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The third of three Sunday News and Union Leader staff-reported columns devoted to New Hampshire politics and government is returning to the newspapers' UnionLeader.com Web site effective today.
With the Supreme Court's decision throwing out the piece of state budget law that tapped the state Joint Underwriting Association for $110 million, there has to be a next step.
WITH A UNANIMOUS vote, the book on the 2009 budget was finally closed Friday.
RELATIONS between Republicans and Democrats took a big step backward Friday over the gun-ban issue.
Two bills that would bar deadly weapons in public buildings, including the State House, come up for a hearing in the afternoon. There will be a crowd.
THIS PAST YEAR may end up being the one that everyone wants to, but no one ever will, forget.
NOW THAT a weapons ban is in place at the State House, the question of how to enforce it comes up.
THERE WERE lots of suggestions at a public hearing last week on rules for collecting the so-called LLC tax.
THERE WILL be a crowd when the public hearing on new tax rules starts up Wednesday.
AN IMPORTANT CHANGE to the state right-to-know law will come to the House in January, and may not even get a debate.
DON'T LOOK for your local legislator to file a financial report on the free meal Millennium Gaming was handing out recently.
THERE DOESN'T seem to be any urgency to getting a new state workers' contract in place.
Republicans are making political hay out of the bitter contract talks between Gov. John Lynch and the State Employees Association.
OOPS. Speaker of the House Terie Norelli let a little secret slip last week.
AN INCREASINGLY heated legal dispute has locked up a major six-year contract for state lottery operations in the Executive Council.
EVEN WITH an attorney general's rejection of his complaint, Pan Am Systems president David Fink's allegations are not going away.
FOOTBALL COACHES like to say the best defense is a good offense. State Democratic leaders have taken up the idea, too.
THE STATE'S new 10 percent tax on gambling is not as complicated as some people think, the state's revenue commissioner said.
Mayor Frank Guinta found himself tangled up in the sort of mini-scandal that was just weird enough to earn mentions on several major political blogs, including The Huffington Post.
Balancing the budgets for the year that ends Tuesday, and for the coming fiscal year, hangs on the idea of taking $110 million in surplus from the medical malpractice insurance fund.
Republicans are being urged to vote against the plan as spending too much. Democrats are calling it a difficult compromise that spreads the pain fairly.
THIS IS the big week, one of early mornings and late nights as House and Senate members try to finish budget work.
NOW THAT gay-marriage debates, votes and re-votes are over, focus turns to what lawmakers said would be their biggest challenge this year -- the 2010-11 budget.
CONCORD - The governor is looking at a proposal that would tax refinancings the same way we now tax real-estate transfers.
State House Dome: Transgender rights in 'bathroom bill'
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By TOM FAHEY
State House Bureau Chief
Sunday, Mar. 15, 2009
REPUBLICANS call it the "bathroom bill."
Democrats call it a non-discrimination bill.
In either case, House Bill 415 is stirring up interest, e-mails and phone calls from as far away as Boston, according to its sponsor, Rep. Ed Butler.
Butler filed the bill to close what he sees as a loophole in state law that allows discrimination against transsexuals. The bill adds to a host of laws -- which bar discrimination on the basis of sex, age, race, creed, color, sexual orientation or religion -- the words "gender identity" or "gender expression."
Butler argues, "Our non-discrimination laws cover almost every person in this state, but people who are transgendered and are discriminated against in housing and employment are not protected. This is a bill to correct that."
Critics say that because the bill includes laws on public accommodations, it will open bathrooms to use by either sex. Actually, current law already bars discrimination in the use of public accommodations on the basis of gender or sexual orientation.
State Republican Party chairman John H. Sununu said the bill is an example of extreme liberalism among Democrats.
He called it "part of their quiet agenda for changing New Hampshire. I will admit, I've been wrong in suggesting they wanted to make us a clone of Massachusetts. It now appears they want to make us a clone of San Francisco."
Sununu said, "I cannot believe that Gov. (John) Lynch will let this garbage come to his desk." Lynch press secretary Colin Manning said the governor hasn't been tracking the bill.
"We're focused on the budget and on getting federal stimulus money where it needs to go," he said.
Democratic party chair Ray Buckley came to Lynch's defense.
"It is unfortunate that Sununu would rather try to score partisan points than have a serious discussion about issues. New Hampshire Republicans deserve better than that," he said in a statement.
A House Judiciary subcommittee voted last week to recommend passage of HB 415 and a gay marriage bill.
Members of the House Judiciary Committee have been getting e-mails urging them to vote against the "bathroom bill." Butler said he was called by a Boston talk radio show last week.
Rep. David Nixon, a former Senate president, said he voted in subcommittee to move the bill ahead for discussion by the full committee.
