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One defining feature of the modern anti-transgender panic has been the fixation on bathrooms. While early efforts in 2016 were widely rebuked and ultimately failed, the last four years have seen several states enact new versions of bathroom bans. Most have targeted public schools, but legislators have increasingly pushed further—extending restrictions to colleges and universities, publicly owned buildings, even airports. Now, New Hampshire Republican lawmakers are taking the cruelty a step further: their latest proposal would apply to private businesses that offer public restrooms, turning the simple act of a transgender person using the bathroom into potential “willful trespass.”
The bill, HB1442, at first glance resembles measures enacted in states like Texas, South Dakota, and Wyoming. It bars transgender people from using bathrooms that match their gender identity in government-run buildings, including prisons, schools, and municipal facilities such as public restrooms and highway rest stops. But where most states enforce these laws through civil penalties against the government institutions themselves—allowing cities or schools to be sued—New Hampshire’s proposal goes further by targeting the transgender person themselves. It creates a separate trespass statute tied specifically to bathroom use, mirroring Florida’s approach, which likewise imposes criminal penalties on transgender people for entering the “wrong” bathroom.
Importantly, the new violation applies only to transgender women—not transgender men. In debates over restroom access, Republicans have often grown visibly uncomfortable when confronted with the reality that many trans men present with traditionally masculine features, including beards and attire; trans men have repeatedly pointed out in hearings that forcing them into women’s restrooms would be both unsafe and absurd. Rather than take that point as evidence of the incoherence of bathroom bans, New Hampshire lawmakers appear to have drawn a different conclusion: they carved transgender men out of the “willful trespass” provision entirely, which appears to only apply to transgender women:
See the section here:
HB1442
The new bill also targets transgender people in a way not yet seen in any other state: it applies to private businesses. While previous bathroom bans have generally stopped at public schools or government buildings, HB1442 extends its reach to any “place of public accommodation”—hotels, bars, theaters, concert venues, retail stores, and more—allowing those businesses to pursue willful trespass charges against anyone who enters the “wrong” restroom. The bill does not require businesses to file charges, but it does say that signage is sufficient grounds for doing so. In practice, that means transgender people would have to guess, bathroom by bathroom, which businesses might enforce the law—and risk a trespass charge every time they use a public restroom anywhere in the state.
See the section here:
HB1442
The bill is backed by thirteen cosponsors, including several with significant leadership roles, such as Sen. Kevin Avard, who chaired the Senate Rules Committee in the 2023–24 session, and Sen. Regina Birdsell, who led the Senate Health and Human Services Committee during the same period. Their support does not guarantee the bill’s passage, but it is telling: multiple lawmakers with real influence inside the Republican caucus are choosing to elevate this proposal as a priority for the year.
New Hampshire has seen a sharp escalation in anti-transgender policymaking in recent years. In 2024, the legislature advanced both a school bathroom ban and a ban on trans-related surgeries for youth—measures that passed only because multiple Democrats crossed party lines to support them, the only state to see significant defections on transgender rights among Democrats. Those same Democrats pitched their votes as an appeal to “moderate” voters, yet the party went on to lose several seats that fall as Republicans expanded their control of the state. In 2025, lawmakers doubled down, approving additional bills targeting transgender students and prohibiting gender-affirming care for trans youth. New Hampshire has become a case study rebutting the idea that surrendering on transgender rights slows Republican attacks or protects Democrats politically; neither claim has been borne out.
As the 2025–2026 legislative season begins, New Hampshire now has twelve bills trained on transgender residents—an outlier in a region where most states are expanding civil rights, not dismantling them. It signals yet another year in which LGBTQ+ people and their allies will be dragged back into the same exhausting trench warfare, forced to defend the basic ability to move through public life without fear. The relentlessness of these attacks makes one thing unmistakably clear: the fight is not letting up, and neither can they.
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imma be real, i can sort of get how bigots get to the sports thing and as angle of attacking humanity. i can't for the life of me figure out bathroom angle, who gives a shit, what do they think happen in bathrooms where gender/sex is in anyway relevant, do they think men or women don't enter other bathrooms if they so desire?
