Emotional testimony on both sides of gender identity bill
By DAVE SOLOMON
State House Bureau
http://www.unionleader.com/state-government/Emotional-testimony-on-both-sides-of-gender-identity-bill-02222017CONCORD — For the Rev. Jay McLeod, pastor at St. Andrew's Episcopal Church in New London, passage of civil rights protections for transgendered individuals in New Hampshire will mean his 12-year-old niece, born a boy, can grow up feeling safe.
"She's happy to finally be herself and to cease having to pretend that she is a boy," he told members of the House Health and Human Services Committee, as he testified Tuesday on behalf of HB 478, which would add gender identity to the state's civil rights statute.
But for Beth Scaer of Nashua, HB 478 would create new threats in restrooms and locker rooms, where predators claiming to identify as women could stalk young victims.