North Carolina Gov. Josh Stein (D) has vetoed several anti-diversity bills, including one that would ban gender-affirming care for transgender inmates in the state prison system.The bill is H.B. 805, which bans the state from paying for gender-affirming hormone replacement therapy and surgeries for transgender inmates. It would have also required the state to keep a copy of a transgender persons original birth certificate if they have the gender marker on it updated, and it included language saying that there are only two genders, male and female. Related North Carolina is a swing state, so why are its top GOP candidates far-right MAGA extremists? In one of the few swing states this election, the GOP is nominating people who rock the boat and punch a hole in the boat every day. Why? According to WPDE, the bill started as a bipartisan measure requiring age verification for adult websites, but the final version of the bill contained a list of far-right initiatives, including the ones listed above related to transgender peoples rights and another measure that would require school districts to create a policy to allow parents to opt their kids out of activities that impose a substantial burden on the students religious beliefs. Insights for the LGBTQ+ community Subscribe to our briefing for insights into how politics impacts the LGBTQ+ community and more. Subscribe to our Newsletter today My faith teaches me that we are all children of God, no matter our differences, and that it is wrong to target vulnerable people, as this bill does, Stein said in vetoing the bill.The other three bills that Stein vetoed on Thursday were related to diversity measures. One of the bills would have cut funding to schools that engage in diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives. Another bill would have banned diversity training and staff positions at state agencies, and it also would have banned state funds from being used for diversity initiatives at those agencies.We should not whitewash history, Stein wrote about the education bill, adding that the state should ensure our students learn from diverse perspectives and form their own opinions. He said the bill about state diversity measures is riddled with vague definitions and imposes extreme penalties for unknowable violations. The bills passed along party lines, with all state Democrats opposing the diversity bills and only one Democrat voting in favor of the anti-trans bill. Republicans have a nearly veto-proof majority, but they need at least one Democrat to cross party lines in the North Carolina House of Representatives to overturn Steins veto.State House Speaker Destin Hall (R) said in a statement that Stein has sided with radical activists over the overwhelming majority of North Carolinians who believe in parental rights, biological reality, and protecting women and children.Stein signed eight other bills on Thursday, including one that prevents parents from being charged with abuse or neglect if they raise a transgender child consistent with the juveniles biological sex. Its not clear that there have been such cases in the state, but the idea that the government will remove trans children from unaffirming parents homes has been a rightwing bogeyman for years. Republicans across the country, though, have supported measures to take children away from LGBTQ+-affirming parents on the grounds that affirming a trans kids gender identity is child abuse.Another bill that he signed bans adoption agencies from denying anti-LGBTQ+ parents the opportunity to adopt if they oppose letting a trans kid live as their gender. This may seem like the opposite position on the issue that Republicans have taken for years, where they denounce any state interference in how private agencies even those that receive state funds determine who can be a potential adoptive or foster parent.But in previous cases, it was usually anti-LGBTQ+ adoption agencies being told not to discriminate against LGBTQ+ parents, and this bill stops pro-LGBTQ+ adoption agencies from refusing anti-LGBTQ+ parents, which is consistent with the previous Republican position in that both disadvantage LGBTQ+ children.Subscribe to theLGBTQ Nation newsletterand be the first to know about the latest headlines shaping LGBTQ+ communities worldwide.