NH Senate Democrats Unanimous (Again!) On Letting Males In Women's Spaces

By Michael Graham, NH Journal

Fresh off their unanimous opposition to a proposed income tax ban, New Hampshire Senate Democrats on Thursday voted against allowing women-only private spaces such as bathrooms and locker rooms. It’s one of the few positions in New Hampshire politics less popular than supporting an income tax.

The GOP-controlled Senate voted 15-8 to pass an amended version of HB 1442, which Sen. Daryl Abbas, R-Salem, said “clarifies that classification based on biological sex is permitted in certain limited circumstances, including multi-user facilities, athletics, and in certain institutional settings, (where) such classifications serve a compelling state interest.”

Those circumstances include bathrooms, locker rooms, single-sex sports teams, and jails and prisons.

The House version of the bill passed 181-164, also without a single Democratic vote. Three Republicans — Reps. Andrus, Salisbury; Bridle, Hampton; and Vandecasteele, Salem — also voted no.

Progressive Sen. Debra Altschiller, D-Stratham, accused her GOP colleagues of “discrimination” and rejected the idea that sex is determined by biology.

“This bill isn’t about science. If it were, we’d follow it,” Altschiller said. “This bill, as amended, is about obsession: a sustained, relentless, burning obsession with the bodies and private lives of a tiny minority of our neighbors.”

She also argued that men who call themselves women should have the right to be treated as women, regardless of Granite State voters’ views.

“It’s not supposed to be ‘Live Free or Die if you’re in the majority,’” Altschiller said.

Supporters of allowing schools and sports facilities to ban biological males from women’s spaces say the bill is basic biology and public safety common sense. They point to examples from across the country of men arrested for assaulting women in those spaces.

For example, last year Richard Cox, a registered sex offender who self-identifies as a woman, was arrested for lurking in women’s locker rooms and exposing himself to women and children at multiple recreation centers in the Westford, Mass., school system.

In New Jersey, two female inmates became pregnant following “consensual sexual relationships” with a transgender inmate in 2022.

Here in New Hampshire, the U.S. Department of Education announced last month it is investigating a potential civil rights violation by the Contoocook Valley School District for allowing boys in girls’ bathrooms.

“Young women should never feel unsafe or uncomfortable in their intimate spaces because their school leaders care more about gender ideology than protecting girls’ dignity and privacy,” said Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Kimberly Richey. “Placing the burden on girls to move out of their own intimate spaces when there is a male present is not just absurd; it also discriminates against girls.”

The school district points out that under current state law, it cannot bar a male from a women’s locker room if he claims to be transgender. Laws that would have allowed the school to protect these spaces for women have been vetoed by both Govs. Chris Sununu and Kelly Ayotte.

Democrats are apparently counting on another Ayotte veto.

“This is surveillance legislation dressed in the language of biology, and it won’t survive,” Altschiller said Thursday. “The previous iterations didn’t. The governor has made that clear. In fact, she has already vetoed this exact language.”

If she does, Ayotte will be swimming against the political tide. A July 2025 NHJournal/Praecones Analytica poll found Granite Staters support banning males from female spaces by a 65-21 percent margin.

Sen. Bill Gannon, R-Sandown, is a co-sponsor of several bills addressing this issue, and he told NHJournal last week he is confident Ayotte will find a way to “yes.”

“The governor is going to sign my bathroom bill,” Gannon said, though he wasn’t specific about which bill he had in mind.

Sen. Regina Birdsell is also a co-sponsor of HB 1442. Asked if Ayotte would sign such a bill if it reaches her desk, she told NHJournal, “I hope so.”

This story was originally published by the NH Journal, an online news publication dedicated to providing fair, unbiased reporting on, and analysis of, political news of interest to New Hampshire. For more stories from the NH Journal, visit NHJournal.com.