Politics
N.H. voters elect country’s first out transgender statewide candidate
Stacie Laughton will represent Nashua in the state House of Representatives; gay men also elected to state Senate and Executive Council.
A New Hampshire Democrat on Tuesday became the first openly transgender person elected to state office in the country.
Stacie Laughton, a Nashua selectman, will represent portions of the state’s second largest city located on the Massachusetts border in the New Hampshire House of Representatives. She and two other Democrats defeated two Republicans who had also ran.
The N.H. House has 400 members from 103 districts. Each lawmaker has an average of 3,300 constituents, but the most populated districts can have up to 13 representatives.
Laughton did not immediately respond to the Washington Bladeās request for comment, but she said in a campaign video she would āalways fight for the rights of the LGBT community.ā New Hampshire lawmakers in 2009 rejected a bill that would have added gender identity and expression to the stateās non-discrimination law.
Laughton told the [Nashua] Telegraph newspaper she hopes her election will inspire other LGBT people to seek political office.
āI believe that at this point, the LGBT community will hopefully be inspired,ā Laughton told the newspaper on Nov. 8. āMy hope is that now maybe weāll see more people in the community running, maybe for alderman. Maybe in the next election, weāll have a senator.ā
Gay former state Rep. Ray Buckley, who chairs the New Hampshire Democratic Party, welcomed Laughtonās election.
āServing in the N.H. House is an extraordinary experience because it brings together 400 citizens from all walks of life to work together,ā he told the Blade. āHaving a transgendered person as a member of the House will bring a unique experience and perspective to the challenges facing the state.ā
Joelle Ruby Ryan, a transgender activist who is also a professor at the University of New Hampshire, agreed.
“Words cannot express how excited I am about the election of Ms. Stacie Laughton to the N.H. House of Representative,” she told the Blade. “As a transgender activist in N.H. for 20 years now, I can honestly state that this is a pivotal milestone in our long struggle for full equality and civil rights.”
Mara Keisling, executive director of the National Center for Transgender Equality, also described Laughton’s election as “historic.”
āWeāre thrilled she was elected,” said Keisling. “She did it the grassroots way you have to do it in New Hampshire. Sheās part of the community and clearly did it right, so itās pretty impressive she got elected.ā
Nashua voters elected Laughton on the same night former state Sen. Maggie Hassan defeated Republican Ovide Lamontagne to become New Hampshireās next governor. The stateās next congressional delegation will be all women after former Congresswoman Carol Shea-Porter and Ann McLane Kuster defeated incumbent U.S. Reps. Frank Guinta and Charlie Bass respectively.
House Minority Leader Terie Norelli (D-Portsmouth) could also potentially become the next speaker of the N.H. House after Democrats regained control of the chamber.
Gay candidates elected to state Senate, Executive Council
State Rep. David Pierce (D-Etna) on Tuesday became the first openly gay state Senate candidate elected to the chamber. He defeated state Rep. Joe Osgood (R-Claremont) by a 17,719-9,940 vote margin to represent the 5th Senate District that includes the town of Hanover in which Dartmouth College is located.
Pierce, who testified in support of New Hampshireās marriage equality bill in 2009 and against a measure earlier this year that would have repealed it, told the Blade during an interview last month Osgood pointed out to his supporters and local reporters the Gay and Lesbian Victory Fund endorsed his campaign.
He said after his election that his sexual orientation never became an issue for voters.
āThankfully, my Tea Party opponent was cowed into not raising the gay issue in this campaign,ā said Pierce. āThatās because [New Hampshire] has led the nation in the marriage equality fight; weāre the āLife Free or Dieā state. The issues that matter most to the voters ā jobs, economy, equality, health care, education, environment ā are why they cast their ballots for me by a 28-point margin. Iām proud to be the first out candidate elected to the N.H. Senate, and will never forget my roots. My husband [and] our two daughters deserve nothing less.ā
Gay former state Rep. Chris Pappas will represent Manchester, New Hampshire’s largest city, and surrounding towns in the Merrimack Valley on the Executive Council after defeating Hillsborough County Treasurer Robert Burns by 63,641-50,907 vote margin. Pappas will succeed former Manchester Mayor Ray Wieczorek who did not seek another term on the five-member gubernatorial advisory and oversight body.
āMost Americans realize that your ability to do a job is not determined by your gender identity or sexual orientation,ā said Jerame Davis, executive director of National Stonewall Democrats. āAnd that reality is starting to show up at the ballot box.ā
Ryan agreed.
