North Carolina Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper on Wednesday vetoed a trio of bills aimed at LGBTQ+ youth that would ban gender-affirming health care for minors, restrict transgender participation in school sports, and limit classroom instruction about gender identity and sexuality. While LGBTQ+ rights advocates say Cooper’s attempt to block the bills demonstrates his support amid what they view as unrelenting attacks from the General Assembly, his veto stamp carries little weight now that Republicans hold narrow veto-proof majorities in both chambers. His vetoes are not expected to survive override attempts. Cooper denounced the measures as a triple threat of political culture wars that he said would interfere with the ability of doctors and parents to care for vulnerable children whose lives have been thrust into the political spotlight and upended by legislation in dozens of Republican-led states. One of the three vetoed bills would bar North Carolina medical professionals from providing hormone therapy, puberty-blocking drugs, and surgical gender-transition procedures to anyone under 18, with limited medical exceptions. Although some local LGBTQ+ rights advocates are hoping to convince moderate Republicans to sustain Cooper’s veto, others are bracing for a rapid loss of access to the treatments many trans people credit as life-saving. #Queer Up Politics