New Hampshire Senate Panel Hears Clash Over Bill Restricting Transgender Student Athletes

A New Hampshire Senate committee heard sharply different views from two former athletes as it weighed a bill that would bar transgender students from school sports teams that match their gender identities.

At least 20 states have enacted some form of blanket ban on transgender athletes in K-12 and college sports. New Hampshire lawmakers have turned down similar proposals in recent years, but two bills are under consideration this session. The version before the Senate Education Committee goes further than the House proposal because it would also regulate which bathrooms transgender students may use at school.

Michelle Cilley Foisy, of Temple, testified against the measure. She told the panel she broke track and field records in high school, won a state championship as part of a relay team and attended college on an athletic scholarship. She said she was describing her career not for recognition but to make a point. "My accomplishments were not once lessened by the runners I ran against, they were only improved upon," she said.

Cilley Foisy also drew on her experience as a mother of six. One of her children, a teenager, was suicidal until they described "how lost they felt in their own body," she said. In her view, the legislation "escalates and exacerbates the isolation trans youth like my child have to endure." She added that sports "should be a place where we embrace diversity."

Nancy Biederman spoke in favor. She began by noting that she won the Connecticut high school doubles championship in badminton in 1987, saying she "worked really hard to get that status." Biederman argued that transgender athletes are taking roster spots from other students. "I don't care what you wear. I don't care what drugs you take. I don't care what surgery you take, you are not a woman," she said.

Apart from the bill's sponsor, Republican Sen. Kevin Avard, Biederman was the only person who testified in support.

The hearing is part of a broader legislative fight over transgender issues in the state. Advocates for transgender youth are also opposing a House-passed bill that would make New Hampshire the 24th state to restrict or ban gender-affirming medical care for transgender minors. That care has been available in the United States for more than a decade and is endorsed by major medical associations.

The House has also passed a bill that critics say would roll back anti-discrimination protections enacted in 2018. Current law bars discrimination based on sex or gender identity. The measure, approved earlier this month, would let public and private entities differentiate on the basis of "biological sex" in multi-person bathrooms and locker rooms, athletic events and detention facilities. One lawmaker who voted for it has said they will seek reconsideration.