Rep. Joseph Hagan said he voted against it as a conservative who feels gender issues, "are one small facet of a much broader psychiatric illness." He also questions the state's reliance on a Human Rights Commission, saying it's really a government tribunal that denies people their day in court.
He said that if transsexuals get more rights, others will lose them.
As an example, Hagan said a private school could not fire a school bus driver whose sexual issues were confusing children.
"Should you be able to use the Human Rights Commission to beat up Trinity High or any other private school?" he asked.
Butler said the boiling down of his bill to a debate on bathrooms reminds him of debates over the Equal Rights Amendments.
"People who opposed it said we'd have unisex bathrooms and it would be a danger to citizens," he said.
Butler says transsexuals should not be left without rights.
"There are many instances of people who are transgendered who've been hurt, abused, lost jobs, lost housing and have had no recourse," he said.
Judiciary takes up the bill for a full committee vote in executive session on Tuesday morning.
The gay marriage bill is getting less attention, so far, but is also up for committee discussion on Tuesday. Rep. Jim Splaine, sponsor of the bill, said he's encouraged.
A long list of other divisive issues also is slated for committee vote at Judiciary Tuesday, including parental notification, changes to the civil unions law, restrictions on eminent domain and an assisted suicide bill.
EXECUTION COMEBACK?: Death-penalty opponents may have taken heart after the Criminal Justice and Public Safety Committee's 15-1 vote to pass a capital-punishment study bill.
Given remarks by Attorney General Kelly Ayotte last week, they may have another thing coming. She or a member of her office will sit on the commission, which has to report by the end of next year. Ayotte said she thinks any group studying the issue ought to look not just at repeal or restrictions.
"I think it should look at which cases should be eligible for the death penalty," she said. "Those who commit multiple murders now aren't eligible under New Hampshire law. That is a discussion which, if we have a commission, needs to be had."
The issue came up just last year, when former Sen. Joseph Kenney brought a proposal to the Senate, which killed it 22-2. His bill would have applied to multiple murders in one setting, such as a 2007 triple murder that took place in a Conway Army-Navy store. The killer got life in prison with no chance for parole.
Ayotte said the law could also be expanded to cover serial killers. Right now, it applies to those who kill law enforcement officers, judges, and kidnap and rape victims.
The vote to set up the study panel came on the same day the committee rejected a bill repealing the death penalty, 11-7, setting the stage for House debate during a three-day session March 24-26.
The Executive Council last week formally scheduled a public hearing for March 25 on Ayotte's nomination to a second four-year term.
TOLLS FOR NASHUA?: There could be changes in store for tolls along the F.E. Everett Turnpike.
Rep. David Campbell, who has dug deeply into public works and highways issues over the past three years, said the Department of Transportation has a long-term plan to remove tolls from Bedford and install them in Nashua.
"That way we get them at the border," he said.
At a gas tax bill hearing last week, Campbell and DOT Commissioner George Campbell, who are not related to each other, also discussed plans to use turnpike money to help maintain interstate highways.
Commissioner Campbell said he wants to start using toll revenues to maintain interstates.
He plans to discuss the plan in detail this week, but the general aim is to ease pressure on the DOT operating budget. More than half the toll revenues the state collects come from out-of-staters, he said.
"This is one way to import money into our state and into our system," he said.
NO LIBERAL LYNCH: The governor frustrates his party sometimes for his unwillingness to embrace liberal issues.
Lynch took a shot at himself for it at last week's benefit St. Patrick's Day breakfast, joking about how U.S. Sen. Judd Gregg insisted that a Republican be appointed to replace him.
"I know what a lot of you are thinking," he said. "Why didn't I just appoint myself."
COMINGS AND GOINGS: Democrats have hired Joe Elcock to manage Bud Martin's campaign for state Senate against Republican Jeb Bradley, who announces his candidacy tomorrow. Elcock has worked in both New Hampshire and Washington, D.C., and managed Sylvia Larsen's first state Senate race in 1994, party executive director Mike Brunelle said.
State House regular Bill Hamilton, who lobbied for AARP over most of the past decade, is retiring from the organization. He leaves April 3.
Senate Majority Leader Maggie Hassan has been elected as chair of the New Hampshire Democratic Party state convention, planned for June 6.
CORNED BEEF AND POLITICIANS: Former Executive Councilor and Nashua mayor Bernie Streeter holds his Wild Irish Breakfast Tuesday on St. Patty's Day, at the Nashua Radisson Hotel. The event, featuring Lynch, Nashua Mayor Donna Lee Lozeau and others, benefits the PLUS Company, which helps the disabled develop independent living skills.
