New Hampshire Bans Transgender Procedures for Children, Reserves Girls’ Sports for Females

New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu speaks onstage during the 2022 Concordia Lexington Summit–Day 1 at Lexington Marriott City Center in Lexington, Ky., on April 7, 2022. Jon Cherry/Getty Images for Concordia

New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu on July 19 signed three bills and vetoed one that affect how schools, businesses, and medical establishments should consider transgender-related issues.

The three approved bills keep girls’ sports exclusive to girls, bar those younger than 18 from receiving “genital gender reassignment surgery,” and give parents more control over how, if at all, their children are taught about sex and gender at school.

The Republican governor said the measures “reflect commonsense, bipartisan solutions that reflect the values of parents across our state.” The Democrat minority in the state Legislature described the new laws as an attempt to curtail transgender people’s rights.

School Sports

The first bill, House Bill 1205, requires sports teams in middle and high schools to be separated based on sex.

The new law, which takes effect on Aug. 19, prohibits males from participating on female teams. Students will have to verify their sex by providing the school with a birth certificate or other evidence that demonstrates their sex at birth.

Opponents argued that the measure would deny sports participation from transgender students, many of whom would not feel comfortable playing on teams that don’t align with their preferred gender. But Mr. Sununu and the bill’s supporters said policies must prioritize fairness over inclusion, noting that male players generally hold a physical advantage over their female competitors.

“HB 1205 ensures fairness and safety in women’s sports by maintaining integrity and competitive balance in athletic competitions,” the governor said in a statement.

Gender Surgeries

A second bill, House Bill 619, bans any physician from performing any “genital gender reassignment surgery” on patients younger than 18.

“A patient’s informed consent requires adequate information, capacity to decide, and absence of coercion,” it declares, adding that a lack of adequate information and a high risk of parental coercion prevent children from providing informed consent on medical procedures that they might regret later in life.

Doctors caught performing those permanent surgeries for minors or making referrals to facilities out of state would face disciplinary action before their licensing board. The law also allows the minor patient or their parent to sue the doctor who carried out such a surgery up to two years after the procedure.

The law will go into effect at the beginning of 2025. An initial version of the bill had sought to ban all medical interventions for the purpose of “affirming” a minor’s gender identity, including puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones, but was later amended to prohibit only genital surgeries.

“HB 619 ensures that life-altering, irreversible surgeries will not be performed on children,” Mr. Sununu said in a statement. “This bill focuses on protecting the health and safety of New Hampshire’s children and has earned bipartisan support.”

Classroom Instruction

The third bill, House Bill 1312, requires schools district staff to notify parents at least two weeks in advance of any material related to “sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, or gender expression.”

Parents who object to the class material may opt their child out of that instruction, provided that they propose alternative instruction that is agreed upon by the school district and pay for it themselves if there is a cost.

The law is set to take effect on Sept. 18.

The National Education Association of New Hampshire, the state’s largest teachers union, said that the law makes it harder for teachers to do their job by “dramatically expanding” existing requirements to give parents advanced notice about curricula and teaching materials.

“This law contains vague language as to how an educator may respond to a student who shares a concern with them at school and creates yet another unworkable standard that leaves educators wondering what course material could apply to the notice requirements that traditionally had been focused on sex education and health classes,” the teachers union said in response to the bill’s signing.

Vetoed Bill

The bill that Mr. Sununu vetoed is House Bill 396, which states that private businesses and government agencies may classify people based on their sex, especially with respect to school sports, prison facilities, and private spaces such as bathrooms and locker rooms.

New Hampshire state Sen. Jim Kofalt, a Republican and the bill’s leading sponsor, wrote that the measure wouldn’t impose any mandates and simply clarifies that there is nothing discriminatory about creating spaces exclusive to men or women.

While Mr. Kofalt and colleagues argued that the people of New Hampshire need an assurance that they won’t get into legal trouble if they separate bathrooms, the governor said this problem doesn’t exist in the state.

“The challenge with HB 396 is that in some cases it seeks to solve problems that have not presented themselves in New Hampshire, and in doing so invites unnecessary discord,” he wrote in his veto statement.