Letter: Sources from the fringe

JR Hoell, who represents Bow and Dunbarton in the New Hampshire House, has used fringe group support and outdated information to explain his opposition to HB 478 (Sunday Monitor Forum, March 5).

The legislation has been recommended as “ought to pass” by that renegade group – the bipartisan 21-member Committee of Health, Human Services and Elderly Affairs.

In his op-ed explaining his opposition, American College of Pediatricians, a small, socially conservative offshoot, is quoted – not the American Academy of Pediatrics, which is 64,000 members strong.

All the pediatricians I’ve worked alongside and likely the ones who have cared for the children we know are members of AAP. Their position is quite the opposite.

Also referenced, Paul McHugh, a Johns Hopkins psychiatrist, believes homosexuality is a choice and describes being transgendered as a mental disorder. The 2013 updated Diagnostic & Statistical Manual-5th edition, now reflects that the presence of distress in persons with gender dysphoria is key. Now imagine the distress felt when being discriminated against by landlords, employers and school systems.

As a “normal” woman (as described by Rep. Hoell) I believe in the inherent worth and dignity of every person, which goes beyond the “live and let live” ideology of the “Live Free or Die” state as Hoell knows it.

I believe women and children need far more protection from sexual assault by their gender confirming male relatives and acquaintances than from so-called voyeurs in a restroom.

I believe that discrimination is illegal.

Please, legislators, pass HB 478, joining more than 17 states to protect non-gender conforming children and adults from discrimination and allowing them the dignity to contribute to society and enjoy life as the gender they self-identify by.

LORNA LANDRY

Bow