Headlines from the Granite State
Unity House
Unity House, the first group home dedicated to LGBTQ+ youth in the state, opened earlier this month in Keene.
The group home will provide a safe and supportive living environment for up to eight youth, ages 12–19, who are in custody of the state’s Division for Children, Youth and Families. A staff of 18 will prepare the residents for reunification with their families or transition to foster care or independent living.
Unity House was created by Boston-based nonprofit The Home for Little Wanders, which designed the first-of-its-kind-in-the-nation Waltham House in Waltham, Massachusetts back in 2002. Unity House was contracted by the New Hampshire Division of Children, Youth and Families.
“These kids, they may have gone through abuse and neglect, and that may or may not have been related to their gender identity or sexual orientation,” said Home for Little Wanderers Vice President of Community Relations Matthew McCall. “Our clinical staff will have lived experience or have experience working with LGBTQ+ populations.”
Intercollegiate LGBTQ+ prom
For LGBTQ+ college students who may have missed out on their high school proms either because of COVID or because they were not able to attend with their dates, Dartmouth and Colby Sawyer colleges teamed up to host an intercollegiate LGBTQ+ student prom on the Dartmouth campus, inviting students from other colleges across New England.
Reports the Keene Sentinel, the dance was organized by student representatives from Pride organizations across New England and was the idea of Colby Sawyer Pride President Katya Delgiado.
Instead of a prom “king” and “queen,” there was a Monarch and Majesty. Attending their first prom, Agigain Farley was crowned Monarch. “I’m still kind of new to this, even though I learned I was trans two years ago,” Farley told the Sentinel. “I still am kind of new and outside, so I wanted to get myself into it, and I’m very happy I did.”
Spate of anti-LGBTQ+ Bills
The New Hampshire legislature has sent a stack of bills that would take away rights from LGBTQ+ Granite Staters—most particularly harmful to transgender people—to the desk of Governor Sununu, who has stood with LGBTQ+ in the past by vetoing homo- and transphobic legislation. GLBTQ+ Legal Advocates & Defenders compiled a list of the bills:
HB 396 would roll back some of the nondiscrimination protections passed in 2018, opening the door to discrimination in public spaces, including restrooms. (In 2018, the state became the first in the US to pass an update to its nondiscrimination law to include trans people through an entirely Republican-controlled state house, senate and governor.)
HB 1205 would ban trans girls from playing girls’ sports from 5th to 12th grades. It would require all girls to submit a birth certificate for eligibility or provide “other evidence,” which could include genital inspection. It would also allow parents and students to sue their school, an opposing team’s school, the NHIAA and the state if they believe a trans athlete caused them psychological, emotional or physical harm.
HB 1312 would require educators to provide two weeks’ notice on all curriculum and materials related to gender, sexual orientation, gender identity and gender expression; it also identifies these topics as “objectionable material.”
HB 619 would ban referrals for gender-affirming health care for trans patients under 18 years old, which disregards parents’ rights to direct the health care of their child.
Says Linds Jakows, founder of 603 Equality, “When New Hampshire became the first entirely Republican-controlled state to say that transgender people should live free from discrimination, there was no asterisk. No qualifier. Governor Sununu said it was simply ‘the right thing to do.’ Just because certain members of the NH State Senate have chosen to abandon the values they held in 2018, does not mean Governor Sununu will. LGBTQ+ people and those who know and love us are urging a swift veto of these mean-spirited bills that are based in misinformation. When we say ‘live free or die’ we mean everyone.”
At the time this issue went to press, the governor had yet to veto these bills or sign them into law.
Censorship law struck down
In late May, a federal court found a state law unconstitutional that “actively discouraged public school teachers from teaching and taking about race, gender, sexual orientation, disability and gender identity outside the classroom,” described GLAD. The ruling marks this first case in the US striking down such laws in K–12 public schools.
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