13
Damarcusart [he/him, comrade/them] - 2day
By placing suspicion on any woman entering a bathroom that she might be trans and therefore not allowed in (and they can threaten her unless she "proves it"), it means they can control women in general, not just trans women with this. It's both transphobic and sexist!
23
SerialExperimentsGay [she/her, fae/faer] - 2day
I mean, this isn't entirely wrong, policing femininity in general does factor into it, but only as an afterthought. Targeting cis women with accusations of transness only works when being trans is something that women get shunned, shamed, ostracised, hunted and murdered for. Transmisogyny has to exist in the first place to make it repurposeable against other groups (be it cis women or cis gay drag queens or whatever). Do not fucking sideline the actual targets of such legislations. "Transmisogyny also harms cis women!" is ultimately just another reminder that our lifes do not matter to cissies. Not that i would have needed one.
18
Damarcusart [he/him, comrade/them] - 2day
Sorry, my point wasn't to sideline transgender issues at all, would you like me to delete the comment?
12
SerialExperimentsGay [she/her, fae/faer] - 1day
Eh, no need to unless you feel like it. But thanks for the offer, it's appreciated. Hope you don't mind that i got a little snappy, it happens with all the pressure my community is under.
5
Damarcusart [he/him, comrade/them] - 20hr
Yeah, that's understandable, I'm a guest here, so I don't want to make members of the community uncomfortable, you all probably are fully aware of intersectionality 101 stuff, I wasn't really contributing anything new or insightful.
2
shallot [she/her] - 2day
The point is to limit us to the “or die” option
21
XiaCobolt [she/her] - 2day
I think we have to look at history. In New York there was a law against "Loitering for Prostitution". This was repealed in 2021. This meant that the police could arrest people if they suspected they were dressed for prostitution and in a place where prostitution occurred. In practice it was called the "Walking While Trans" law. It meant at any time police could harass, threaten and arrest trans people by claiming they suspected they were sex workers.
Lots of places won't enforce bathroom restrictions or press charges, but the pervasive threat of it looms that any trans person could be harassed or arrested for using the bathroom which they're comfortable, which basically discourages people from being trans in public.
17
plinky [he/him] - 2day
no, i mean, i get the goal and real consequences, i don't get the charade of "caring about it" (from reactionary side), you know, like "normies" whining about bathroom bills since 2012, not politicians. i sort of think like normie general reaction is whatever, no harm no foul among average people, not this weird obsession
4
SerialExperimentsGay [she/her, fae/faer] - 1day
I mean, on one hand, some degree of transphobia and especially transmisogyny is incredibly normalized and widespread. I don't know any cis person who is free from it, i barely know any trans people who've excised at least most of what they have internalized.
But on the other, that usually means stuff that isn't obvious in day to day interactions, things like gender affirming care for minors and legitimacy of gatekeeping, assumptions about sports, about "male socialization" etc. That is there, but it does not make people yell at me as soon as they clock me or try to ban me from a place.
Being outspokenly transphobic and, in fact, flipping their shit once they realize a trans person is in the same room as them is something i find to be very, very rare irl. And every time somebody acts that way towards me, or my friends (i mostly see this when i am outing myself or we're out in a group, i tend to pass fairly well nowadays), it tends to be some terminally online or otherwise heavily propagandized chud, fundie, techbro and so on. Mostly men, almost always white and either middle aged or teenagers - people who are core target demographics for right wing propaganda. This is manufactured through and through.
Granted, i am not Amerikan. From what i've seen, the US has become a lot more transphobic than other imperial core nations, and i ascribe that to this kind of propaganda being more common there as well.
3
puppygirlpets [pup/pup's, she/her] - 1day
it tends to be some terminally online or otherwise heavily propagandized chud, fundie, techbro and so on. Mostly men, almost always white and either middle aged or teenagers
where i live it's mostly middle aged cis white women but everything else is the same
3
kristina [she/her] - 2day
they want it to be the 1950s again. they want to discriminate against minority groups, by making them desperate (excluded from public spaces, harder to get jobs, etc.) they hope to decrease wages. it also makes it easier for the elites to abuse these minorities in the sickest ways possible, these elites are constantly chasing what is forbidden and are disgusting
15
BountifulEggnog [she/her] - 2day
these elites are constantly chasing what is forbidden and are disgusting
Like half the population are the exact same too.
