Less than 1 percent of adults in the U.S. — or 1.4 million people — identify as transgender, according to a study by the Williams Institute at the UCLA School of Law. While the state of Hawaii claims the largest percentage (0.8 percent) of transgender adults in the nation, North Dakota has the lowest percentage (0.3 percent) than any other state.
New Hampshire, with such a small transgender population — an estimated 4,500 adults — ranks 39th on the list. Still, that had not prevented the Granite State from attracting the national spotlight recently as the fate of HB 478, a controversial transgender bill, was hotly debated by many in the state.
The bill would have empowered “male sexual predators, including voyeurs, pedophiles and even potential rapists.”
On Thursday, the state legislature voted 187-179 to table the bill. If the bill had become law, it would have allowed trans people to use the public bathroom corresponding to their gender identity — potentially threatening the rights and privacy of everyone else.
New Hampshire-based Cornerstone, a nonprofit organization dedicated to preserving traditional family values, had urged citizens to sign a petition against the bill. The group concerns were these: “This bill is bad policy that prioritizes the feelings of one group over the serious safety and privacy concerns of thousands of New Hampshire women and girls as well as the constitutional rights of every New Hampshire citizen.”
If signed into law, HB 478, which had limited bipartisan support — eight Democrats and three Republicans — would have allowed transgender individuals to use the restrooms of their choice. The bill would have also eliminated the right to privacy for women and children in the state’s public bathrooms and other formerly private spaces, according to Rep. J.R. Hoell, a Republican.
In a recent op-ed — before the vote — in Sunday’s Concord Monitor, Hoell wote: “The proposed law gives uncontested access to those spaces to any male who claims he’s ‘really a woman.’ If passed, it will empower male sexual predators, including voyeurs, pedophiles and even potential rapists. The political right names this the ‘bathroom bill,’ but a more appropriate name might be the Peeping Tom Protection Act … It is not that those with gender identity issues are a threat, it is that those who are a threat will exploit the special classification proposed in this new law.”
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Trans activists, meanwhile, had dismissed such concerns as pure myth.
Republican Rep. Jess Edwards, who had initially backed the controversial legislation, had also expressed concerns over the far-reaching nature of the bill, according to a March 6 article in the Union Leader: ”The number of people who have written stating that this bill essentially offers their children up to sexual predators is outrunning by five to one the number of emails stating that it’s time to end the daily beatings of transgendered people,” the piece said. “The passionate are yelling past each other with worst-case scenarios. I don’t think this is an environment in which the legislature should pick a side. Society needs to evolve further on its own, I think.”
New Hampshire House Speaker Shawn Jasper, a Republican, opposed the legislation and had wanted the bill tabled.
Traditional American families, including many who are deeply faithful, undoubtedly are relieved that the rights, wishes, and sensitivities of the vast majority of residents of the state have been preserved.
Elizabeth M. Economou writes about higher education, health and real estate. She is a former adjunct professor and CNBC staff business writer.
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