THE POLICY LANDSCAPE
Rights, restrictions & the places between.
Legal recognition · Legal sex definitions
North Carolina
Restriction reported
Statute defines sex by reproductive biology for all state and local rules, regulations and policies
- Laws cited
- N.C. Gen. Stat. § 12-3.3 (2025 N.C. Sess. Laws 2025-84, § 1(a), H.B. 805)
- In effect since
- Instrument
- Statute
- Litigation
- No court order blocking § 12-3.3 was found. Kwiatkowski v. Dismukes, No. 3:26-cv-00098 (W.D.N.C., filed Feb. 6, 2026), is a prisoner class action. According to reports, it challenges the Act's separate ban on state funds for gender-affirming care in prisons (G.S. 143C-6-5.6(b1)), not § 12-3.3. A CourtListener search for '12-3.3' plus 'biological sex' returned no cases.
- Researched
- (Date of the primary-source research; not a legal effective date)
From the source text
The following definitions shall apply to all administrative rules, regulations, or public policies adopted by the State of North Carolina or its political subdivisions, unless otherwise specified
Sources
Policy sources
- N.C. Gen. Stat. § 12-3.3 (official text)(opens another site)
- Session Law 2025-84 (H.B. 805), enacted over veto July 29, 2025(opens another site)PDF, external
Court sources
Researched from primary sources
Trans Data Initiative research. Researched from primary sources (enacted text, the code on official sites, executive orders, court orders), starting from the Trans Data Initiative legislation tracker's bills. Each determination was checked independently by a second researcher; disputes were settled by a third review. No other tracker's descriptions were used.
A record is what a source reported on the date it was captured, not a legal effective date. An unobserved record is not a finding that no restrictions exist.
Dated records for North Carolina in this area
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Statute defines sex by reproductive biology for all state and local rules, regulations and policies
N.C. Gen. Stat. § 12-3.3 (2025 N.C. Sess. Laws 2025-84, § 1(a), H.B. 805)