because gender ideology activists have forced them to be so.
Payton McNabb’s injury wasn’t hypothetical; and it was entirely preventable. As a former decorated UNC Chapel Hill athlete, a two-time NCAA Champion, and now a mother to two young daughters who hope to attend school in North Carolina like their father and I did, I am appalled. Just a few years after I competed, girls are being forced to give up the very opportunities women fought so hard to secure. Why? Because too many leaders lack the courage to stand up for truth.
While he prefers to hide behind vague jabs about the “culture wars,” the sad truth is that our governor has joined too many Democrats in putting ideological extremism above basic truth, biology, and the safety of women and girls — not to mention the views of his own voters. By rejecting HB 805, the governor is prioritizing political posturing to a radical portion of his base and national activist groups over the practical needs of the people he was elected to serve.
Two years ago, the North Carolina legislature overrode a similar veto from then-Gov. Roy Cooper to protect fair competition in sports — protecting female athletes from being subjected to male competitors and teammates. They have another opportunity to do the right thing again.
Stein has chosen to let down the women and voters of North Carolina, but the legislature can still stand up — for safety, for fairness, and for the biological reality that makes protecting women’s rights possible in the first place.
