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Boston Globe
5 days ago
- Health
- Boston Globe
N.H. Senate approves ban on gender-affirming care for minors
Opponents of Get N.H. Morning Report A weekday newsletter delivering the N.H. news you need to know right to your inbox. Enter Email Sign Up Proponents said it is important to protect children from treatments that they believe carry significant risks and consequences. They argue that children are not developmentally ready to make potentially life-altering decisions. Advertisement 'It's dangerous, it's reckless, and it's gross,' Senator Kevin Avard, a Nashua Republican, said of gender-affirming care, when speaking in support of the bill. 'Leave the kids alone and let them develop,' he said. 'If they're 18 or older, then do whatever you want. You're an adult.' Gender-affirming hormone treatment has undergone tremendous scrutiny, clinical research, and peer review to become an approved medical treatment, according to the New Hampshire Medical Society. Advertisement The 'This bill would force health care professionals to ignore best practices, to disregard what they know is medically sound, and to watch young people suffer, knowing they have the tools to help them but they are barred from using them,' said Senator Debra Altschiller, a Stratham Democrat. 'That's not medicine, that's political interference.' Some New Hampshire families with transgender children have been following this legislation closely, with at least a handful of them The Senate also approved another measure limiting other gender-affirming surgeries for minors. The bill explicitly bans physicians from performing 'transgender chest surgery' on people who are under 18, with exceptions for medical conditions such as cancer. The bill would also update the chapter of New Hampshire law adopted last year prohibiting genital gender reassignment surgery on minors. It would extend the ban to other types of gender-affirming surgeries for minors, such as facial feminization or masculinization surgery and removing reproductive organs. Advertisement It would also lift the prohibition on providers from making referrals for such surgeries, so they would be allowed to refer patients to another state where such care is allowed. Violating the ban would be classified as unprofessional conduct that could lead to discipline from a licensing entity or disciplinary review board. Amanda Gokee can be reached at
Boston Globe
17-04-2025
- Politics
- Boston Globe
A New Hampshire judge is deciding whether to block Trump's anti-DEI directive to schools
The National Education Association and American Civil Liberties sued the department in Get N.H. Morning Report A weekday newsletter delivering the N.H. news you need to know right to your inbox. Enter Email Sign Up But during a hearing Thursday, Deputy Associate Attorney General Abishek Kambli argued the teachers' union lacks standing to sue because the guidance is aimed at schools, not teachers. And educators who are 'self-censoring' due to misunderstanding the letter aren't being harmed, he said. Advertisement 'You can't manufacture harm simply by inflicting harm on yourself,' he said. Kambli also suggested a temporary halt to enforcement was unnecessary because there is a lengthy, multi-step process to determine whether a school should lose funding, with ample opportunity to challenge findings. But Judge Landya McCafferty read passages from the Education Department press release announcing the recent cancellation of grants and contracts to Advertisement 'It doesn't describe any sort of process, it says immediate,' she said. The directive does not carry the force of law but threatens to use civil rights enforcement to rid schools of DEI practices. Schools that continue such practices 'in violation of federal law' can face Justice Department litigation and a Sarah Hinger, an attorney for the ACLU, pushed back against Kambli's claim that the letter was not a final action that can be challenged in court but rather an explanation of the department's enforcement priorities. 'It requires. It orders. It dictates,' she said. 'The chill from that is happening now, and plaintiffs are not required to wait until they're hauled into court to challenge an unconstitutional law.' Education officials in some Democratic-led states have indicated they will not comply with the order to submit certification of their schools' compliance. Hinger told reporters after the hearing that in addition to fear, educators have also expressed bravery. 'We are seeing folks across the education community stand up and assert their rights and really being brave in indicating how contrary this 'Dear Colleague' letter is to sound educational practices from K-12 through higher education,' she said.
Boston Globe
21-03-2025
- Politics
- Boston Globe
Anti-trans ‘bathroom bill', ‘parental rights bill' advance in N.H.
It comes as the Trump administration has pushed to exclude Get N.H. Morning Report A weekday newsletter delivering the N.H. news you need to know right to your inbox. Enter Email Sign Up Representative Alice Wade, a Dover Democrat and transgender woman, made an impassioned plea on the House floor ahead of the vote, beseeching the New Hampshire House to kill the bill. She said itwould bring back discrimination in the Granite State, marking transgender people as a threat to public safety and privacy. Advertisement 'Don't do this,' she said. 'Do not make New Hampshire a state where people like me… are told we don't belong.' The same If the bill reaches now Governor Kelly Ayotte's desk, it will be the first test of whether she supports allowing such restrictions on transgender people in certain spaces. The political debate has shifted in the last year, as even some Democrats grappling with electoral losses in 2024 have begun questioning if their support for transgender individuals is out of step with the electorate. Democratic Congressman Seth Moulton of Massachusetts Advertisement Representative Jonah Wheeler, a Peterborough Democrat, is among them. When he spoke in support of HB 148 on Thursday, some of his Democratic colleagues walked out in protest of his remarks. Wheeler framed it as an issue of consent. 'The consent of one person cannot stand for the consent of another person,' he said. 'If there are women who feel unsafe, if there are women who feel their space has become not private, then we should listen to those women.' He said he's heard from liberal-leaning voters in his district, including some who he said have left the Democratic party because they felt unheard on the issue. 'The orthodoxy of the Democratic Party on this issue has left us to where we can't have nuanced discussions,' he said. In addition to Wheeler Democratic Representative Peter R. Leishman of Peterborough joined Republicans in passing HB 148 in a 201 to 166 vote. Both the House and the Senate advanced their own versions of a Republican priority this year: a so-called parental bill of rights. Ayotte has asked lawmakers to send her this legislation, which has become a focus of conservatives nationally, over concerns teachers are usurping parents and even indoctrinating children on issues of race and gender. The Advertisement It also lists as a right that parents 'immediately receive accurate, truthful, and complete disclosure regarding any and all matters related to their minor child' from school staff. The proposal has raised concerns about the forcible outing of children to their parents, and House Democrats Thursday raised objections that the bill contains insufficient guardrails for abusive parents seeking information about their children. It passed the House in a 212 to 161 vote. Five Democrats crossed party lines to support the Republican-backed proposal, while two Republicans voted against it. The Senate's version of the legislation lists many of the same parental rights around a child's upbringing and education, and it allows parents to sue if they believe there has been a violation. It passed the Senate in a 15 to 8 vote along party lines. The House proposals must pass the Senate before they could head to Ayotte's desk, while the Senate bill would have to undergo a similar process in the House. Amanda Gokee can be reached at
