NH House committee hears emotional testimony on bills affecting transgender students

CONCORD — Tina Kim Philibotte pressed her hands to her chest as she tried to stop herself from crying.

“I wanted to say, ‘Just to prepare you, I’m going to be emotional,’ but it just happened so fast,” she said. She continued, fighting through tears as she explained her experience as a mother of a child who has struggled with mental health and whose identity as gay was outed to Philibotte accidentally by a teacher.

“When we talk about suicide, it’s a real thing. I have waited in the emergency room with my child for four or five days waiting for a bed,” said Philibotte. “Growing up in New Hampshire, it's hard. And when laws like this made by adults like you come out, it tells people, it tells kids that who they are doesn't matter.”

Philibotte was testifying against SB 341, a bill sponsored by Sen. Timothy Lang, R-Sanbornton, that would require school employees to respond “honestly and completely” to written requests made by parents about their children.

Opponents, including LGBTQ rights groups and educators, have said this bill could out a student before they were ready to tell their parents as well as cause a chilling effect on teachers who feel put in an uncomfortable position.

It was one of two bills heard by the House on Monday having to do with LGBTQ rights; SB 375, which would ban transgender girls from competing on sports teams aligning with their gender identity, was heard right after SB 341. Both bills have already passed the Senate, and Monday was their first House hearing.

The bills, which join a large number of bills concerning gender identity in New Hampshire, have sparked emotional testimony throughout the legislative session. The House Committee on Education will vote on whether to recommend the bills to the full House Tuesday.

Republicans say bills are 'simple.' Opponents disagree.

Lang, who introduced both bills Monday, said that SB 341 is a “simple statement of a process bill."

“I'm amazed that we're having an argument, that anybody would oppose the idea that a teacher should be truthful to a parent,” Lang said.

Later, he said SB 375 is a “straightforward bill” that would address safety and fairness for "biological females." He emphasized that the word “gender” does not appear in the bill.

Some who testified agreed with him: Beth Scaer from Nashua said that teachers should not be “lying” to parents and that it’s not safe for “girls to play with males” on sports teams.

But the majority of people in the room Monday brought forth complications they saw arising from the bills, largely about how they would affect those in the LGBTQ+ community.

Testimony for the two bills took hours. Two of the largest teacher unions in the state, NEA-NH and AFT-NH, testified against both bills, as did the ACLU of New Hampshire.

Parents, teachers, and activists shared their personal stories, many testifying twice. Nancy Brennan, a former teacher from Weare, said she’d rather be fired than share the information her students confided in her. New Hampshire transgender students Parker Tirrell and Maëlle Jacques shared how important playing sports is to them.

More: ‘I am female’: NH transgender students fight back against sports ban bill

Michelle Cilley Foisy of Temple testified twice with two of her six children by her side.

“I was unaware that my now 17-year-old had been experiencing gender dysphoria since the age of 13. Feeling lost in their own body, they struggled to even look themselves in the mirror, yet I did not hear this until their 16th year,” Foisy said. “Last summer my teen was in such a dark place that they tried to take their own life while feeling incredibly isolated and alone in their thoughts.”

Her point matched many others who testified that being a trans youth is hard and that they should be able to share their troubles with a trusted teacher or play sports without fear.

Kate McCarty likened the situation to her job as an emergency dispatcher at the New Hampshire Department of Safety where she often tells people in dire need to listen to her, the professional.

“There are no magical words I can say that will fix it, but countless medical professionals, social workers and teachers have said them over and over again: these bills are harmful,” said McCarty. “Half of you are saying, ‘trans kids: what should we do?’ And the professionals are saying, all you need to do is listen.”

This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: Emotional testimony heard on NH bills affecting transgender students