Operating room staff perform a surgery. | Getty Images
New Hampshire has become the latest state to ban body-mutilating sex-change surgeries from being performed on minors and prohibit boys from competing in girls-only sports and athletic competitions.
More than half of the states across the U.S. have passed laws banning experimental trans procedures from being performed on youth or have banned men and boys from competing in women’s sports, or both.
On Monday, New Hampshire’s Republican Gov. Chris Sununu signed House Bill 619 and House Bill 1205 into law. House Bill 619, passed by the Republican-controlled New Hampshire House of Representatives in a 199-175 vote and the Republican-controlled Senate in a 13-10 vote, prohibits doctors from performing sex-change surgeries on children and teens exhibiting gender dysphoria. It is scheduled to take effect on Jan. 1, 2025.
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For the most part, support for the legislation came down along party lines, with nearly all Republicans voting in favor of it and nearly all Democrats opposing it. No member of the New Hampshire Senate broke from their party, while 14 Democrats in the New Hampshire House supported the measure and three Republicans opposed it. Unlike similar laws passed in many other states, the legislation does not prohibit prescribing body-deforming puberty blockers or opposite-sex hormones to children and teens suffering from confusion about the sex.
New Hampshire joins 25 other states that have banned the some or all trans-procedures from being performed on minors younger than 18. The other states include: Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, West Virginia and Wyoming.
The push to prohibit surgeons from performing body-mutilating trans surgeries, such as castration and elective hysterectomies, comes amid concerns about the lifelong physical, mental and emotional trauma that comes which such procedures being performed on otherwise healthy youth. As Sununu said in a statement announcing his approval of the bill, “There is a reason that countries across the world — from Sweden to Norway, France, and the United Kingdom — have taken steps to pause these procedures and policies.”
Chloe Cole, a detransitioner who once self-identified as male but saw her gender dysphoria subside as she got older, has emerged as one of the most prominent voices advocating against performing such body-deforming procedures on children and teens.
A lawsuit filed last year details how Cole experienced suicidal thoughts after having an elective surgery to remove her breasts as a young girl in an attempt to look more like a boy. She said the rush to “affirm” her as a boy and perform irreversible cosmetic surgeries left “deep physical and emotional wounds, severe regrets, and distrust of the medical system.”
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The other bill approved by Sununu, House Bill 1205, prohibits trans-identified male student athletes in grades 5-12 from competing in girls’ sports. The measure was approved by the New Hampshire House of Representatives in a 189-182 vote, while the Senate passed it 13-10 earlier this year. It is slated to take effect 30 days after passage.
As with House Bill 619, support for the legislation fell along party lines in the Senate. However, one House Republican broke with her party to oppose it and one House Democrat broke with his party to support it.
New Hampshire joins 25 additional states that have implemented laws and/or regulations requiring athletes to compete on sports teams that correspond with their sex instead of the self-declared, chosen gender identity: Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, West Virginia and Wyoming.
Efforts to ensure that only females compete in women’s sports stem from concerns about how the biological differences between men and women give men and boys an unfair advantage when it comes to athletics.
Anecdotal evidence of trans-identified male athletes breaking women’s sports records when competing on women’s sports teams, most notably in the case of former collegiate swimmer Lia (Will) Thomas, has served as a call to action for state legislatures.
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A study from the British Journal of Sports Medicine shows that males’ advantages over females in athletics do not diminish even after two years of taking feminizing hormones.
Sununu praised the bills he signed into law as “commonsense, bipartisan solutions that reflect the values of parents across our state.”
He added, “The vast majority of Granite Staters share in this approach — because it is fair, balanced, and void of political considerations. By enacting these measures, we continue to uphold the principles of safety, fairness, and common sense for all our citizens.”
Ryan Foley is a reporter for The Christian Post. He can be reached at: ryan.foley@christianpost.com
The election for the NH Electric Cooperative (NHEC) Board of Directors is happening now. I urge readers to watch for the ballots coming in the mail or go on to their NHEC SmartHub account and vote there.
The NHEC Board is made up of only 11 members. There are two incumbents up for re-election and four new candidates to choose from. You can vote for three new board members this year and bring about significant change at NHEC.
The board decides where our electricity comes from, what member-side programs NHEC offers and how proactive the New Hampshire Electric Co-op is for supporting local renewable energy. As co-founder of the Plymouth Area Renewable Energy Initiative, a co-op member and someone who pays close attention to how NHEC is governed, I believe the NHEC Board would benefit from new voices, experiences and leadership styles. The NHEC as a utility has the potential to be an even stronger leader when it comes to doing what is right for the environment and keeping rates affordable.
