The North Dakota House of Representatives fell seven votes short Monday of overriding a veto by Gov. Doug Burgum of a bill that would prohibit public schools and state agencies from requiring the use of pronouns that don't correspond to an individual's biological sex.
The GOP holds veto-proof majorities in the House and Senate, and the Senate overruled the veto Friday with a 37-9 vote, meaning the House needed two-thirds, or 63 votes, in a chamber with an 82-12 edge in Republicans over Democrats to override the veto of Senate Bill 2231. But 24 Republicans and all 12 Democrats voted against the override, with the final vote 56-36.
"I'm tired of these bills. I'm tired of both sides," state Rep. Eric Murphy, R-Grand Forks, who voted against the override, said on the House floor Monday, according to the Bismarck Tribune. "If a student wants to be called a different pronoun, does that really matter? Is this earth-shattering?"
In a letter to the Senate president, Lt. Gov. Tammy Miller, Burgum said the bill "would invite lawsuits" and "put teachers in the precarious position of trying to determine how to refer to students without violating law."
"The teaching profession is challenging enough without the heavy hand of state government forcing teachers to take on the role of pronoun police," Burgum wrote, according to The Hill. "Parents, teachers and administrators using compassion, empathy and common sense can address individual and infrequent situations that may arise."
Burgum said, The Hill reported, he approved of the bill's first section, which said a state government employee can't be required to use a colleague's preferred pronouns. He said existing First Amendment protections shield against compelled speech. He took issue with the second section, which would have barred public school teachers from using a transgender student's preferred pronouns without permission from both a school administrator and the student's parents.