NH Republicans' bill would allow trans people to be banned from bathrooms, locker rooms

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21-02-2025

A group of Republicans are again trying to pass a bill in New Hampshire to keep transgender people out of bathrooms and sports teams that align with their gender identity.
If passed, House Bill 148 would allow transgender people to be banned from using restrooms or locker rooms consistent with their gender identity. It would also allow schools and organized sports to keep transgender athletes off sports teams matching their gender identity. Lastly, it would allow them to be placed in prisons, mental health facilities, or juvenile detention centers with members of their at-birth sex against their will. The bill, however, does not require that transgender people be banned from these spaces, but it allows whoever owns the restrooms, administers the sports teams, or runs the prison to do so without facing discrimination charges.
In a room packed with trans rights advocates, Rep. Jim Kofalt, a Wilton Republican and the bill's sponsor, introduced the legislation with a story. He said he'd heard from a mother from Milford whose daughter was being harassed by 'a biological male' who 'claimed that he was transgender' and was entering the girls' locker room to watch other girls change and make fun of them.
The bill is a word-for-word repeat of 2024's House Bill 396, which was approved by the House and Senate but vetoed by then-Gov. Chris Sununu, a Republican, who called it 'unacceptable,' said it 'runs contrary to New Hampshire's Live Free or Die spirit,' and 'seeks to solve problems that have not presented themselves.' Sununu has since been replaced by Gov. Kelly Ayotte, a Republican who won election in November.
Kofalt denied accusations that the bill was transphobic or that it supports an underlying belief that transgender people are inherently predatory, saying: 'I absolutely do not believe that. I have never said that, and I have never implied that.'
'What I will say,' he said, 'is that this provides a loophole for people who may not actually present themselves as transgender at all to gain access to spaces that, practically speaking, they should not have access to.'
Asked by fellow lawmakers to define what biological sex is for the purposes of the bill, Kofalt said: 'Practically speaking, we know what males and females are. We have known that for thousands of years. I don't see a need to define it so I have chosen not to include that in the bill.'
Pushing back, Rep. Eric Turer, a Brentwood Democrat, pointed to four different ways to define it: by chromosomes, gonads, hormones, and secondary sexual characteristics.
'Those are four possible ways, I can imagine and I'm wondering without a definition, how might anyone use this bill to make policy?' Turer asked.
Kofalt maintained he doesn't think there is any confusion on the matter.
Rep. Catherine Rombeau, a Bedford Democrat, said she hadn't heard of any concerns or incidents about transgender people in the spaces identified by this bill from her constituents.
Kofalt said he'd heard about issues at Milford, Kearsarge, and Mascenic school districts. He also said he'd heard from fellow legislators that were uncomfortable using the same restroom with transgender people in the State House and legislative offices.
Rep. Alice Wade is one of those transgender people using the State House bathrooms and was among those who testified.
'Just this morning, I used the women's restroom down that hall,' she said, pointing toward the restroom in the Legislative Office Building where they were meeting. 'No issues. I have used the women's restroom for six years in public. No disruptions. No one has ever called me out for it.'
Wade, a Democrat representing Dover, argued no issues were actually happening in this matter and questioned how enforcement would work should a community decide to enact some sort of transgender bathroom restriction, asking if people would be forced to bring their birth certificate around or submit to genital inspections.
'I myself am a trans woman, and I am going to bet that most of you would not have known that unless I had told you,' she said. 'All of my documents say female. I have had bottom surgery. I have had voice therapy. I have been transitioning for over six years now.'
This story was originally published by the New Hampshire Bulletin.
This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: NH GOP bill would allow trans people to be banned from bathrooms