In most parts of New England, the issue of whether transgender people can use the bathroom that corresponds to their gender identity has largely been resolved. In New Hampshire, lawmakers are pushing to reopen.
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New Hampshire’s Republican-controlled House of Representatives on Wednesday night voted 181-164 to pass House Bill 1442, a bill that would allow schools, government buildings and some businesses to restrict access to restrooms and locker rooms based on gender assigned at birth rather than gender identity. The bill is currently before the state Senate.
If enacted, the bill would further separate New Hampshire from other parts of the Northeast, where protections for trans residents in public accommodations remain largely intact.
House Bill 1442 would require restrooms and locker rooms in public schools and municipal buildings to be designated as male or female based on gender. The bill also authorizes businesses and other public accommodations to require the use of multi-occupancy restrooms according to a person’s “biological sex” as defined by the law.
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The proposal goes further than many other similar measures by creating a new legal mechanism related to toilet use. Under the bill, entering an area reserved for women, even though the law classifies it as male, could be considered “willful trespass.”
The law also establishes a legal definition of gender centered around biological characteristics such as chromosomes and reproductive anatomy, and states that a person’s gender identity does not determine access to spaces designated for men or women.
Supporters say the law protects privacy in intimate spaces. Opponents say the bill targets transgender people for exclusion and undermines civil rights protections the state adopted a decade ago.
The vote comes after years of attempts by the Legislature to pass similar restrictions, resulting in repeated gubernatorial vetoes.
A few weeks ago, Republican Gov. Kelly Ayotte vetoed a comparable proposal that would have allowed transgender people to be excluded from restrooms, locker rooms, jails and other single-sex spaces. This is the third time in recent years that New Hampshire’s governor has vetoed a similar bill.
Ayotte said previous proposals were too broad and risked creating an exclusionary environment.
Her predecessor, fellow Republican Chris Sununu, vetoed a similar bill in 2024, writing that lawmakers were trying to address a problem that “didn’t present itself.”
But the issue kept coming back to Congress every year.
Supporters say the persistence reflects a broader campaign targeting transgender rights in the state. According to The advocacy group 603 Equality says several bills introduced this Congress seek to regulate public accommodations based on what lawmakers call “biological sex.” This is part of wider proposals that will affect toilets, sports participation and identity documents.
The group claims House Bill 1442 is one of the most “broad and cruel” of these proposals.
In 2018, New Hampshire added gender identity to its anti-discrimination laws, becoming the last state in New England to expand that protection. At the time, the move appeared to complete a regional consensus on LGBTQ+ equality.
But in recent years, that consensus has begun to crumble.
related: 21 states restrict transgender people from using restrooms, two of which impose criminal penalties.
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In 2025, Ayotte signed a bill banning gender-affirming medical treatments such as puberty blockers and hormone therapy for transgender minors, making New Hampshire the first state in New England to enact such restrictions.
Neighboring states such as Massachusetts, Vermont, Rhode Island, and Connecticut maintain broad protections for transgender residents in public accommodations and health care facilities.
Even Maine, which, like New Hampshire, has long been politically competitive and regularly elects Republicans to statewide office, has not enacted comparable restrictions on transgender rights. Instead, Maine has become the focus of another political battle. A ballot measure supported by conservative donors across the country would ban transgender girls from school sports and require schools to separate bathrooms and locker rooms based on the gender assigned at birth.
Supporters say these policies put transgender people in unbearable situations, forcing them to choose between accessing facilities that do not match their gender identity or risking confrontation.
Source: Advocate.com – www.advocate.com
