Following the 14-10 passage of HB 1319 by the New Hampshire Senate on May 2, 2018, Cornerstone released the following statement from Shannon McGinley, Cornerstone Action Executive Director (cornerstone@nhcornerstone.org, 603-228-4794).
The Senate’s decision to pass HB 1319 undermines privacy rights and equitable treatment for all Granite Staters. The bill will impact businesses, camps, dorms, schools, sports, scholarships, bathrooms, and locker rooms. Unfortunately, the politicians who voted for the bill aren’t the ones who will bear the costs sure to follow. They forgot that all New Hampshire residents are already protected under anti-discrimination law. We hope Governor Sununu will not make the same mistake.
There is an objective biological difference between women and men. HB 1319 is a step toward making expression of that fact a civil rights violation. The bill makes any perceived discrimination on the basis of “gender identity” a cause for action not in court, where the accused would have due-process protection, but in front of an administrative panel with the power to impose punitive fines.
That’s not equality. That’s thought-policing.
Cornerstone recognizes the dignity of each human being, created male or female. We oppose the conferral of special legal rights on the basis of gender identity. Are those simple statements soon to be considered hate speech? That’s the question that will soon land on the Governor’s desk when he gets HB 1319.