Bobby Stephen is excited about hosting his annual St. Patrick's Day supper to raise funds for charity. The event on March 17 will be at the Executive Court Banquet Facility in Manchester.
Tickets are $40 and proceeds benefit scholarships and jobs programs for disadvantaged youngsters.
In between, Lynch will be at the annual John P. Ganley St. Patrick's Day awards luncheon, at the Boys and Girls Club in Salem.
Tom Fahey is the State House Bureau Chief for New Hampshire Sunday News and New Hampshire Union Leader.
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YOUR COMMENTS
Let me put this issue in another perspective as a local Transsexual woman. I have had no problem with using Womens bathrooms (yet), but after living in Crackchester-sorry, I meant Manchester, NH for several years, I do carry at least one weapon on me at all times and I have no qualms with using it if need be. If someone like Kyle, Jeff, or Keith M. from their comments above, for example, did feel free to try to rush into a bathroom I'm using and then attempt to "throw me out" -or otherwise proceed to commit some action aimed at me, theres a really good chance that persons gonna wind up in a terminal world of hurt. Period. No debate about it. Based on bitter past experience, I'm real edgy about being threatened in any way, and I don't ever take, (or give,) chances with my personal safety. Part of what the so-called "bathroom bill" is doing is ensuring that some local goofus (Recognize yourselves, Kyle, Jeff, or Keith?) doesn't try to play "gender police" and then wind up getting himself, or me, hurt.
- Danni Lee, Manchester
Larry Craig has proven that conservatives simply do it on the Down Low. Gender Identity Confusion? That's a new one. Why do conservatives always make every issue about bathrooms? Sickness I guess.
- Lauravan, Washington, D.C.
BREAKING NEWS: We transgenders already use your women's restrooms!
- Tranny Queen, San Francisco CA
To be perfectly honest, as I read this bill, it will allow guys who wear dresses to not use the men's room? I'd vote for that, thank you very much!
- CJ, Stewartstown
It's interesting to see the ignorance in so many comments. I especially liked "You're either male or female ... check your birth certificate". Obviously this person has never heard of hermaphroditism or intersexed people.
Another mentioned the women and children being assaulted in bathrooms. Well, it's not as often as this person would like people to believe. And what makes this person think that it's transsexuals who are doing the abusing?
Transsexuals are killed each and every year, across the United States. One, not so long ago was left to bleed in a street by a rescue worker after being struck by a car because the rescue worker didn't want to work on "one of those".
I'm sorry there is so much ignorance, intolerance and fear-mongering, mostly from the right, but that's the way it is. And it won't change until people are afforded equal rights.
Years ago, some of the same arguments were used because of race. Whites didn't want blacks in the same bathrooms.
It's just silliness. A birth-certificate doesn't make one male or female. We are who we are, and transsexuals are no more dangerous than any others ... except to the insecurities of the fearful and ignorant.
- Deirdre Hebert, Dover
JP from Warner - you about summed up what I have to say, except this is outrageous and Lynch should be ashamed!!
We ALL need to write Lynch and urge him to put an end to this nonsense!
- T.O, NH
I always wanted to be a goat, but I never went through with the surgery.
Had I, would it be okay for me to eliminate anywhere I want outdoors because that's where all the real goats do their doody?
Common sense, people. Common sense.
- Kyle, Bedford
Kudos to Hagan and Sununu for having a backbone and a willingness to declare the truth.
- Jeff, Bedford
You're either male or female. Find a mirror (or check your birth certificate), figure it out then use the appropriate bathroom.
- Jeff, Bedford
I spent so long crafting my first response that I did not read the bill first! Please accept my apologies.
The bill is not about bathrooms, it is about including "gender identity or expression" to the list of:
age;
sex;
race;
creed;
color;
marital status;
familial status;
physical or mental disability;
national origin;
and sexual orientation
for a wide variety of protections. These lists are so broad that the inclusion of gender identity and expression does not in effect yield any more ground to state control, while enabling this one population to benefit from the same protection the vast majority of the population already has.
This bill is meant to bring protection to an unprotected (and as we can see on this board, sometimes hated) group of people who wish to go about their business and not be punished for being who they are. This bill is asking that transgendered and transsexual people be allowed to have the same rights as you and I.
If anyone disagrees with granting these rights to those with non-traditional gender identity or expression, why don't you introduce a bill to retract the same protection for the other groups listed above? Either people need protecting or they don't.
It should take a few minutes reading and should be approved by the Dems because it's what they do and by the conservatives because it enhances individual rights without encroaching upon the rights of others.
I challenge this state to get back to the other side of the equation and work on our responsibilities as citizens as well. I failed on my responsibility earlier when I spouted off before reading the bill, as HR 415 does not weaken anyone. Lets focus on making our elected leaders responsible for bringing New Hampshire back to that Live Free or Die state we all came here for.
