CV NEWS FEED // The New Hampshire House of Representatives on Thursday passed a bill prohibiting genital “transgender” surgery on minors – weeks before the state’s residents will vote in the first-in-the-nation primary.
According to the bill’s text, HB 619 would “require a person to attain the age of majority for genital gender reassignment surgery” in the state. The bill would still allow other forms of so-called “gender-affirming care” for minors.
The Daily Wire reported that the bill “was amended to be significantly weaker from the initial proposal.” Its original version
would have prohibited giving children puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones, which have been linked to problems with fertility, bone development, and heart health. It also would have banned procedures to remove the breasts of girls who identify as boys.
The bill’s final vote was 199-175 in favor. Notably, 12 Democrats voted for its passage while two Democrats voted against it.
One of the Democrats who supported HB 619’s passage was Rep. Jonah Wheeler, D-NH.
“This is a question of whether or not you believe children should be able to get an irreversible surgery,” Wheeler stated, as recorded by the New Hampshire Bulletin. He defended his decision to dissent from the overwhelming majority of his party’s caucus.
“[D]espite being a liberal who believes in human rights, I do not think that children should be able to get irreversible surgery,” Wheeler emphasized. “So I’ll take all the heat that comes from this.”
Wheeler, 20, is currently the third-youngest state legislator in the United States and the second-youngest in New Hampshire. Last summer, he spoke favorably of the then-Democratic candidacy of attorney Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.
Unique among state legislative chambers in the nation, the New Hampshire House has 400 seats, with each member representing an average of just over 3,000 people. Due to this structure, some observers have dubbed the body “the most representative” of all 50 states’ lower houses.
There, Republicans currently maintain a razor-thin majority of 198-195.
As The Daily Wire explained:
The bill is expected to pass the Senate and go to the desk of Republican Governor Chris Sununu, who has taken a variety of socially liberal positions in the past, including opposing a bill that would have given parents more oversight over what was going on at schools.
LGBTQ activist and lawyer Chris Erchull called on Sununu to veto the bill, stating:
It looks like this is going to be up to Governor Sununu to decide whether or not he is going to cave to the interests of people who are out to get transgender people or whether he will follow in the footsteps of (Gov.) Mike DeWine in Ohio and veto harmful legislation that targets the rights of trans people.
Erchull’s biography for the group GLBTQ Legal Advocates & Defenders (GLAD) indicates that he “prefers” to go by “any pronouns.”
CatholicVote called out DeWine on X (formerly Twitter) last week. “Shameful decision by Ohio Catholic [DeWine] to veto [a] bill protecting women, girls in sports, and dangerous medical experiments on children,” CatholicVote wrote. “We urge the OH legislature to override the veto and protect Ohio’s children now!”
Like DeWine, Sununu is a self-professed Catholic. The retiring New Hampshire governor is widely considered to be a “moderate” member of the Republican Party.
Last month, Sununu endorsed former Ambassador Nikki Haley for his party’s presidential nomination.
The governor’s decision was widely anticipated given that his state will hold the first Republican primary on January 23 – and the second overall Republican nomination contest following the Iowa Caucuses the week before.
>> POLL ROUNDUP: BIDEN VS. TRUMP ELECTION IS LIKELY <<
With Sununu’s support, Haley’s campaign hopes to score an upset victory over former President Donald Trump in New Hampshire. For the past few weeks, she has been pouring resources into the state.
As CatholicVote reported Thursday, according to FiveThirtyEight polling averages in New Hampshire, “Trump is at 44.1%, Haley is at 25.7%, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie is at 11.1%, [Florida Gov. Ron] DeSantis is at 7.6%, and [businessman Vivek] Ramaswamy is at 5.6%.”
Also on Thursday, The Daily Signal’s Mary Margaret Olohan noted that both Haley and Christie “have not yet weighed in on the topic” of DeWine’s shocking veto.
“Pressed by The Daily Signal to share their thoughts on the governor’s veto, both Haley and Christie remained silent,” Olohan reported:
Their reticence demonstrates a rift in the GOP field on the topic: While Trump, DeSantis, and Ramaswamy have indicated that lawmakers should act to protect children from destructive gender ideology, Haley and Christie have suggested that the law should stay out of the matter and parents should decide.
“I think the law should stay out of it,” Haley said in a June 2023 interview with CBS. “This is a job for the parents to handle.”
The former Trump administration official and governor was replying to a question regarding a 12-year-old girl who said she was a boy.
Trump, DeSantis, and Ramaswamy all blasted DeWine over his veto.
