Teachers in North Dakota can still refer to transgender students by the personal pronouns they use, after lawmakers on Monday failed to override the governor鈥檚 veto of a controversial bill to place restrictions on educators.
House lawmakers fell short of the two-thirds majority needed to block the veto, days after and the Senate overrode it.
The bill would have prohibited public school teachers and employees from acknowledging the personal pronouns a transgender student uses, unless they received permission from the student鈥檚 parents as well as a school administrator. It would have also prohibited government agencies from requiring employees to acknowledge the pronouns a transgender colleagues uses.
Republican lawmakers across the U.S. have drafted to push back on LGBTQ+ freedoms, particularly seeking to regulate aspects of transgender people鈥檚 lives including gender-affirming health care, bathroom use, athletics and drag performances.
鈥淎sk yourself, does Senate Bill 2231 treat others the way you would want to be treated?鈥 Democratic Rep. Emily O鈥橞rien of Grand Forks said on the House floor, adding that overriding the veto would perpetuate 鈥渄iscrimination, hatred or prejudice.鈥
Republican Rep. SuAnn Olson of Baldwin said the bill protects freedom of speech for teachers and keeps 鈥渋nappropriate鈥 topics out of the classroom.
North Dakota will consider other bills this session about transgender students, she said.
Olson said that if lawmakers 鈥渁re firm on this bill, on girls鈥 athletics, on separate bathrooms, we will strengthen public schools.鈥 But allowing what she called an 鈥渆mphasis on sexuality鈥 in schools would cause students and teachers to abandon the public education system.
State representatives voted 56-36 to override the governor's veto, but 63 votes were required.
All 12 Democrats in the House voted against the bill, as did 24 Republicans. One was Rep. Eric Murphy, of Grand Forks, an associate professor of biomedical sciences at the University of North Dakota.
鈥淚鈥檓 tired of these bills. I鈥檓 tired of both sides,鈥 Murphy said on the House floor. 鈥淚f a student wants to be called a different pronoun, does that really matter? Is this earth-shattering?鈥
In a letter to state lawmakers announcing his veto, the governor said, 鈥淭he teaching profession is challenging enough without the heavy hand of state government forcing teachers to take on the role of pronoun police.鈥 The First Amendment already protects teachers from speaking contrary to their beliefs, and existing law protects the free speech rights of state employees, Burgum added.
Lawmakers who supported the bill have said in debates that it would free teachers from worrying about how to address each student and create a better learning environment.
Opponents said the bill targets transgender students who already have disproportionately high risks of suicide.
In 2021, Burgum vetoed a bill that would have barred transgender girls from playing on girls鈥 teams in public schools. Lawmakers didn鈥檛 override that veto, but they're considering new legislation this session to replicate and expand that bill 鈥 including at the college level.
Last week, President Joe Biden denounced what he called hundreds of hateful and extreme and their families.
鈥淭he bullying, discrimination, and political attacks that trans kids face have exacerbated our national mental health crisis," Biden said. 鈥淭hese attacks are un-American and must end.鈥
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Trisha Ahmed is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues. Follow Trisha Ahmed on Twitter:
