Gov. Kelly Ayotte vetoed a bill that would have allowed the separation of bathrooms, locker rooms, sports and correctional facilities by biological sex, calling the Republican-led effort “overly broad and impractical to enforce.”
With the veto, announced Tuesday, Ayotte follows in the footsteps of her predecessor, Gov. Chris Sununu, who shot down the same bill last year. Ayotte, however, went a step further by acknowledging what she views as “important and legitimate” concerns surrounding privacy and safety when biological males have access to spaces like female locker rooms.
“While I believe that the legislature should address this serious issue, it must be done in a thoughtful and narrow way that protects the privacy, safety and rights of all New Hampshire citizens,” Ayotte said in a press release announcing her decision on Tuesday. “I have concerns about the broadness of this bill, the unintended impacts accompanying its implementation, and that it will spur a plethora of litigation against local communities and businesses.”
The veto marks the effort’s second defeat in two years. In his dismissal, Sununu said the bill sought to solve problems he didn’t see happening in New Hampshire.
The bill, proposed by Wilton Republican Rep. Jim Kofalt, drew passionate public input from Granite Staters as lawmakers weighed the safety, privacy and rights of women and transgender people — and whether those could coexist.
Some of the Republicans who championed HB 148 said they’re disappointed that Ayotte killed the effort. While the Legislature can overturn a governor’s veto with a two-thirds majority, the House is unlikely to meet that threshold.
Locally, Rep. Alvin See of Loudon said he doesn’t understand Ayotte’s reasoning.
“I was disappointed. I think she was misguided on that,” See said, adding later that “there’s no reason not to keep men out of girls’ bathrooms.”
Kofalt’s proposal would have also prohibited transgender athletes from competing in school sports, an effort that Sununu already signed into law last year.
Two New Hampshire athletes are challenging that law in federal court, and Ayotte said she will “vigorously defend it.”
Republicans like Kofalt had argued that the expanded civil rights laws Sununu signed in 2018, which added gender identity as a class protected against discrimination, created a loophole that allows non-transgender people to enter spaces that “practically speaking, they should not have access to.”
“Women are humans as well,” Sen. Regina Birdsell, a Republican from Hampstead, said during debate on the bill. “They have rights, and they have a right to their own privacy. Women are being marginalized in this environment, and as far as I’m concerned, this has to stop.”
During debates and votes earlier this year, Democrats in the Legislature spoke at length about their concerns that the bill, House Bill 148, would have discriminated against and posed safety risks to transgender people.
“We’re grateful that today New Hampshire chose to protect the rights and dignity of our transgender neighbors,” Exeter Rep. Alexis Simpson, the House Democratic Leader, said in a statement in response to the governor’s veto.
The Legislature will have an opportunity later this year to override Ayotte’s veto, which would require a two-thirds majority in both the House and Senate.
Charlotte Matherly is the statehouse reporter for the Concord Monitor and Monadnock Ledger-Transcript in partnership with Report for America. Follow her on X at @charmatherly, subscribe to her Capital Beat newsletter and send her an email at cmatherly@cmonitor.com.