8
queermunist she/her - 1day
Because they think we're yucky and don't want us anywhere near them.
thelastaxolotl in traaaaaaannnnnnnnnns
New Hampshire Bill Would Create First Private Business Trans Bathroom Ban, Would Only Apply To Trans Women
https://www.erininthemorning.com/p/new-hampshire-bill-would-create-firstcross-posted from: https://news.abolish.capital/post/12823
imma be real, i can sort of get how bigots get to the sports thing and as angle of attacking humanity. i can't for the life of me figure out bathroom angle, who gives a shit, what do they think happen in bathrooms where gender/sex is in anyway relevant, do they think men or women don't enter other bathrooms if they so desire?
By placing suspicion on any woman entering a bathroom that she might be trans and therefore not allowed in (and they can threaten her unless she "proves it"), it means they can control women in general, not just trans women with this. It's both transphobic and sexist!
I mean, this isn't entirely wrong, policing femininity in general does factor into it, but only as an afterthought. Targeting cis women with accusations of transness only works when being trans is something that women get shunned, shamed, ostracised, hunted and murdered for. Transmisogyny has to exist in the first place to make it repurposeable against other groups (be it cis women or cis gay drag queens or whatever). Do not fucking sideline the actual targets of such legislations. "Transmisogyny also harms cis women!" is ultimately just another reminder that our lifes do not matter to cissies. Not that i would have needed one.
Sorry, my point wasn't to sideline transgender issues at all, would you like me to delete the comment?
Eh, no need to unless you feel like it. But thanks for the offer, it's appreciated. Hope you don't mind that i got a little snappy, it happens with all the pressure my community is under.
Yeah, that's understandable, I'm a guest here, so I don't want to make members of the community uncomfortable, you all probably are fully aware of intersectionality 101 stuff, I wasn't really contributing anything new or insightful.
The point is to limit us to the “or die” option
I think we have to look at history. In New York there was a law against "Loitering for Prostitution". This was repealed in 2021. This meant that the police could arrest people if they suspected they were dressed for prostitution and in a place where prostitution occurred. In practice it was called the "Walking While Trans" law. It meant at any time police could harass, threaten and arrest trans people by claiming they suspected they were sex workers.
Lots of places won't enforce bathroom restrictions or press charges, but the pervasive threat of it looms that any trans person could be harassed or arrested for using the bathroom which they're comfortable, which basically discourages people from being trans in public.
no, i mean, i get the goal and real consequences, i don't get the charade of "caring about it" (from reactionary side), you know, like "normies" whining about bathroom bills since 2012, not politicians. i sort of think like normie general reaction is whatever, no harm no foul among average people, not this weird obsession
I mean, on one hand, some degree of transphobia and especially transmisogyny is incredibly normalized and widespread. I don't know any cis person who is free from it, i barely know any trans people who've excised at least most of what they have internalized.
But on the other, that usually means stuff that isn't obvious in day to day interactions, things like gender affirming care for minors and legitimacy of gatekeeping, assumptions about sports, about "male socialization" etc. That is there, but it does not make people yell at me as soon as they clock me or try to ban me from a place.
Being outspokenly transphobic and, in fact, flipping their shit once they realize a trans person is in the same room as them is something i find to be very, very rare irl. And every time somebody acts that way towards me, or my friends (i mostly see this when i am outing myself or we're out in a group, i tend to pass fairly well nowadays), it tends to be some terminally online or otherwise heavily propagandized chud, fundie, techbro and so on. Mostly men, almost always white and either middle aged or teenagers - people who are core target demographics for right wing propaganda. This is manufactured through and through.
Granted, i am not Amerikan. From what i've seen, the US has become a lot more transphobic than other imperial core nations, and i ascribe that to this kind of propaganda being more common there as well.
where i live it's mostly middle aged cis white women but everything else is the same
they want it to be the 1950s again. they want to discriminate against minority groups, by making them desperate (excluded from public spaces, harder to get jobs, etc.) they hope to decrease wages. it also makes it easier for the elites to abuse these minorities in the sickest ways possible, these elites are constantly chasing what is forbidden and are disgusting
Like half the population are the exact same too.
Because they think we're yucky and don't want us anywhere near them.
Live free? Die!
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