* As a side note, the American Psychiatric Association once viewed homosexuality as a mental disorder (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, version 1 [DSM-I for short] published in 1951) but it no longer does. The DSM-III, published in the late 70's, moved away from diagnosing homosexuality as a mental disorder as well as away from the inclusion of "sexual orientation disturbance" in DSM-II published in 1968. Beginning in DSM-III and continuing to today's DSM-IV (first published in 1994) the APA includes sexual orientation only when it causes serious conflict in the psyche of the person. I would agree that hating myself for being a woman, hating myself for being tall, or hating myself for being white would all cause mental issues. Being a woman, tall, or white is not the issue, my reaction to it would be.
- Erica, Derry, NH
Our individual rights should extend up to the point where harm is reasonably expected to come to others. I fully support the right of transgendered people to transition when they do not cause harm to others. I support those who support the transgendered UP UNTIL the point when they cause harm to those they are claiming to help. This could be such a case.
When a man is transitioning to pass and live as a woman, I would expect that reaching the stage when they can use a women's bathroom without drawing any attention to be a "coming of age" of sorts. For the female to male, the issue of stalls vs. urinals could get touchy and potentially cause an issue if they are partially transitioned. A clear female in the men's room is often accepted when the men are treated with respect. Someone in between could draw unwanted attention and I would expect that person to best know what is best for themselves and those around them.
I can't image that this is an issue for locations with single occupancy restrooms, as seeing a man emerge from the womens' or woman from the mens' is not unheard of today.
Perhaps encouraging the inclusion of a family or all-access handicapped individual bathroom would help all of us: the parent with a child of the opposite sex too old to follow the parent yet too young to comfortably be sent into their own, the transgendered, the handicapped, and those who simply value the privacy of their own lock.
But this is not jail and a genital check is not required to confirm if a bathroom user is by anatomy a male or female. Lets keep it to reason and if someone is transitioned enough to claim male or female and not causing a commotion, lets take them at their word (or look) and move on to more important things.
There is a danger in pushing people in non-standard lifestyles too aggressively into the open when they are not ready. A young boy in a farming town in California was encouraged to both dress as a girl and freely express his feelings by a teacher. It was the boy's idea, but the adult provided encouragement. He followed another boy around telling him how much he loved him day after day. One day the object of affection brought a gun to school and killed the boy in girls clothing who was encouraged to "be who he was." Lets leave it to common sense and common courtesy, and not force an issue in a highly personal arena. If John looks more like Jane, they'll know which restroom will draw the least negative attention and act accordingly. Let's not "out" them just to give some misguided Democrats warm fuzzies.
- Erica, Derry, NH
While it is understandable that people feel certain groups shouldn't have special rights and assume that discrimination does not exist I'm sad to have to tell you that it does. I exists in our very own state.
What this bill will do is protect transgender people in their most basic of rights. Rights the avg person gets to take for granted and assumes that those rights are extended to all. They have never been subjected to losing something over the way they "look"
Someone doesn't like the clothes you're wearing they deny your right to credit etc..
Right here in NH is a perfect example of a lawsuit against an employer for losing a job due to transition. In court the fact that Trans people are NOT protected is the very thing used to discriminate against them. Time and time again lawyers cite the fact that transsexuals are NOT protected and therefor CAN be denied of fired for being who they are. They cite the fact that it is perfectly LEGAL to discriminate under this circumstance.
Don't believe it? Do a search on Diane Shroer vs the US Govt. She wa sthe most qualified candidate for the job and turned about because of her gender identity.
Everyday we pass people of various backgrounds. In a lot of instance one would NEVER know not only who has transitioned but what exactly is in their pants. That is in fact a private thing.
Making this about the bathroom becomes ludicrous on so many levels. There has NEVER been a recorded case of a transgender person attacking someone in a bathroom. Furthermore how would a male feel walking into a mens room to see a transsexual woman? Does it put this transsexual in any danger?
The standards of care for this condition are very strict and must be follwed for treatment. You need to be on Hormone therapy for a year, you need to live in the target gender for a year before being considered a candidate for surgery, you need to change your legal documents over to the new identity and yet the very things that bind the trans person to treatment are the very things hurting them everyday in public.
No bathroom rights, no rights against discrimination, against being bullied, harassed or killed ...
I think it is sad that in todays day we need a bill of this nature. I agree we shouldn't have to have it but lets face it until people are willing to treat EVERYONE with respect and treat according to merit ... these types of bills ARE needed.
