Governor Ayotte again vetoes ‘bathroom bill,’ drawing praise from LGBTQ advocates
Governor Kelly Ayotte announced Friday that she has vetoed a Republican-backed proposal that sought to curtail New Hampshire’s anti-discrimination law as it pertains to gender identity protections in bathrooms and certain other sensitive spaces.
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This marks the fourth consecutive time that GOP lawmakers in the state have finalized a so-called “bathroom bill” proposal, only to see it halted by a member of their own party — which some conservatives have cited as a basis to criticize Ayotte as she seeks reelection this fall.
Ayotte said she vetoed Senate Bill 552 because there was “minimal difference” between it and three prior versions, including the one her Republican predecessor, Chris Sununu, vetoed in 2024 and the two she herself vetoed in 2025 and earlier in 2026.
“I have continued to ask the Legislature to address this issue in a thoughtful, narrow way while protecting the privacy, safety, and rights of all Granite Staters,” Ayotte said in a statement.
“Trying the same thing again isn’t going to get a different result,” she added.
Cornerstone Action, a conservative Christian advocacy group in New Hampshire, called on supporters over the weekend to call Ayotte’s office and express their disappointment.
“It is difficult to imagine a more narrow, more restrained approach to this issue,” the group said in an email. “If SB 552 was not narrow enough, the Governor has yet to say what would be.”
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Thanks to changes Sununu signed in 2018 and in 2019, state law prohibits discrimination on the basis of gender identity. But the newly vetoed proposal would have expressly allowed certain spaces — including multi-person bathrooms and locker rooms, detention centers, and sports in which males generally possess an advantage — to be separated by biological sex, not gender.
The proposal defined “biological sex” as “the male and female biological sexes,” without elaborating.
While proponents said this legislation would promote safety for women and girls, opponents said it would encourage discrimination by authorizing public and private organizations statewide to bar transgender people from facilities that align with their gender identity.
Michael Haley, a staff attorney at GLBTQ Legal Advocates & Defenders, thanked the governor for again rejecting what he called an “unnecessary and divisive attack” on transgender Granite Staters.
“It is deeply troubling that a faction of extremist legislators continues to devote its time and energy to repeatedly targeting transgender people and the broader LGBTQ+ community rather than honoring bedrock New Hampshire values like freedom and fairness,” he said.
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