It has been a confusing and difficult few weeks for our LGBTQ+ citizens and allies. First came the news that the Trump administration had rolled back the Obama-era health care protections for LGBTQ+ citizens, allowing them to be discriminated against when obtaining health care and health insurance.

Then came the opinion of the U.S. Supreme Court in Bostock v. Clayton County, Georgia, holding that the language of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 did, indeed, extend to include protection against discrimination in the workplace on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity.

So what do these conflicting actions mean going forward? Luckily, here in New Hampshire, we do not have to wonder. Comprehensive legislation sponsored by Rep. Ed Butler, a Hart’s Location Democrat, and a group of Democratic representatives and senators in 2019 made it clear that here in the Granite State, discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity is prohibited.

With respect to health care, House Bill 608 added explicit protection against discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity in the areas of access to physical and mental health care, and health insurance, both for individuals obtaining insurance and for health care providers.

In addition, HB 608 prohibited discrimination in places of public accommodation, housing finance, unfair trade practices, state hiring practices, student loans, and jury service. Moreover, it added protections against violence and threats of violence for persons often subjected to this type of criminal action.

The Trump administration’s flagrant disregard for LGBTQ+ Americans is obscene and inexcusable. Deliberately denying transgender individuals health care, at a time when millions of Americans have spent the last month speaking up for black lives and have made clear that the violent murder of black transgender people is a legitimate and long ignored public health crisis, shows the clear inhumanity of our president.

In 2019, over 30 transgender Americans were murdered. Already just six months into 2020, there have been a recorded 14 murders of transgender Americans, though we know that the unrecorded and unacknowledged numbers of violence and murder could be much greater.

In the last week alone, as the Trump administration has stripped LGBTQ+ protections from law, two black transgender women were murdered. Their names were Dominique “Rem’mie” Fells and Riah Milton. We mourn with their families and denounce these disturbing acts of bigotry and hatred that have plagued our communities. We say their names and we acknowledge the chilling statistic that black transgender women are at a seven times greater risk for murder than the general population. It cannot be acceptable to stand by and allow their names to be another fleeting headline. We cannot allow the president’s dogmatic agenda to normalize violence and intolerance against our fellow American citizens.

Rest assured, whatever the future holds on a national level, New Hampshire Democrats stand with its LGBTQ citizens and affirm that discrimination of any kind is not welcome in our state, no matter who the president is and what their agenda may be.

(Rep. Ed Butler of Hart’s Location is chair of the New Hampshire House Commerce Committee. Rep. Lucy Weber of Walpole is chair of the House Health, Human Services and Elderly Affairs Committee.)