- Karyn, Hudson NH
It seems to me that if someone is truly transgender, and dresses/acts/looks like the opposite gender, then we'll never know. I'm sure women dressed as men and men dressed as women walk into restaurant/store/bank bathrooms all the time. Which means that this law is pointless and stupid. Like almost all Democratic legislation.
As a business owner, I can say that I would currently throw someone who is obviously a man out of my women's room, and vice-versa. And I really can't see changing this common-sense policy even if this law passes. My business is NOT A PUBLIC PLACE. It has more in common with my living room than a public park. I own it, I run it, and I say what goes and what doesn't. And a man better be wearing a darned convincing outfit and a very good wig to pull off walking into my women's room without me raising an eyebrow.
Yes, I'm a Republican. That doesn't mean I'm a hatemonger, or intolerant. I don't really care if a man wants to wear a skirt or a woman wants to wear a tux. It's (kind of) a free country. But I truly resent busybodies from Concord telling me how to run my business - now to the point that they're trying to tell me I need to let men into my women's room!!!!. It gets worse every year.
Please return NH to its Republican roots next year. They're not all perfect, I know - I can't believe that two are actually pushing a red light camera bill - but they would never do something this absurd and intrusive.
- Keith M, Manchester
Why should the issue of someone's gender identity or gender expression be made an issue for everyone else?
I believe the majority of people don't deliberately go out of their way to discriminate against, abuse or hurt those who have yet to come to grips with their sexual identity.
What is most troubling, however, is that those who cry the loudest "I have rights!" never take into consideration that other people also have rights, and the in-your-face attitude about one's "rights" that is so prevalent today is equally offensive to many others.
- Guy Plante, Manchester
Not sure why we need to have more legislation on this stuff as we already have laws to prevent discrimination based on age, sex. race etc etc.
As far as the bathroom issue goes its really quite simple.....if your plumbing is on the outside you use the boys room and if its not you use the girls room.....we really don't need MORE laws designed to tell people to do things they learned by the 1st Grade.
- JP, Warner
Holy J.Edgar Hoover! I'll admit I don't understand the whole trans thing, but how the heck would you even know? Just how much money are we watig on stuff like this, and why???
- JC, Newfields
Anybody who can't figure out whether they are male or female after they are full grown have a problem.
And the rest of the normal people in this United States shouldn't have to be subjected to passing laws to help them figure that out.
- sandy, thornton
This is not a discrimination issue and no society correction needs to be made. Our legal system already understands how to treat transgenders. They go to the prison of the actual sex. Please people lets not let the deviant personal behaviors to overtake out society. The legislator proposing this needs counseling and a course in history when nations become tolerant/supportive of deviant behaviors.
- Jan, Londonderry, NH
Permit me to change one word in Greg Barrett's post: "Here is my suggestion. Try to see [murderers] as PEOPLE first. They are your fathers, mothers, brothers and sisters. Doesn't your family deserve the same protections that you take for granted?"
I am not trying to equate the "transgendered" to murderers, only to show that Greg's tug at the heartstrings for us to morph something into something different so that we can take pity on it, can be used in any case whatsoever to defeat the use of REASON. A person who does not wish to deal with the reality of his sex does not need special rights, even if you invent a silly three-syllable word for a victim-class for him to belong to.
- Spike, Brentwood NH
A very famous American Humorist will rogers has been dead many years but his comment still holds true, "politicains make the jokes I merely report them." So many other important issues need to be addressed and folks get hung up on side issues.-----OH! ME.
- albert, northwood
David, Keene says this regulation "will make it legal for a male child molester to go into a bathroom where there are young helpless females." Wrong, David. Molesting children is illegal, these laws don't change that. And I can only guess that you're not concerned about little boys because you know that most child molesters are heterosexual males.
These laws are really about protection concerning employment, housing, access to credit (mortgages, home loans, car payments), and public accommodations such as restaurants, hotels, etc.
These laws protect everyone (not just transgender people). For example, it means that a boss can't fire a woman who chooses not to wear makeup, or not to wear skirts.
Many places do not currently prohibit someone from entering a restroom designated for people of the other sex. This is necessary for people with children, people who need attendants, etc.
Laws that protect against discrimination based on gender identity have exclusions for places where nudity is unavoidable, such as locker rooms, and exceptions for religious organizations. Some of these laws have been in place for more than 30 years (Minneapolis) without problems.
Most sex crimes, including voyeurism, are committed by conventionally-gendered heterosexual men who are dressed as men. Allowing discrimination based on gender identity and expression still won't prevent anyone from entering any restroom, regardless of their gender or grooming.
There are already transgender and transsexual people using the restrooms that correspond to their identities.
- klm, Seattle WA
It is unbelievable the amount of unconstitutional, overly taxing, overly controlling, and just plain insane legislation that these Democrats have proposed. They should stop trying to impose their (im)moral views on the rest of us.
