WoLF Submits Testimony to Protect Single-Sex Spaces in New Hampshire

Feb 23

WoLF submitted testimony on Tuesday in support of New Hampshire House Bill 1180 that allows public entities to use sex to determine placement and eligibility for female-only spaces and activities. The bill is an amendment to current state law which allows New Hampshire residents to choose which sex is listed on their identification documents.

Background

Across the country, we have increasingly seen these types of laws used to justify the inclusion of men and boys in women’s prisons, sports, locker rooms, and other intimate spaces, if they change their documents to say they are female. This law and similar laws in other states have also led to the corruption of vital statistics that are crucial for public health and criminal justice. While we would love to see the New Hampshire legislature go farther and affirmatively protect these issues on the basis of sex, this bill still goes a long way toward reversing the harmful trend of allowing men and boys to self-identify into women’s spaces.

Testimony

Read an excerpt from our submitted testimony below:

“Inconsistency in definitions and in court rulings applying these concepts have led to endangerment and in some cases legal prohibitions against single-sex spaces, which was never the intent of Congress or of the state of New Hampshire in elucidating protections for women and girls in sex discrimination laws. As such, explicit statutory provisions such as those provided in HB 1180 are needed to clarify the terms of prohibitions against discrimination based on sex.”

You can read our full testimony here.

TAKE ACTION!

New Hampshire residents: You can express your support for this bill by sending an email to HHSEA@leg.state.nh.us, which goes to all members of the Health, Human Services and Elderly Affairs committee. This committee will vote on HB 1180 soon.