“I am excited about the coming years and the possibilities for genuine progress in our slate of agenda items for transgender rights,” she said, referring to Laughton’s election.Ā “In particular, I hope to see N.H. pass a bill banning discrimination on the basis of gender identity/expression, which currently exists in the rest of New England, as well as work on other policy issues.Ā The elections were inspiring for progressives and minority groups in general.Ā Stacie Laughton’s election is amazing evidence that times really are a-changing, and our hard work for justice and liberation for all gender-variant people is finally bearing fruit.”
Congress
House passes spending bill as Greene threatens to oust Johnson
51 of 52 anti-LGBTQ riders were defeated
The U.S. House of Representatives averted a government shutdown on Friday with a vote of 286-134 to pass the $1.2 trillion spending bill, over the objections of hard-right members like U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.).
The congresswoman subsequently filed a motion to remove House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.), who is himself an ultraconservative legislator. The move marked the second time in six months that the party has called for a vote to oust their own leader.
āToday I filed a motion to vacate after Speaker Johnson has betrayed our conference and broken our rules,ā said Greene, who refused to say whether she would call up the resolution to call for a snap vote, which likely means the matter will be delayed until after the two-week recess.
Greene and Johnson are at odds over the content of the minibus appropriations package, with the congresswoman calling it a “Chuck Schumer, Democrat-controlled bill” that does not contain conservative policy demands on matters like immigration and LGBTQ issues.
The speaker, meanwhile, proclaimed, āHouse Republicans achieved conservative policy wins, rejected extreme Democrat proposals, and imposed substantial cuts while significantly strengthening national defense.ā
With respect to anti-LGBTQ riders submitted by Republican members, more than 50 were ultimately stripped from the bill, which the Human Rights Campaign celebrated as “a victory,” crediting lawmakers for their “bipartisan, bicameral negotiations.”
Of the 52 anti-LGBTQ riders, only one survived in the $1.2 trillion package passed on Friday: A ban on flying Pride flags at U.S. embassies.
Congress
Massive defeat for anti-trans, anti-LGBTQ riders in spending bill
Proposal has only one rider that would target community
On Thursday, Congress unveiled the much-anticipated spending bill to avert a government shutdown. The bill, which includes funding for major government departments such as Health and Human Services and Education, featured fierce negotiations over conservative āpolicy riders.ā
These policy riders included bans on coverage for gender-affirming care, DEI bans, sports bans and more. Despite some indications that Democrats might compromise due to the sheer number of conservative policy riders, it appears those fears did not come to fruition. Democrats held firm in negotiations, and the most impactful anti-trans and anti-LGBTQ riders were nowhere to be found.
One policy rider proposed for the Food and Drug Administration would have defunded any hospital that ādistributes, sells or otherwise uses drugs that disrupt the onset of puberty or sexual development for those under 18,ā a measure targeting not only transgender youth but also those experiencing precocious puberty.
Another rider sought to bar any government funding toward āsurgical procedures or hormone therapy for the purposes of gender-affirming careā in the Department of Health and Human Services. This move would have significantly impacted private and subsidized insurance in the Healthcare Marketplace. It also aimed to bar the enforcement of President Joe Bidenās executive order titled āPreventing and Combating Discrimination on the Basis of Gender Identity,ā which broadened anti-discrimination protections for trans individuals.
Additional riders included bans on funding for any organization thatĀ āpromotes transgenderism,āĀ Title IX protections for trans youth, bans on legal challenges against states over anti-LGBTQ+ laws, book bans, DEI bans and more.
In total, over 40 riders were proposed and negotiated in the spending bills. None of these were found in the final bill.
Ultimately, the final spending bill released contained only a single anti-LGBTQ rider: A ban on Pride flags being raised or displayed above foreign embassies. The policy, while certainly qualifying as anti-LGBTQ and a regression to Trump-era policies, notably does not bar personal displays of Pride flags by embassy workers.
In the past, some embassies have gotten around such bans by not āflying a flag over the embassyā but rather, painting portions of the embassy in rainbow colors or draping flags on the side of buildings.
News of the defeat of the most impactful anti-trans and anti-LGBTQ riders comes after a significant push from Equality Caucus Democrats and the Biden administration against the riders. āAs you negotiate government funding for Fiscal Year 2024 (FY24), we write to strongly urge you to reject any attempts to include anti-LGBTQ+ provisions in any final FY24 funding agreement,ā said a letter signed by 163 representatives on behalf of the Congressional Equality Caucus to the Biden administration.
