24-0

From the Nashua Telegraph :

A bill to ban discrimination against transgender people died in the State Senate today.

The Senate voted, 24-0, to kill legislation to have New Hampshire join 13 other states that ban discrimination for transgender people in housing, accommodation and employment.
...
Barrington Democratic State Sen. Jackie Cilley attacked the state Republican Party leadership and the media for referring to the legislation (HB 415) as the "bathroom bill."

"To those among you who repeatedly used the label the bathroom bill…and failed to tell the whole story and failed to tell the whole truth, I say you are not journalists, you are merely stenographers for your ignorance, hatred and discrimination," Cilley declared.

But she voted against it anyway.

On the same day, the Senate voted 13-11 in favour of Gay Marriage. The Democrats have a 14-10 majority in the Senate.

My comment:

This was never about bathrooms. The bill would merely have given trans people the same rights as gays. Or for that matter, blacks, or Jews.

It's a dead issue now, but please at least go read it. You'll see what I say is true. Such legislation is already in force for 1/3 of all Americans, on 13 states and about 100 cities and counties.

So trans people will continue to have a 40% unemployment rate in NH. They will continue to have only 1 in 4 in fulltime work, with an average income of $15,000 for those lucky enough to have a job at all.

They will continue to be slain at a rate 17 times that of the average American.

They will continue to die at accident scenes because paramedics won't take them to the ER.

They will continue to freeze to death on Church steps, because no homeless shelter will take them.

As we have documentary evidence has happened.

This was never a matter of Right vs Left - the fact that not a single Democrat voted for it, and not a single Republican spoke against it proves that.

At the Senate committee hearing, the Democrat majority asked that the eyewitness testimony be cut short, and given in written form. This was done, hundreds of pages detailing many acts of individual discrimination in the areas of employment, and accommodation, and credit, and violence, and they didn't even bother to *pretend* to look at it before announcing their decision.

If that doesn't prove the need for such legislation, what would?

And meanwhile the "Gay Lobby", the ones who were supposed to be behind this bill, have won their great victory over gay marriage. Just as they won EXACTLY THE SAME RIGHTS for gays (only) many years ago in NH.

And the Left, who were supposed to be promoting this bill, well, every single Democrat senator voted against it.

This wasn't a matter of Right vs Left, as those who opposed this legislation would have had you believe. It was a matter of Right vs Wrong.

This issue won't go away. It's a genuine problem, not mere propaganda. We have no choice but to try again, and again, and again, while many of us fall by the wayside, and the deathtoll mounts.

I guess you could say we have to "Live Free or Die". Right now, we're dying, and will continue to do so until this law is passed. And every day, more transsexual children are born, who will suffer in their turn because of NH's ignorance, bigotry, and above all, the cowardice of the legislators.