I Testified To Protect Women's Spaces And A Senator Called It "Terrorism"

It's no secret that the topic of transgender people and which bathrooms they use is a controversial and sensitive subject. Here in New Hampshire, the issue is not as prevalent as it is in other states, but that doesn't mean that women’s safety is not under threat in the Granite State.

First, a bit of context: Currently, there are three bills actively being reviewed at the NH State House that protect women’s sports and private spaces, and state that it is not discriminatory to separate sports, bathrooms, and locker rooms by biological sex: HB 1217, HB 1299, and HB 1447. On Tuesday, April 22, 2026, those three bills came before a Senate hearing for review and public testimony. While I had the opportunity to speak in support of all three bills, there were an alarming number of people who spoke in opposition.

A number of arguments were made by those in opposition, including that these bills “are harmful to women” and that they “deny the existence of transgender women.” Additionally, there were multiple statements made that “transgender women” were, in fact, not competing in girls' sports and that there is no proof of them taking titles and stealing medals from girls.

Obviously, those claims don’t hold up to scrutiny.

But what happens when a member of the committee reveals her true feelings about the bills during a hearing?

Almost as soon as I walked into the room to testify, I could see that Sen. Altschiller was not on the side of common sense. Her demeanor toward those testifying in support of the bills was cold and dismissive. She even attempted to cut off a NH state representative who was testifying in support of the bills before her 90-second time slot had expired. 

During my own testimony, she barely looked at me and asked no follow-up questions, while on the flip side, she was very attentive and even sympathetic toward those speaking against the bills.

After one particular testimony from a person opposing the bills, Sen. Altschiller asked a question that drew an audible reaction from those of us supporting the legislation. She said, “Thank you for bringing up the mental health toll that drawing from this particular well takes on transgender people, on transgender people’s families and friends. And would you say that, since we’re going to have 16 bills over the course of this session, and all of — like you said — the preparation and the rhetoric around it and the fear mongering that builds from it, that this is a form of stochastic terrorism?”

These three bills are pro-truth, pro-reality, and pro-women’s rights.

After multiple hours of keeping my composure while listening to biological men say my safety did not matter to them, I, along with others who had come to the State House to testify in favor of the bills, could not hide my shock and anger. The person testifying could not even answer the senator’s question, and the committee chair had to intervene, stating that the senator was way off base.

To be accused of fear-mongering and engaging in a form of terrorism simply for saying I do not want men in women’s bathrooms—by a female senator, no less—was appalling, frightening, and infuriating. These three bills are pro-truth, pro-reality, and pro-women’s rights, which is something that people on the political left claim to strongly support. If Sen. Altschiller is any indicator of how these people truly feel, she has made it abundantly clear that they couldn’t care less about women’s rights. 

This rhetoric put forward by the left that empowering these men is an act of feminism is blatantly false and dangerous, and it needs to be put to rest immediately. This NH senator that I referenced is sadly just one example of countless individuals, including biological females, who have been indoctrinated into thinking that enabling this behavior is acceptable, and that it makes them a better person for making these individuals feel “included” amongst women.

Individuals such as Dylan Mulvaney have pushed this rhetoric online, bringing his viewers along on his journey through “girlhood” and blatantly making a mockery of what it actually means to be female, even purchasing feminine products and storing them in his bag. Others like Mulvaney have since joined in publicly sharing similarly disturbing storylines, and over the past few years the transgender movement has become extremely normalized at the expense of women’s spaces, and in some cases, their health. 

Sadly, there are cases in which females have been sexually assaulted and even injured by these men who have been allowed into our bathrooms and cleared to compete in contact sports with girls, including Payton McNabb, a volleyball player from Maryland who was left partially paralyzed after being struck in the head by a ball that was spiked by a, you guessed it, male player masquerading as a girl on the opposing team during a match she played in 2022.

The governor of NH, Kelly Ayotte, has declined to sign bills to protect girls’ spaces on two previous occasions, stating that the issue is “a complicated one.” 

As a former athlete, former coach, and user of public bathrooms (like everyone else), it frustrates and worries me that the governor of my home state has continued to allow men into our private spaces. It makes me feel as though the governor, a woman herself, would rather put other women at risk than acknowledge the facts. How many more times do we need to put females at risk before we end up with a Payton McNabb story in NH? This idea that women need to conform to sharing what is rightfully ours with men is robbing us of our privacy and femininity. There was a reason that women were given separate spaces in the first place: to keep men out. 

It is not our job—women’s jobs, that is—to give up our sports and spaces for the sake of affirming mentally ill men.

And this is not me saying that men don’t deserve their own bathrooms and locker rooms, they absolutely do. What both sexes do not deserve are individuals who feel entitled to spaces that they should not be in at the expense of others' privacy.

During the Senate hearing for those bills, I also heard multiple individuals state that you can become “transgender” simply if you say you are. The point being, in a scenario such as when a predatory male wants to gain access to a girls' locker room, he can simply state he identifies as a woman and gain free entry. That was frightening to hear, and only convinced me further that these bills needed to be passed and signed into law immediately.

As I stated when I gave my verbal testimony at the state house, it is not our job—women’s jobs, that is—to give up our sports and spaces for the sake of affirming mentally ill men who clearly need help.  

The bills will now, if passed by the Senate, go to Gov. Ayotte’s desk for the third time. Can we count on her to protect girls in the Granite State? Only time will tell.