If you get your electricity from the co-op, then you have a say in how it is run. I urge you to vote for three genuine, thoughtful and technology forward-thinking leaders: Brad Harkavy of Campton, Laurel Boivin of Lee and Tom Randell of Moultonborough. They will make an excellent addition to the Board.
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Be sure to mail your ballot back so it arrives by June 10 or jump on your SmartHub account and vote right now.
This is a story not about scenic views, wildflowers, animals, people met, towns encountered, but some reality, at least mine, of things we often do not talk about in the hiking community. In retrospect, the first 1,800+ miles headed north on my thru hike of the Appalachian Trail (AT) were certainly taxing and replete with various challenges that I had to work through, learn from, and make adjustments. However, realistically not much on the AT at that point, and per my years of previous hiking experiences, prepared me mentally for what I would encounter in New Hampshire.
Welcome to idyllic New Hampshire.
More idyllic New Hampshire. Not so fast, Mr. Hiker guy, can’t do the same moves as before.
New Hampshire Hiking
Frankly, New Hampshire is a beast and I do mean that in a positive and respectful manner. The hiking in New Hampshire is so technically difficult from other areas within the U.S. and abroad that I have hiked. It seemed like I was constantly bouldering, scrambling, using handholds, fording high, swift creeks/rivers, navigating massive descents with no “guardrails,” or in May encountering hour-by-hour changing weather (e.g., snow, hail, sleet, rain, wind).
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A granite face. Down we go.
Crazy Descent
When I hike, I do carry with me a healthy dose of fear, which I find to be positive. For me, fear operates as a navigating tool related to risks, focusing my mind, calming my emotional state, or strengthening my thought processes/decision-making.
On a few AT sections early on in New Hampshire, such as the northbound massive descent (Beaver Brook Cascades) down from Mount Moosilauke in a snow and sleet storm, my revolve and fear-cooping mechanisms seemed to become a negative version of “scared” with every step given the large amounts of this winter’s snow and ice, slippery rock faces, micro spikes and/or trial runners not adhering well to granite, and so on. In my mind, and probably quite true given the weather and trail conditions, danger of a fall, injury, or worse appeared to be at every turn and step. A 3+ mile very steep descent turned into a 3 to 4 hour mental stress test that I am pretty sure I “failed.”
Snow and ice up and down the mountain.
I was warned.
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Rising Waters
The next day, I hiked about 17 miles from Kinsman Notch to Franconia Notch, and it had rained a lot in that section of the AT during the previous two days. During my ascent of Mount Kinsman, it continued to rain and rain. I must of forded 6 to 8 rivers, or maybe just the same river that amount of times, but as the day wore on, the water levels in these river(s) kept rising. I am almost 6’3” tall and by the end of the hiking day, I was fording river water mid- to upper-thigh and in super swift conditions. Again, like the previous Mousilauke experience, my positive fear started to become something more negative and mentally paralyzing thinking about the inherent risk involved in fording a deep, swift river late in the day and with no other option to get to the other side of a flooded out AT.
Various extremely sketchy river fords.
A Reset
After these experiences, and frankly losing my confidence, I took a few days off to level set, so I stayed at the wonderful Notch Hostel. To date, the Notch is my favorite hostel on the trail. The staff were so welcoming, warm, and always available. The hostel was super clean and friendly and had very fair expectations related to how hikers et al. should live there as well as treat the hostel environment. After at reset, I went back out and did a 27-mile hike in a few days of the famed Franconia Ridge over Mounts Lafayette and Lincoln, South Twin Mountain, and others. This was a very challenging hike, but one that I needed to do to gain my nerve back and reestablish mentally my healthy level of fear instead of hiking scared per possible ‘what if’ scenarios of serious injury and beyond.
Moving into Part II
So, in the end, it was fine to lose my nerve for a time and be scared in certain hiking situations. The key for me was in recognizing the latter state, trying to mentally review the circumstances, and learn from these experiences. Then, I needed to physically go back out in challenging conditions and hike. I feel really good about New Hampshire and what is to come on the AT. My part II, if you will, will be informed from my part I. I can’t wait for more of New Hampshire.
A new day rising.
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With over 100 sculptures woven into the mountainside, the Andres Institute of Art is New England’s largest outdoor sculpture park.
Along wooded trails and scenic overlooks, visitors encounter a rotating collection of works that blend art and nature, turning a simple hike into an immersive gallery experience
