Today marks the end of the New Hampshire state legislative session. And while #TransBillNH remains on the table—stalling statewide non-discrimination protections for transgender Granite Staters—over the past year, there’s been strong and steadily growing momentum to protect transgender Granite Staters from discrimination at the local level. That’s why today, we’re unveiling our new Municipal Action Center.
The Municipal Action Center serves two purposes. First, it’s a place where we’ll highlight the progress that local advocates are making, such as the big victory in Keene in April, when the City Council voted unanimously to pass a resolution extending local non-discrimination protections to transgender city workers.
And if your city isn’t listed on our map of municipalities that have acted to support transgender residents and #TransBillNH, the Municipal Action Center is also a place where you can find tools and information for taking action to change that.
Many of the cities and towns highlighted in our Municipal Action Center have also acted to formally endorse #TransBillNH. And over the next six months, in the lead up to the 2018 legislative session, it will be essential that we grow the number of municipalities that formally endorse an update to New Hampshire’s Law Against Discrimination to send a signal to state lawmakers that they should also act quickly to ensure that transgender Granite Staters, no matter where they live, are protected from discrimination in employment, housing or service in public places.
Though today marks the end of the 2017 legislative session, it does not mark the end of the fight to advance non-discrimination protections for transgender people at the state level.
Here’s what to expect next year:
The quick proliferation of local ordinances is proof that grassroots support for #TransBillNH is spreading fast. Our singular mission in the next six months is to continue to grow that local momentum so that when state lawmakers return to the Gold Dome in 2018, the message is clear: It’s time to pass #TransBillNH.