New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu on Friday signed a bill that restricts gender transition-related care for transgender minors and bars some transgender students from competing on school sports teams that match their gender identity.
The health care bill, HB 619, would ban transgender minors from undergoing sex-reassignment surgery and would bar doctors from referring patients for surgery outside the state. It would not ban other forms of gender-affirming treatment, such as puberty suppressors or hormone replacement therapy. The law goes into effect early next year.
The sports bill, HB 1205, would require the state’s students in grades 5 through 12 to compete on school sports teams that match the gender on their birth certificate. The law goes into effect next month.
Supporters of the bill argue that children are not mature enough to permit life-changing surgery and that transgender girls have a physical advantage over cisgender girls in sports.
“New Hampshire has always taken a balanced approach, and HB 619 and 1205 reflect commonsense, bipartisan solutions that reflect the values of parents across the state,” Sununu said in a statement. “The vast majority of New Hampshire residents support this approach because it is fair, balanced and free of political considerations.”
“By enforcing these measures, we continue to uphold the principles of safety, fairness and common sense for all our citizens,” he added.
With Governor Sununu signing the health care bill, New Hampshire becomes the last of the 23 Republican-controlled states in the nation where Republicans control the governor’s mansion and both houses of the state legislature to ban or restrict gender transition-related care for minors. A total of 26 states now have laws restricting or banning such care, according to the Movement Advancement Project, an LGBTQ rights think tank.
According to MAP, 25 states, including New Hampshire, currently have laws that prohibit some or all transgender students from competing on sports teams that match their gender identity.
Idaho became the first state in the nation to enact legislation restricting transgender student sports participation in 2020, and Arkansas became the first state in the nation to enact legislation restricting gender reassignment care in 2021. The enactment of these measures reflects a fairly swift adoption of Republican positions on related policy issues that were only just beginning to be debated in state legislatures across the country a few years ago.
“There’s a very strong movement across the country to block transgender people’s right to health care and to pass other laws that impact transgender people’s right to live openly, to get health care, to go to school just like everyone else,” Chris Urchal, staff attorney at Massachusetts-based LGBTQ advocacy group GLBTQ Legal Advocates & Defenders (GLAD), said in an interview before Sununu signed the New Hampshire bill. “This political movement has been influencing New Hampshire politics for years, but it’s now reached a point where, for the first time, we’re seeing a bill actually pass in New Hampshire.”
Sununu’s signature also marks a turning point for the Republican governor, who in 2018 and 2019 signed bills expanding non-discrimination protections in employment, education, housing and public spaces to the state’s transgender residents.
Zach and Sarah Tyrrell live in Plymouth, New Hampshire, with their transgender daughter, Parker. Parker, 15, came out two years ago and began slowly undergoing gender reassignment treatment at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center in Lebanon, New Hampshire, first with puberty suppressors and more recently hormone replacement therapy.
Parker and her parents said they currently have no plans to undergo sex reassignment surgery before reaching adulthood because it is extremely rare for minors around the world. But the family worries that the state’s new health care law could make it easier for lawmakers to justify enacting broader restrictions on gender-transition-related care.
“We think this bill is really just about scoring wins on the scoreboard against marginalized people, rather than creating legislation that has real, meaningful impact,” Rep. Zach Tyrrell said in a conference call before the bill was signed. “When you intentionally target marginalized groups and you can rack up small wins, it oftentimes feels like it’s easier to start eroding broader freedoms.”
The New Hampshire Women’s Foundation said in a statement that it was “deeply disappointed” that Governor Sununu signed the sports bill into law.
“Our leaders need to address real challenges like the mental health crisis among young people, especially girls,” the group said Friday. “Transgender, non-binary and intersex people deserve equal treatment in schools, sports and all aspects of public life.”
Some trans sports and health care measures in other states have been temporarily blocked from going into effect while they are challenged in court, and it’s unclear whether New Hampshire’s law will face litigation.
The Supreme Court last month agreed to hear the Biden administration’s appeal of a court decision upholding Tennessee’s ban on all gender reassignment surgery for minors in the state. The decision on Tennessee’s law is expected to be handed down during the court’s next session, which begins in October, and will affect similar laws in other states. The White House recently told media that while it believes gender reassignment surgery “should be limited to adults,” it opposes “any attempt to restrict medical care for transgender people through the courts or the law.”
Sarah and Zach Tyrrell said they have “deep roots” in New Hampshire, with Parker’s brother set to attend the University of New Hampshire in the fall and they’re heavily involved in local nonprofits, but added that they would seriously consider moving to another state if future laws or court decisions meant Parker couldn’t get his current medication.
“If any bills or laws come into force that prevent us from caring for Parker, we’ll have to think about uprooting and moving somewhere safer,” Sarah Tyrrell said.
For more information about NBC Out, Sign up for our weekly newsletter.
