Several proposals aimed at limiting the rights of transgender residents are moving through the State House, with strong Republican backing and Democrat opposition.
The House Judiciary Committee endorsed legislation Monday that would allow government bodies and private businesses to bar transgender people from using a bathroom or locker room that aligns with their gender identity. The bill — which passed the committee along party lines with all Republicans in support — would also allow segregation by "biological sex" in jails and psychiatric hospitals.
Before the vote, Wolfeboro Republican Rep. Katy Peternel told colleagues that New Hampshire should act on an issue she sees as a matter of public safety.
“The time is now to protect our women and girls in the Granite State," Peternel said.
Democrats say the bill will do more harm than good.
“It’s almost legislative malpractice, it seems to me,” said Rep Eric Turer of Brentwood. “There are at least four approaches to defining biological sex and these can be changed, either naturally or by medical intervention.”
The bill’s language is identical to a proposal then-Gov. Chris Sununu vetoed last year on the grounds it was unneeded and discriminatory.
A 2018 state law prohibits discrimination based on gender identity in housing, employment and public accommodations.
Lawmakers also heard testimony Monday on a pair of Republican-backed bills that would prohibit transgender minors from receiving puberty blockers, hormone therapy or gender-affirming chest surgery to aid in their transition.
The bills would go much further than a law passed last year that prohibits gender-affirming genital surgeries, which are exceedingly rare before age 18.
“While I understand that gender dysphoria is real and painful, rushing minors into irreversible medical interventions is not the answer,” Rep. Lisa Mazur, a Goffstown Republican and the prime sponsor of both bills, said Monday, noting that some European countries have moved to restrict that care.
Gender affirming care can take many forms. For young people, it can involve puberty blockers and hormones. Surgeries are relatively rare before age 18.
Most major medical associations in the U.S., including the American Medical Association and the American Academy of Pediatrics, support trans and nonbinary youth having access to gender-affirming care, saying it’s associated with better mental health outcomes. The American Society of Plastic Surgeons has said more research is needed on the topic of gender-affirming surgeries for minors, citing “considerable uncertainty” about long-term outcomes for younger patients, but said it opposes efforts to ban or criminalize care.
Multiple transgender Granite Staters and parents of trans kids spoke out against the bills Monday. They said denying that care would be damaging to young people’s mental health.
“I am not exaggerating when I say that gender-affirming care is the reason I am alive and well today,” said Seth Heirtzler of Durham.
He recalled, as a child, being distressed as his body started to grow breasts and go through other changes associated with female puberty. When he started taking testosterone at age 14, it “dramatically improved my mental and physical well-being,” said Heirtzler, now 21.
He also pushed back on claims that children are being rushed into such treatments, saying a therapist had to attest he had been consistently diagnosed with gender dysphoria for at least a year before he could start hormone therapy.
The hearing also drew multiple out-of-state advocates who have called for limiting gender-affirming care, including Jamie Reed, a former case worker who raised concerns about practices at a St. Louis gender clinic, and Corinna Cohn, who expressed regret about getting gender-affirming surgery at age 19.
Studies have tended to find that few people regret getting gender-affirming care. A study last year, based on survey data from 220 transgender or nonbinary youth, found only 4% regretted receiving puberty blockers or hormones.
