Jaclyn Blute

My name is Jaclyn Blute. I'm a New Hampshire resident, a writer, a queer person, and someone who has spent years working at the intersection of people-first values and data-driven inclusivity. I'm writing to oppose SB459, and I want to be clear about what this bill actually does in practice. SB459 requires school athletics and the associated use of locker rooms to be designated based on a participant's biological sex as assigned at birth. On the surface, that sounds like a tidy policy solution. But it isn't solving a real problem — it's manufacturing one, at the direct expense of some of the most vulnerable kids in this state. Critics of bills like this one have noted that there are only about four or five transgender girls who identify as student athletes in New Hampshire. That's the supposed crisis we're being asked to legislate around — a fraction of a percentage of students. Meanwhile, a similar law, HB 1205, is currently tied up in federal court after U.S. District Judge Landya McCafferty issued a preliminary injunction, ruling that the bill appears discriminatory — and calling it "not even a close call." We're not just relitigating bad policy. We're reltigating policy a federal court has already said discriminates against children. I'm a member of the queer community. I write about diversity, representation, and inclusion — not as abstract ideals, but as things that have a measurable impact on real people's lives. And I can tell you that the research on what legislation like this does to transgender youth is not ambiguous. More than one in five New Hampshire high school students have seriously considered attempting suicide in the past year, according to the most recent Youth Risk Behavior Survey. Bills that signal to transgender kids, their friends, and their families that their state sees them as a problem to be regulated don't make those numbers better. One parent testified that her opposition to legislation like this stems from watching over her own child, who was suicidal, until they were finally able to express how lost they felt in their own body — and that bills like this escalate the isolation and confusion that trans youth already have to endure. That's not rhetoric. That's what this legislation does in reality. SB459 also gives athletes the right to sue schools that fail to enforce these designations. So not only are we asking schools to police the bodies of children — we're threatening them with litigation if they don't. That's a burden placed on educators and administrators who are already stretched thin, all to enforce a policy that a federal court has already blocked in a nearly identical form. I also want to dive into the bigger picture here. GLAD Law submitted testimony in opposition to SB459 and SB552, characterizing the legislation as endorsing unlawful sex discrimination. New Hampshire passed anti-discrimination protections based on gender identity back in 2018. SB459 chips away at that foundation — and it does so under the banner of fairness, which is particularly painful when you know the kids most affected by it are already fighting just to feel safe at school. You cannot tell a kid that their community values them, that their school is a safe place, and that they belong — and then pass a law that says the state will override who they are the moment they try to join a team or change clothes after practice. Those things don't coexist. One of them is a lie. I urge you to reject SB459. These are our neighbors, our classmates, and our kids. They deserve better than this. Thank you.