If someone wants to have coed bathrooms in their business, let them, but do NOT make a law that forces me to allow that in MINE.
I WILL NOT DO IT.
I can just see it now -- being sued for letting some little girl use the bathroom at your business, and then they are assaulted by a man in a dress.
I am sorry if this offends the transgendered because I am not accusing them as a whole of anything, I am saying that criminals will TAKE ADVANTAGE of this 'freedom' to the detriment of the rest of us.
The people proposing this defy common sense!
- Sue, Manchester
At least one in ten men who uses the men's room is a homosexual. In light of that we should have restrooms designated for them. Separate drinking fountains too...make them ride in the back of the bus, discriminate against them in housing, not let them vote, not let them marry (oh, already working on that little gem)...all that great American tolerance.
- Jay, Concord
As a registered Republican for 27 of my 27 eligible years, and a former voter for John Sununu, I'm quite disappointed to see just how uninformed he is.
This isn't about bathrooms for transvestites, it's about equal housing, jobs, etc for transgender people.
- Cynthia, Goffstown
2 X chromosomes = female
1 X and 1 Y = male
No matter what they want to call themselves.
- Rich, Bennington
People's rights are worth legislating, clearly they need to be in this intolerant society. The only ones I worry about in restrooms are republican politicans...they seem to use them as places for sexual dalliances.
- Dorothy, Concord
Here is my suggestion. Try to see transgendered and transexual people as PEOPLE first. They are your fathers, mothers, brothers and sisters. Doesn't your family deserve the same protections that you take for granted?
Greg Barrett
Manchester
- Greg Barrett, Manchester
I think it's important to understand that any of the 424 state legislators can introduce a bill that will have a public hearing and a vote on the floor of the House or Senate, depending on who sponsored the bill. There are whack jobs in any random 424 people. This bill will not pass, because rational thought will take hold...i.e., how can I protect my child from predators who take advantage of a non-discrimination bill to prey on unattended kids using the toilet. Unintended consequences that apparently didn't occur to the sponsor.
- Marge, Lyndeborough
Actually Scott from Manchester has it right. Regardless of political affiliation we do not send the best and the brightest this State has to offer to Concord. Ever been to a session? I have. It is an embarassment. People asleep, some folks actually drooling, Representatives that have absolutely no idea of the legislation before them. And we keep returning many of these same fools year after year after year, or make them party chairs like Ray Buckley! No people, it is our fault, we are the one's that have created this mess. But I have to look at the bright side. Bathroom legislation. It makes sense. Think about it. some of the best work done by these citizen legislators, for free, is probably actually performed in State House bathrooms!
- Thomas Thorpe, Portsmouth, NH
Extremes such as this are proof we need a New Hampshire Voter Petition Initiative so we can control NH legislators and NH Legislation.
By a Voter Petition Initiative NH voters can create a petition for a proposed new NH law or policy, a repeal of part of all of an old law NH or policy, a recall from office of any NH elected or appointed official, or an NH Constitutional Amendment. When enough signatures of registered NH voters are accumulated, the Petition would go to the NH Secretary of State who would either set up a special election (if specified in the Petition) or place the proposal on the ballot for the next general election. If passed, the proposal cannot be vetoed by the Governor or overturned by the legislature and thereby becomes law or policy.
This is the only way we voters who care about the quality of life and the necessary logical and therefore rational government of New Hampshire can ensure that New Hampshire remains New Hampshire.
- Bob Kroepel, Nw Durham
"Bathroom laws" have been enacted in 13 states and over 100 cities and towns .
To date, there have been NO incidents of Bathroom invasion! Transexuals have to use toilets too! This fearmongering is the latest evolution of hate. (What's Next?) Think about it, What stops this hypothetical "pervert" from entering the ladies room now? It doesn't happen. Pass the law!
Regards, Terry
- Terry Egan, Lakewood, New Jersey
Mike, Temple
Seeing that most child molesters are married men with families who can't be distinguished by their clothing, you must be very concerned about bathrooms as they stand right now. Will you be doing anything about it?
- Gary, Pelham
Jim in Concord:
Nice example of 'Projection'. Unemployment is up and the state is broke (thanks to wild spanding by the dems in office), and you blame the Republicans who try to stop them from turning the attention to useless topics.
- sally, candia, nh
Hey Jim in Concord, Sununu was just expressing the GOP position on such a stupid bill. He's not allowed to do that? Maybe he should go along with the bill?
Why is it that liberals like yourself and Mike Lane in Manchester can never tolerate anyone's opinion when it differs from yours?
Mike Lane throws out his normal venom because others in this forum feel that there are more important matters for our nitwit legislators to be focused on, and your comments should have been directed at your own party.
