New Hampshire Passed Three Anti-Trans Bills in One Day. Will Its Governor Sign Them?

New Hampshire’s legislature passed three sweeping anti-trans bills in one day, and they are now heading to the desk of Gov. Chris Sununu, a Republican often touted as a moderate on social issues.

The trio of bills prohibit trans girls from participating on girls’ sports teams, require advance warning for classroom discussions of sexual orientation and gender identity, and ban bottom surgery for trans minors, even though those procedures are not performed on patients under the age of 18, per the World Professional Association for Transgender Health.

If the bills become law, New Hampshire would become the 26th state to restrict trans student sports participation, the 25th to limit transition treatments for minors, and the seventh to pass a parental notification law for LGBTQ+ curricula.

The trans sports ban, House Bill 1205, passed the New Hampshire House and Senate by slim margins: 189-182 and 13-10, respectively. Applying to students from the fifth to the 12th grades, HB 1205 requires schools to designate teams by sex and specifically prevents so-called “biological males” from participating on women’s sports teams. The legislation additionally specifies that sex is determined by a student’s original birth certificate, meaning that even if a student has changed their gender marker to align with their lived identity, that would not be accepted.

HB 1205 also provides students with the option to take legal action against their school if they are forced to compete against a trans athlete. Should Sununu approve the legislation, the new law would take effect on July 1.

As in other states that have curtailed trans access to athletics, opponents of HB 1205 pointed out that very few trans athletes are even competing in New Hampshire school sports. According to state Sen. Debra Altschiller, only five trans girls in the state are enrolled in student athletics. The Democratic lawmaker told the Associated Press last week that the legislation was based on little more than “fearmongering.”

“Those five girls are not a threat,” she said. “They are the threatened. While this gesture of protection may seem valiant, we say no thank you. If you really want to protect girls, protect the marginalized transgender girls.”

The parental notification bill, HB 1312, would require school districts to develop policies that would force teachers to warn parents two weeks before teaching anything that concerns “sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, or gender expression.” The legislation specifies that schools must make the relevant course materials available to parents or guardians upon request. Additionally, HB 1312 prohibits schools from developing policies that prohibit school personnel from outing students to their parents, although it provides an exception if such a disclosure “would result in abuse, abandonment, or neglect.”

Anti-trans politicians will undoubtedly be busy once again this year, but LGBTQ\+ activists and advocates have no plans to back down.

The final bill, HB 619, is perhaps the most unnecessary of the package of legislation passed by New Hampshire Republicans this week. There is no record of any bottom surgeries being performed on minors in the state, according to the Los Angeles Blade. A prior version of HB 619 sought to ban all forms of gender-affirming care for youth under the age of 18, but treatments like hormone replacement therapy and puberty blockers remain legal for the time being.

Sununu has not indicated whether he plans to sign the bills into law, and despite being often described as a moderate Republican, he has a mixed record on LGBTQ+ issues. In 2018, he signed a bill into law that expanded civil rights protections in employment, housing, and public space to include trans people. But in March, he claimed that trans girls competing in girls’ sports was “dangerous” in an interview with the local radio station WMUR. “I fundamentally don't believe that biological boys should be competing in girls’ sports,” he said at the time.

The governor has also affirmed that he would “potentially” sign a bill limiting trans participation in sports. He said, however, that he would need to review the final language before approving any legislation.

To date, more than 550 anti-LGBTQ+ bills have been put forward this year. The vast majority single out trans youth for discrimination.

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Originally Appeared on them.