N.H. Republicans Close to Enacting Harsh Anti-Trans Restrictions
Leading Off: Two big bills promoting bigotry reach the governor. Oregon turns back a sports ban. And trans people speak out against the Times. The week’s top story lines.
Photo courtesy of Laura Brett
by Assigned Media
New Hampshire lawmakers adopted a measure late last week that would ban most gender-affirming health care for people under 18, the second of two bluntly biased bills they have advanced this session. Republicans, who control both chambers, had made trans people a primary target in their legislative agenda.
“Gross!” declared Republican Sen. Kevin Avard of gender care for young people, though it is backed by every major medical association in the country as safe and beneficial.
A sweeping bill passed last month would strip trans people of anti-discrimination protections enshrined in New Hampshire law and enjoyed by every other person in the state. The move would allow New Hampshire businesses and groups to ban trans people from bathrooms, enable schools to bar trans athletes, and permit authorities to send trans people to detention and mental health facilities that don’t align with their gender.
Both measures are on Republican Gov. Kelly Ayotte’s desk. A New Hampshire LGBTQ+ group, 603 Equality, noted that last year Ayotte had waited several weeks before ultimately signing two harmful anti-trans measures.
The group called on New Hampshire residents to speak out now, and forcefully, against the bills, which it called “horrific attacks on our bodies and lives.”
Oregon legislators late last week turned back Republican efforts to ban trans athletes from school sports.
State Rep. Rob Nosse, a Democrat, said such sports bans are built on “outdated prejudices, harmful stereotypes, and misguided fears under the guise of allegedly protecting women's sports.”
Friday, D-Day, was the Trump administration’s deadline for trans service members to leave the military or face “involuntary separation.” Trump, whose evasion of military service as a young man has been well documented, made trans service members one of his earliest targets in a broad discriminatory campaign that a federal judge called “soaked in animus.”
“For those of us who’ve stood on the front lines, the idea that our identity could render us unfit to serve is not only disheartening — it’s a personal attack on our dignity,” Alex Colyer, an infantry sergeant in New York, told CNN.
Many service members have vowed to stay and fight, despite great risk and financial hardship.
Speaking of fighting, here is an interview we did with Hannah McCarty, an organizer of the group, Transexual Menace, which picketed outside The New York Times late last week to protest its biased coverage.
Assigned Media: How did the protest come together?
Hannah McCarty: Since we started talking to each other and working together the Transexual Menace has wanted to bring far more public attention to the way The New York Times reports on the transgender community. As we were browsing social media on Wednesday morning we caught wind of posts about the Times putting out this podcast [called the Protocol] on Thursday. We got together and said maybe now is the time to get at least a few of us out there talking about, not just this podcast, but the Times’ reporting in general, leading up to the podcast.
We wanted to start to get it out to the public that the Times’ has not been kind to us. Their reporting is biased. Their reporting doesn’t even always talk to trans people for their coverage. Their articles have been cited in amicus briefs to be used as evidence, to harm us. We’ve been wanting to say something about it to the Times’ face, and their podcast makes us saying it topical.
AM: Can you tell who was there and what the protest was like?
HM: We had a total of about 15 people show up, with an average of 7-10 at a time and we were out there from 9 am to 4 pm. Our goal was to really just get people who work in the building and maybe people who work for The New York Times to hear us out and hear how reporting that is being framed as both sides is really biased against us.
We gave out about 1,000 leaflets with information, just to start to open up that dialogue.
AM: I heard that one of the editors at the New York Times actually came down to speak with you. Could you tell me a little about that?
HM: We have identified the person as David Enrich, and he came out and told us, you know, you guys are being unfair. You haven’t listened to the podcast yet. I listened to the podcast and I thought it was pretty good. You should go into it with an open mind.
I think he missed the point a little bit about why we were out there, because we weren’t just there because of the podcast, we were there protesting their coverage, period.
AM: Can you tell me a bit more about the Transexual Menace and maybe some of the other things you’re working on?
HM: Transexual Menace is the revival of Denise Norris and Riki Wilchins’ direct action group for transgender rights. The group disbanded in 2002 and re-formed right around the inauguration of President Trump. We are the New York City chapter, so we’re a semi-autonomous group and we represent New York City and the surrounding area.
The last week has provided us with a lot of momentum, our numbers have gone up by at least 30 percent in the last week alone, and we’re trying to cover as many bases of what it means to do direct action as possible. We have a monthly group that meets to write letters to transgender inmates. We have plans after Pride Month to start hosting community barbecues to start engaging with people who may not have any trans people in their lives to come up, get some free food, and just start chatting with us to see that we’re just normal people. The New York Times was our second protest; we also protested outside of the Harry Potter store after the UK Supreme Court ruling defining gender as binary and determined by birth sex.
We’re here outside yelling and raising awareness when we have a response to make, and we’re also here to build community. We think activism needs to be active on all these fronts.