Jeepers creepers.
- Melvin, Keene
This would have allowed GOP Senator from Idaho Larry Craig to wear a dress while he cruised for gay sex in bathrooms instead of getting a nice suit dirty, so why not?
- Joan, Bedford
I fixed Jim's post:
"Today's front page included a story about a 7.3% unemployment rate in Coos County, and Democratic legislators are spending their time pushing a bathroom bill???"
- Ryan, Hooksett
This is a waste of time. Rep. Ed Butler should be ashamed for sponsoring such a ridiculous bill. Fix the real problem with this state before you worry about where a transvestite can take a whizz.
- Dave, Litchfield
It's interesting that everyone thinks this is going to rake the coffers clean of stimulus money. This is more for adjustment to discrimination laws to allow transgenders with all the legal and medical documentation the right to be who they need to be with out fear.
The bathroom issue is another matter, if you go to almost any fast food and most other restaurants it is only one stall and if there are more than one, there is in most cases a solid wall between. So if this about the bathroom I think you're looking at this from the wrong perspective than any of us or people that support this bill.
The majority of transgenders just want to live there lives as any other person with our family with no fears as you all enjoy everyday.
- Andrea, Manchester
I just read HB415. As typically crafted by politicians looking out for the general interests of the residents of New Hampshire, this bill and how it is to be understood is so vague I can only phrase it as being out right dangerous especially the changes to RSA 354-A:16 and 354-A:17. So please correct me if I am wrong in understanding this "wonderful" (NOT!) piece of legislation.
You mean to tell me that a person who is confused and questions or cannot determine their own sexual orientation will now be allowed to enter public rest rooms, locker rooms, showers, and changing rooms of either sex without question? The answer is yes. Let me run this scenario by everyone...as a parent, I take my little girl to the movies. She has to use the restroom. My little girl has an expectation of privacy when using a restroom. In comes the male trans gender who wants to use the ladies room rather than the mens room. How am I supposed to know if this guy is a true trans gender or just a plain old pervert? You are not going to find to many fathers having the reasonableness or patience as the sponsors of this bill possess.
I know this may sound crazy but what's to prevent Jr. or Sr. high school students from entering the opposite sex's restroom locker room or shower? All they need to say is they are confused or undeterimed about their sexual orientation and now have the law to protect their right to do this.
Our elected officials find justification in changing the law for less than 1% of the population? What about the privacy rights of the majority? What about safety and moral well being? Nah!!!! New Hampshire is no longer the "Live Free or Die" state. It should become the "Let's Get Stoned and Go to the Casino Where There Can Be No Distinction Between Male and Female Because Marriage Means Nothing" state.
- Chris, Laconia
What a waste of time this bathroom bill is. It would effect maybe a handful of people and besides, this is a perfect example of of an issue for the courts to settle. It seems that number two is the Dems number one priority.
Well let me hit you with a clue stick. In light of the current economic situation, we don't want our leaders to waste a microsecond on these damnable social issues. Our house is on fire and these yayhoo's want to mow the lawn. GAH!! We want you to spend every waking moment on reducing government spending and coming up with ways to help NH businesses to sustain, recover, and expand. THAT'S IT.
- Biff, Canterbury
We should discuss this legislation. At one time or another the "bathroom bill" could involve us all.
What consenting adults do in their own homes is not my business.
On the other hand why do we HAVE to accept bad behavior AND subject the ladies and children to unsafe conditions while using a public bathroom?
bnyoung@metrocast.net
- Niel Young, Laconia
The people who support this bill should be willing to sell this bill to the voters next year otherwise they have no business filing it in the first place. Imagine some young mother having to explain to her 5 year old daughter why some man dressed as a woman is using the ladies room.
- Chris, Merrimack
I am a summer resident of New Hampshire, I am not listing the town where I have my summer home because of fear of harassment since I am a transsexual.
The bathroom argument is a fear tactic that the opposition to bill are using. The truth is that 39% of the U.S. population is now covered by gender inclusive anti-discrimination laws and there has not been an incident where a transgender person attack any one in a bathroom. In Massachusetts, the National Organization of Women (MassNOW)and the Jane Doe Inc. (The Massachusetts Coalition Against Sexual Assault and Domestic Violence) backing the Massachusetts bill to add gender inclusion to the Massachusetts discrimination laws. In Connecticut, the Connecticut Sexual Assault Crisis Services (CONNSACS) also has backed a gender inclusive bill.
There are 13 states and the District of Columbus that have gender non-discrimination laws, including Maine (2005), Rhode Island (2001) and Vermont (2007). Both Connecticut and Massachusetts have a ruling by their Human Rights Commissions protecting transgender people.
