transgender rights

A Superior Court judge heard testimony Thursday in the case of a Nashua man accused of threatening a transgender woman.  The case is being pursued by the Civil Rights Unit at the New Hampshire Attorney General's Office.

 The defendant, Marc Bernier, is accused of threatening to kill the transgender woman for using the women's locker room at a Planet Fitness. There is security video of the interaction but it doesn't include any sound. Bernier has denied the allegations, saying he asked about her gender, but did not threaten her in any way.  

Several hundred people gathered in Manchester's Victory Park Saturday for the third annual Trans Equality Rally. 

New Hampshire residents will soon have a third, non-binary option for gender indication on state driver’s licenses and state-issued IDs.

Governor Chris Sununu allowed HB 669 to pass yesterday without a signature, while he signed 42 other bills signed into law.

U.S. Rep. Chris Pappas said the U.S. Supreme Court's decision to allow the Trump administration to restrict service by transgender men and women for now backward, and a blow to the rights and dignity of transgender service members.

Pappas, a Democrat and the first openly gay member of Congress from New Hampshire, said Tuesday the plan "makes us less safe and politicizes our military."

Pappas said the decision is a "sobering reminder of the work ahead of us to protect LGBTQ rights and demand full equality."

New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu has signed a bill protecting transgender people from discrimination.

The law bans discrimination based on gender identity in housing, employment and public accommodations, in addition to the protections that already exist based on race, sex, religion and sexual orientation.

Members of New Hampshire's LGBTQ community kicked off Pride month in style Saturday. There were colorful costumes, musical performances, and drag queens on the State House lawn.

But this year, attendees had something extra to celebrate. A bill, passed by the Legislature earlier this spring, will include gender identity in New Hampshire's civil rights laws.

The state senate passed a bill on Wednesday that would create legal protections for transgender people in New Hampshire. 

The bill would add gender identity to the state’s existing anti-discrimination laws.

It earlier passed in the House and on Wednesday in the Senate by a margin of 14-10.

New Hampshire lawmakers are again voting on whether to expand the state's anti-discrimination law to include transgender people.

The House is set to vote Wednesday on a bill that would ban discrimination in housing, employment and public accommodations based on someone's gender identity in addition to the protections that already exist based on sex, religion and sexual orientation. Lawmakers tabled a virtually identical bill last year, leaving New Hampshire the only New England state without such protections.

New Hampshire House lawmakers are considering two bills on the topic of gender reassignment surgery.

One bill would prohibit gender reassignment surgery for anyone under age 18. The other would prohibit Medicaid from paying for sex reassignment surgery, drugs or hormone therapy.

New Hampshire’s Medicaid program will no longer ban insurance coverage for sex reassignment surgery.

Until now, New Hampshire's Medicaid program explicitly blocked such coverage. The Department of Health and Human Services asked lawmakers for permission to take out the language, citing anti-discrimination mandates within the Affordable Care Act. 

A student claims the private, Christian school he's attended since kindergarten has told him he's no longer welcome because of his gender identity.

Seacoast Media Group reports  that Stiles Zuschlag transferred to a Maine public high school for his senior year after he was told he was no longer welcome at New Hampshire's Tri-City Christian Academy. Zuschlag, a transgender teen, said he was told he should consider homeschooling or counseling.

Tri-City Christian Academy administrator Paul Edgar declined to speak about Zuschlag's case citing privacy issues.

Close to 100 people rallied in support of transgender equality at Victory Park in Manchester Saturday. They danced through hula hoops, sang songs and waved flags. 

Keene joined ten other towns in the state Thursday by passing an anti-discrimination protection for transgender city employees. 

Keene City Council voted unanimously to add gender identity and gender expression to the list of factors in their city employee anti-discrimination policy.

Councilwoman Bettina Chadbourne was one of the co-signers on the resolution request. She says it was clear to her and her fellow council members that the transgender population was particularly vulnerable.