The Republican-led North Carolina General Assembly has approved two bills that target the LGBTQ community.

One bill (H808) prohibits gender-affirming care for transgender minors, while the other (S49) bans discussions of sexual orientation and gender identity in grades K-4. The bill, dubbed “Don't Say Gay” by its critics, also forces teachers to out students to their parents.

The Human Rights Campaign (HRC), the nation's largest LGBTQ rights advocate, is calling on Governor Roy Cooper, a Democrat, to veto the bills.

“Like all kids, transgender youth deserve the best quality medical care that ensures they can live their healthiest lives, including age-appropriate gender-affirming care,” Sarah Warbelow, vice president of legal at HRC, said in a statement. “Like all kids, they deserve to be treated with dignity and respect. Distressingly, extremist North Carolina lawmakers don’t care about the facts or the tremendous harm H808 will cause, they care only about advancing their anti-LGBTQ+ crusade. We urge Gov. Cooper to hear the voices of transgender kids, their families, and medical experts and veto this legislation.”

According to HRC, 229 out of almost 560 anti-LGBTQ bills filed nationwide this year target the rights of transgender people, and more than half of those bills would prevent transgender youth from accessing medically-necessary health care.

“[It is] the highest number of bills targeting transgender people in a single year to date,” the group said.

As a gubernatorial candidate in 2016, Cooper vowed to repeal a contentious anti-LGBTQ law (House Bill 2) signed by his GOP predecessor, Pat McCrory. Once in office, Cooper has been pivotal in slowly dismantling the law and its negative effects from a corporate boycott of the state.

With veto-proof majorities in the House and Senate, Republicans have introduced a dozen anti-LGBTQ bills this year and appear prepared to defend them. North Carolina voters next year will decide on a new governor as Cooper cannot seek a third consecutive term in office. The leading GOP candidate, Mark Robinson, the current Lieutenant Governor, is a vocal opponent of LGBTQ rights and is polling slightly ahead of Democrat Josh Stein, the state's current Attorney General.