Gov. Kelly Ayotte has vetoed a bill to allow transgender people to be excluded from restrooms, locker rooms, jails, and other spaces that don’t match their sex at birth.
“I vetoed a nearly identical bill to this one last year,” Ayotte, a Republican, said in a statement announcing the veto Friday. “I made it clear this issue needed to be addressed in a thoughtful, narrow way that protects the privacy, safety, and rights of all Granite Staters. Unfortunately, there is minimal difference between Senate Bill 268 and the bill I vetoed last year, which Governor Sununu vetoed the year prior.”
Like 2025’s House Bill 148 and 2024’s House Bill 396, the Republican-backed Senate Bill 268 sought to create exceptions to the state’s antidiscrimination law, which was enacted in 2018 and protects people from discrimination on the basis of “gender identity” and other characteristics. In addition to allowing businesses and organizations to separate restrooms, locker rooms, and jails by sex at birth rather than self-expressed gender identity, the bills would’ve allowed schools to keep transgender girls off boys sports teams and vice versa.
In 2025, Ayotte endorsed some of the conservative lawmakers’ goals, but ultimately vetoed the legislation on the grounds that it was impractical.
“I believe there are important and legitimate privacy and safety concerns raised by biological males using places such as female locker rooms and being placed in female correctional facilities,” Ayotte wrote at the time. “At the same time, I see that House Bill 148 is overly broad and impractical to enforce, potentially creating an exclusionary environment for some of our citizens.”
In December, conservatives failed to garner the votes necessary to override the governor’s veto.
Former Gov. Chris Sununu vetoed another similar bill in the final year of his tenure. Sununu, also a Republican, wrote in 2024 as he vetoed HB 396 that the bill “runs contrary to New Hampshire’s Live Free or Die spirit,” and “seeks to solve problems that have not presented themselves.” The Legislature also failed to overturn that veto.
New Hampshire Bulletin is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. New Hampshire Bulletin maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Dana Wormald for questions: info@newhampshirebulletin.com.
