Headlines from the Granite State
Historic Eighth
Ray Buckley, New Hampshire’s long-serving, openly gay chair of the state’s Democratic Party, won a historic eighth term on March 14. The state DNC swept Buckley back into the leadership role by a vote of 168 to the 90 won by his challenger, the openly LGBT Somersworth business owner and political activist Emmett Soldati.
“The race offered a contrast between a veteran party official and a local activist aiming to take the party in a new direction,” reported New Hampshire Public Radio. “Buckley, who has been chair of the party since 2007, began his political career in the 1970s when he volunteered on the Jimmy Carter campaign. Soldati’s challenge for the party leadership post came following mixed election results last November, when Democrats won three congressional seats but were trounced in local races, losing control of the state Senate, House and Executive Council, as well as the governor’s race.”
At the March 14 online meeting where the vote took place, Buckley told his fellow Dems, “As Democrats, we believe, to our very core, that our life is about giving, and making a difference for others. Politics is not about us, but what we do for others.”
Anti-trans athletes bill delayed
In late March, the state’s House education committee delayed a bill to ban transgender girls and young women from participating in high school and college sports for a year.
The bill remains in committee so lawmakers can consider possible changes for the 2020 legislative session.
“There are no changes that could make this discriminatory bill acceptable, but today’s move by the committee is a victory for trans girls in New Hampshire, who will continue to be able to play on sports teams with their peers.” said the openly transgender Rochester City Councilor Palana Belken.
“Teammates, coaches, parents, and trans athletes turned out overwhelmingly against this bill, with 1,135 people signing in to oppose the bill and 30 individuals sharing powerful testimony against it. That made it impossible for the committee to send it to the House with a positive recommendation.”
A rebuke and an apology
In early March, a Granite State legislator halted a debate over a bill to ban “gay or trans panic” as a legal defense for committing manslaughter when the lawmaker referred to LGBTQ people as having a “deviant sexuality.”
Reported New Hampshire Public Radio, “Speaking [in opposition to] a bill that would prohibit an alleged perpetrator from using a victim’s sexuality and gender identity as a defense to manslaughter, Rep. Dick Marston, a Manchester Republican, used the phrase while voicing opposition to the measure.”
Marston said: “We’re all the same breed. We’re all the same people. If you kill somebody you should be charged for murder, and you should be tried on it, and there’s no way in heck that you’re going to be able to say ‘Well because he or she was some deviant sexuality that I’m not–,’” Marston began, before being silenced by the chairman of the House Criminal Justice and Public Safety Committee.”
Rep. Daryl Abbas, a Republican from Salem, swiftly gaveled Marston quiet and ended the meeting. Other fellow lawmakers and LGBTQ advocates rebuked Marston for his comments.
A few days later, Marston made a formal apology, stating, “I pray that the people I offended can find it in their hearts to forgive me and accept my apology. For the people who are not ready to forgive me, I understand,” he said. “All I ask is that you not give up on me because I give my word that I continue my progress and guide others to being better people.”
Bill would define gender-affirming care as child abuse
A bill (HB 68) that would classify life-saving, gender-affirming care for transgender youth as child abuse went before the New Hampshire House of Representatives’ Children and Family Law committee in February.
Opposing this legislation—along with doctors, parents and young people who testified against it at a hearing earlier this month—is the Human Right Commission (HRC), which circulated a petition that stated in part, “Medical decisions should be made between the patient, parents, and physician—not the government or politicians. This bill would punish doctors and parents for providing life-saving medical care and it flies in the face of respecting the rights, needs, and well-being of transgender youth.”
About 70 people had signed up to speak in favor and opposed at the bill’s hearing, reported the Concord Monitor, though none may have summed it up as neatly as teenager Anya Tang.
“I oppose HB 68,” said Tang, “because I believe that denying me the health care I need to feel safe and affirmed is abuse, in and of itself.”
The bill remains in committee so lawmakers can consider possible changes for the 2022 legislative session.
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