O P I N I O N
THE SOAPBOX
Stand up. Speak up. It’s your turn.
As a parent leader at Manchester’s Parent Leader Training Institute and, more importantly, as the proud father of a transgender son, I feel compelled to speak out about the harmful and abusive legislation currently being considered in New Hampshire’s State House.
These bills are not new. Similar legislation was previously vetoed by former Governor Sununu as “unneeded and discriminatory,” yet lawmakers continue to introduce them. The bills moving through our legislature that would restrict bathroom access, prohibit gender-affirming healthcare, and dictate how schools interact with transgender students are not abstract policy debates to families like mine—they are direct threats to our children’s well-being and dignity.
My son, like many transgender youth, didn’t choose his identity. He simply is who he is. What these bills propose is to deny him basic dignity, healthcare recommended by medical experts, and safe spaces to simply exist as himself. They suggest that my parental authority to make healthcare decisions for my child should be overruled by politicians who have never met him.
The American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Medical Association, and numerous other medical organizations support gender-affirming care as best practice. Medical organizations have established clear guidelines for these procedures, contradicting claims by some legislators that they’re experimental or rushed. These treatments involve careful, thoughtful processes with multiple healthcare professionals and are tailored to each individual. The legislation seeking to ban such care ignores the overwhelming evidence of its benefits and the devastating consequences of denial.
When my child was able to live authentically, I watched his depression and anxiety diminish. I saw him smile again. The research confirms our family’s experience: access to appropriate healthcare and supportive environments dramatically reduces the risk of self-harm among transgender youth.
For those concerned about protecting children, I ask: How does denying healthcare protect my child? How does forcing him to use facilities where he feels unsafe protect him? How does allowing schools to out him to potentially unsupportive family members protect him?
What’s most alarming is that some of these bills would go so far as to criminalize healthcare providers or even parents who seek appropriate care for their children. One proposed bill would make it a Class A felony—the same level as murder—for doctors to provide certain treatments or for parents to allow such care. As New Hampshire citizens, we pride ourselves on our “Live Free or Die” ethos and respect for individual liberty. These bills contradict those very values by inserting government between parents, children, and their doctors. They represent not protection but persecution of a vulnerable minority.
I urge our legislators to listen to families like mine, to medical experts, and to transgender individuals themselves before advancing legislation that would cause real harm to real New Hampshire children, who deserve the same opportunities to thrive as any other child in our state.
Torrence Holt Becker is a Parent Leader with Manchester Parent Leader Training Institute
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