However, Republicans also pushed hard for their inclusion. In a shutdown threat issued Feb. 21 from the House Freedom Caucus, Republicans indicated that bans on gender affirming care and trans participation in sports were necessary to prevent a potential shutdown.
Previously, U.S. Dan Crenshaw (R-Texas) stated that such bans are the “hill we will die on.” In a report published by Axios, one Republican lawmaker stated, āPeople are predicting a shutdown even if it’s just for a few days.ā Others concurred, citing gender affirming care riders as one of the potential reasons for such a shutdown.
Many anti-LGBTQ leaders in the Republican Party reacted negatively to the bill. U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.)Ā expressed angerĀ at funding for the New Jersey Garden State Equality in Education Fund, calling it āforce feeding the LGBT agenda in schoolsā and stating that it enables āgender mutilation surgeries in minors,ā ābiological menā in womenās bathrooms and trans participation in sports.
U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) decried the lack of a DEI ban. U.S. Rep. Andrew Clyde (R-Ga.) stated that Republicans āsurrenderedā to Democrats on hormone therapy. The House Freedom Caucus published a lengthy list of healthcare and equality centers that the budget would fund, urging the GOP to vote ānoā and to shut down the government.
In a press release published by House Appropriations Democrats, they stated that the bill rejected over a hundred poison-pill riders, many of which targeted LGBTQ people. For example, the Labor-HHS-Education portion of the bill blocked provisions around gender affirming care, sports bans and nondiscrimination.
See the House Appropriations Democrats statement:
The bill must pass by Friday evening to avert a government shutdown, though the impacts of such a shutdown would likely not be felt until Monday. If passed, the bill would keep the government funded through September, at which point all of the riders could resurface during the peak of the 2024 presidential election.
However, for the next several months, LGBTQ riders will not pose a significant threat in a year where trans and queer individuals have faced attacks at historic levels.
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Erin Reed is a transgender woman (she/her pronouns) and researcher who tracks anti-LGBTQ+ legislation around the world and helps people become better advocates for their queer family, friends, colleagues, and community. Reed also is a social media consultant and public speaker.
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The preceding article was first published at Erin In The Morning and is republished with permission.
Congress
Padilla, FCC introduce measure to improve 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline
HHS launched effort in 2022
U.S. Sens. Alex Padilla (D-Calif.) and Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), joined by U.S. Rep. Tony CƔrdenas (D-Calif.), Federal Communications Commission Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel and U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Xavier Becerra, introduced a measure on Thursday to improve the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline.
Calls are currently routed to mental health professionals and local public safety officials based on the caller’s area code ā even though, as the lawmakers and officials noted during their announcement ā in many cases, the area code, especially for cell phone numbers, does not match the location from which they are calling.
Under the new proposal, Padilla said, “We’re going to be in a position to be able to provide care as quickly and as safely as possible.”
“In the same way that 911 calls in the case of an emergency are routed to local providers, local first responders, so ambulances can come out and help quickly when you call 911, 988 should be tied to a caller’s location, not their area code,” he said.
Calling Padilla, Tillis, and CĆ”rdenas “great champions of mental health,” Rosenworcel noted, “that’s not our stock and trade” at the FCC.
“We are people who deal with technology and communications,” she said, “but we came to realize that we could work with Congress to make sure that everyone in this country who’s going through a crisis has someone to call and someone who can listen ā and that’s why in 2022, we set up 988, the easy-to-remember three digit number for anyone who is in crisis.”
A press release from Padilla’s office explains the details for how the update to the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline will work:
“The Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) announced today seeks to address the discrepancies and inefficiencies of the current system by proposing the adoption of a rule that would require a georouting solution to be implemented for all wireless calls to the 9-8-8 Lifeline while balancing the privacy needs of individuals in crisis.
Georouting refers to technical solutions that enable calls to be directed based on the location of the caller without transmitting the callerās precise location information.Ā These solutions would permit wireless calls to the 9-8-8 Lifeline to be directed to nearby crisis centers based on factors such as the cell tower that originated the call rather than the area code of the wireless device used to place the call.”
The 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline offers LGBTQ-affirming counseling, which is accessible by pressing three.
A 2023 survey by the Trevor Project, which included more than 28,000 LGBTQ participants aged 13-24, found that 41 percent had seriously considered suicide within the past year and 56 percent wanted ā but were unable to get ā mental health care within the last year.
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