Friday, June 8, 2018 is now a historic day for LGBT rights in New Hampshire.
Republican Governor Chris Sununu signed not one but two pro-LGBT rights bills into law: House Bill 1319, banning discrimination against transgender people in housing, employment and public accommodations and House Bill 587, protecting LGBTQ minors from conversion therapy.
“Discrimination—in any form—is unacceptable and runs contrary to New Hampshire’s Live Free or Die Spirit,” the governor wrote in a public statement following the signing of HB 1319.
According to the Concord Monitor:
In signing the bill, Sununu evoked the state motto.
“If we really want to be the Live Free or Die state, we must ensure that New Hampshire is a place where every person, regardless of their background, has an equal and full opportunity to pursue their dreams and to make a better life for themselves and their families,” he said. “This bill will ensure equal rights, equal opportunity, and nondiscrimination protections in the areas of housing and employment.”
But his move didn’t generate any applause from the New Hampshire Democratic Party.
Longtime state party chairman Ray Buckley praised Democratic lawmakers, who overwhelming supporting the bill, and continued to fire away at Sununu, the state’s first Republican governor in a dozen years.
“After saying he had ‘no personal opinion’ on the bill last year as his own party killed it, we’re happy to see Governor Sununu finally come around,” Buckley said. “It’s telling that the governor is trying to dodge political upheaval in his own party by signing this bill on a Friday afternoon without a bill signing ceremony and without so much as saying the word ‘transgender’ in his signing statement, but it’s not surprising.”
The leaders of a Granite State group that represents LGBT Republicans applauded the governor’s move.
“We are very grateful to Governor Sununu for his leadership and strength in signing these important bills that received bipartisan support in the House and Senate,” wrote Jennifer Horn and Doug Palardy, co-chairs of Log Cabin Republicans of New Hampshire
But some conservatives vented their frustration.
“Today, a Republican governor goes down in history as the man who signed the Bathroom Bill, endangering women and girls all across the state and giving unfair advantages to men posing as women in various competitive environments,” Cornerstone Action Executive Director Shannon McGinley charged.
Outspoken conservative state Rep. Al Baldasaro recently told the Monitor that Sununu’s support of the transgender bill will hurt him with social conservative voters.
“I think it’s going to have a major effect,” Baldasaro said. “I’ve been warning him.”
University of New Hampshire political science professor Dante Scala wasn’t sure how much damage Sununu may face from social conservatives over his signing of the bills.
“So-called social issues tend to divide New Hampshire Republicans, and this bill is no exception. The division gave the governor some freedom of action that he would not have on, say, raising taxes,” Scala explained.
“Social conservatives will grumble, but they don’t appear to have the juice to make the popular governor pay the price for this,” Scala added. “There just aren’t enough voters, even in a statewide Republican primary, who will vote on these issues. That was true when it came to repealing gay marriage, and it’s true today.”
The transgender antidiscrimination bill takes effect on July 8; the bill banning conversion therapy will be effective on January 1, 2019.
