Bathrooms Should Be Divided By Biological Sex, NH House Votes

By Garry Rayno, InDepth NH

CONCORD, NH —The House once again decided to wade into the transgender bathroom debate, passing two bills very similar to ones vetoed by Gov. Kelly Ayotte this and last year.

Both House Bill 1217 and House Bill 1442 were recommended by the House Judiciary Committee for interim study, a polite death in the second year of a term because the next legislature has no obligation to take them up.

However, both bills were removed from the consent calendar despite the committee’s unanimous recommendation for an interim study.

The committee said the bills were duplicitous and too similar to ones already vetoed by the governor.

But proponents of the bill said they needed to be sent to the Senate so it could craft a bill that might be acceptable to the governor.

House Bill 1217 would permit classifying an individual based on biological sex for bathrooms, locker rooms and intimate spaces, according to Rep. Jim Kofalt, R-Wilton.

He said the bill covers a narrow area and is optional and would leave local school districts on their own to decide how to address the issue.

But opponents said these bills are all the same in that they single out a certain group of people which is discrimination.

Rep. Alissandra Murray, D-Manchester, said these bills give people permission for anger and vitriol.

“I have witnessed this environment take shape in real time in this chamber,” she said. “The rhetoric is inherently dangerous. This bill does not exist in a vacuum.”

The bills increase vulnerability and are “discrimination, plain and simple,” Murray said.

“Government is singling out a class of people and excluding them from public life,” Murray said. “Freedom must mean something, or it means nothing for us.”

House Bill 1442 changes the term “gender identity” in statute, requires bathrooms and locker rooms in public schools and municipally owned buildings to be used on the basis of biological sex, permits owners and operators of places of public accommodation to restrict the use of bathrooms and locker rooms, requires inmates in New Hampshire correctional facilities be housed separately, and changes the enforcement of civil rights to provide protections on the basis of gender identity for limited purposes.

Rep. Alice Wade, D-Dover, told the House, “Last year you banned the healthcare that saved my life, and once again you want to ban me from restrooms, ban trans people from participating in public life as ordinary citizens.”

Separate but equal is not equal she said when it was blacks or today.

First it was the Irish, then blacks, then gay people and when homophobia lost its power you “dragged transgender people into the crosshairs of politics,” she said.

There are bad apples in every group of people but that is not a reason to discriminate against every transgender person, she said.

Every time a man commits a school shooting, do you say men should not have guns because they are too dangerous, Wade said, noting that is an absurd argument, but that is the argument you are making today.

She said the bill would be a nightmare to enforce and challenged anyone to prove she was transgender without invading her privacy.

Wade said they ought to be focusing on the things that matter to their constituents like housing, affordability, and lead pipes, not forcing her “to defend my right to exist. What a waste of time.”

The prime sponsor of the HB 1442 Rep. Erica Layon, R-Derry, said little girls should not have to see a penis in a girls bathroom. Little girls should only see little girls in a girls bathroom, she said.

Layon also said that 80 percent of the people in the state agree with her and that is why there are so many bills on the same topic this session.

“Bathroom signs should actually mean something,” Layon said

Wade said transgender people have been around forever and will be around in the future.

“These attacks will not end today, but it will end someday,” she said. “One day our community will be accepted, our community will be loved one day.”

These attacks are baseless and there is no evidence, she said, noting it is purely a political fight.

HB 1217 passed on a 187-163 vote and HB 1442 passed on a 183-162 vote. Both bills now go to the Senate.

Garry Rayno may be reached at garry.rayno@yahoo.com.

This article first appeared on InDepthNH.org and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.