We are not asking for special rights, all we are asking is that we can “Live Free” and to earn a living to support our families and to have a roof over our heads to shelter our families.
- Diana L., Connecticut
Jim in Concord, either the clocks are slow in Concord or just you are, but how does a two paragraph statement equate to "spending all his time"?
Researching, drafting and trying to pass a bill, like the Dems are, is much more accurate in terms of "spending all their time". Heck, even Buckley's response was an attack on Sununu for not giving the bill "it's proper attention". Bwahahahaha.
Kudos to Lynch for not paying attention to this bill and hopefully he uses it for transgender toilet paper.
- Scott, Manchester
Just when you think you've heard it all from the liberal democrats, they come out and trump it.
We already have women and children being sexually assaulted in public restrooms. Can you imagine if this passes? The good thing is that these liberals are getting just as ridiculous as the PETA people and even most on the left are seeing it.
- Robert M., Boscawen
Some rights are more equal than others.
Maybe our politicians should focus on understanding and protecting basic Constitutional rights of the people first.
Also, how are "gender expression" and "gender identity" defined?
What's to keep a guy from going into the ladies room, saying he's feeling "womanly"? Can't kick him out. That would be discrimination. He's exercising his right to feel genderish.
- Bruce M., Brentwood
Mike -
The people have had enough of the intimidation and name-calling any time someone disagrees with the positions of the radical far-left agenda.
The fact of the matter is that it's the American Psychiatric Association that has categorized Gender Identity Confusion as a mental disorder, not the Republican Party.
If there's anyone who deserves to be protected, it's women and children - and I am so sorry you cannot see that.
- Kevin Smith, Litchfield, NH
John T. Sununu has begun pulling his weight as party chairman. His "San Francisco" quip entertains but identifies the nub of the problem. I would rather hear a speech full of this stuff than Ray Buckley's predictable "It is unfortunate" blather. The key question is whether Sununu can recruit candidates to match.
Mike L. ("hate and discrimination") returns to the party line that anyone against special rights for eccentrics--anyone against letting men use women's bathrooms--must be "mean-spirited." Mike, what happens on Earth, despite twelve years of public schooling, is that people acting ridiculously are sometimes ridiculed. You guys's solution is more rules, laws, victimless crimes, and bureaucrats. "Liberal" is not the right word for this mental orthodoxy.
- Spike, Brentwood NH
To Mike L from Manchester...it's funny to listen to the hypocritical liberals lecture us on tolerance. These same liberals are only "tolerant" of views so long as they align with their own.
When the first story breaks about a young girl being molested or murdered in a woman's bathroom by a man who was in there legally, Mike L from Manchester and his hypocritical, hateful comments will be nowhere to be found, just like all liberals who are scarce when their foolish ideas come back to haunt us....but hey, it's "for the children."
- Mike, Temple
Today's front page included a story about a 7.3% unemployment rate in Coos County, and the chair of the state GOP is spending all his time focused no a bathroom bill???.
- Jim in Concord, Concord
Nice to see that hate and discrimination are still planks in the NH Republican party platform. Maybe we should bring back public lynching and then we can get rid of all of "those" people who aren't like us. Lord knows we don't want "confused children"....
- Mike L., Manchester, NH
"Transgender rights in 'bathroom bill' - this bill will open bathrooms to use by either sex."
This will make it legal for a male child molester to go into a bathroom where there are young helpless females.
- David, Keene
The bad bews is we are going to get more & more of this from the NH Democratic party. The good news is that the NH Democratic party is setting itself up for a historic loss in 2010.
- Jay Collins, Laconia
Unemployment is high. Layoffs everywhere. Budgets being cut. Homes being foreclosed on. Health insurance is costly, if you are lucky enough to have it.
How are we in this mess?
We elect officials that want to spend $1.4 million for a flower garden (Manchester state Rep. Jane Beaulieu) instead of using that same land as a relatively free dog park for the city.
The state is wasting time and money for "transgender" bathrooms.
The Manchester alderman vote to cancel a meeting because of, not Christmas, not even New Year's, not Easter or the Fourth of July, but for St. Patrick's Day because George Smith and Kelleigh Murphy want to drink green beer.
Peter Sullivan wants to brawl Joe Kelly Levasseur.
Mike R. in Bedford is 100% correct, get these clowns OUT. NOW. Democrats or Republicans, I don't care, these clowns need to get out, NOW.
- Scott, Manchester
Haven't we had enough problems already with politicians in bathrooms.
- Jonathan, Bedford
Nice to see what the Democrats' priorities are.
Economy? Bringing white collar companies to NH?
No. Transsexual bathroom rights.
Get these clowns OUT. NOW.
- Mike R., Bedford
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