SIMS: Biology Is Not Bigotry – Why New Hampshire Must Protect Girls’ Single-Sex Spaces

From ConVal to Manchester, White Mountain, Claremont, and Weare, gender-identity policies are putting girls at risk. HB1442 is the solution.

On March 31, 2026, the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights opened a Title IX Investigation into New Hampshire’s Contoocook Valley School District (ConVal) in Peterborough. The district, which serves 11 schools across southwestern New Hampshire and receives federal funding, is accused of violating Title IX by allowing biological males to access girls’ restrooms, locker rooms, and other intimate single-sex facilities based on gender identity rather than biological sex.

The probe stems from a detailed civil rights complaint filed on August 8, 2025, by Defending Education on behalf of a concerned parent. ConVal’s “Transgender and Gender Non-Conforming Procedure” explicitly permits students to use facilities matching their “consistently asserted” gender identity. When female students or parents raise privacy and safety concerns, the district’s response has been to tell the girls to “change elsewhere”—not to restrict biological males from girls-only spaces.

This is not abstract policy. In 2024, a parent emailed ConVal High School Principal Heather McKillop after a transgender girl (a biological male) began changing in the girls’ locker room while her daughter was present. The superintendent has told at least one parent that ConVal will follow New Hampshire state law and its own anti-discrimination rules—prioritizing gender identity over federal Title IX. Contoocook Valley Regional High School’s non-discrimination policy even omits “sex” as a protected category, listing only race, religion, disability, gender identity, or relationship preference.

ConVal is not alone. Similar gender-identity-based access policies have operated in other New Hampshire districts, rooted in the state’s 2018 anti-discrimination law and the former New Hampshire School Boards Association (NHSBA) model policy that many districts adopted. In March 2025, the NHSBA advised all school boards to review and potentially eliminate these references to comply with new federal Title IX guidance and protect funding. Yet change has been uneven.

In the Manchester School District (New Hampshire’s largest, including Manchester High School Central and West), the “Transgender and Gender Non-Conforming Students” policy still allows access to restrooms and locker rooms based on gender identity, with provisions shielding student privacy from parents in some cases. The district has said it is reviewing, but has released no timeline or changes.
The White Mountain Regional School District (White Mountain Regional High School in Whitefield) maintained a policy granting the same restroom, locker room, and sports access aligned with gender identity; the board tabled revisions in March 2025 to study legal implications.

In Claremont School District, the board considered suspending its long-standing transgender policy in March 2025, but ultimately voted to keep it in place temporarily while forming a committee for possible revisions.

At Weare Middle School in April 2025, parents protested after the school allowed a biological male student—who had recently begun identifying as a girl—to use the girls’ bathroom despite objections from female students. Girls were told the arrangement must continue because state law prohibited discrimination based on gender identity.

These examples show a statewide pattern: policies that erase biological sex in intimate spaces, shifting the burden onto girls while ignoring documented physical and safety differences between males and females.

As a New Hampshire woman, survivor of male violence, and Chapter Leader of the Southern New Hampshire Chapter of the Independent Women’s Network, I encourage all who can and are available to go and testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday, April 2, 2026, in strong support of HB 1442 at 1:50 pm at the Statehouse in Concord, NH. If you cannot testify in person, then go online to email the Judiciary Committee.

Email the Judiciary: William.Gannon@gc.nh.gov, Daryl.Abbas@gc.nh.gov, Debra.Altschiller@gc.nh.gov, Tara.Reardon@gc.nh.gov, Sharon.Carson@gc.nh.gov, brendan.bunnell@gc.nh.gov

This bill, HB1442, limits the use of restrooms, locker rooms, and changing areas in public schools and municipally owned buildings to biological sex. It establishes a clear statutory definition of sex—rooted in immutable biology: chromosomes (XX or XY) and reproductive anatomy—rather than subjective gender identity.

Biological sex is binary, observable, measurable, and determined at conception. Gender identity is an internal sense of self. I do not believe every transgender person is violent; many live peacefully and deserve basic human respect. But women and girls should never be required to bear added risk or surrender hard-won single-sex protections to accommodate ideology over biology.

HB 1442 restores common sense without denying anyone dignity or single-occupancy options. It ensures multi-user facilities in schools are designated by biological sex. It allows public accommodations to maintain sex-based standards. It protects female inmates through sex-based housing. And it affirms that gender identity does not override biological reality, where safety, privacy, and fairness matter most.

The federal investigation into ConVal—and the broader pattern across Manchester, White Mountain, Claremont, Weare, and beyond—should be a wake-up call for every school board, administrator, and legislator. While some districts are now reevaluating under NHSBA guidance, others like ConVal have doubled down. New Hampshire can lead by passing HB 1442, which the House already advanced in March. This sends a clear message: our Granite State stands with its women and girls. We will defend their privacy, safety, and equal opportunity without forcing them to accommodate feelings over facts in the very spaces designed to protect them.

Biology is not bigotry. It is the foundation of sound, protective, evidence-based policy. The Senate Judiciary Committee now holds the evidence. The time to advance HB 1442 and safeguard every daughter in New Hampshire is now.

Call to Action Post:

ConVal is not alone — the same dangerous policies exist in Manchester, White Mountain, Claremont & Weare.

It’s time to act.

Tomorrow, the Senate Judiciary Committee holds the public hearing on HB1442 — the bill to restore single-sex spaces based on biological sex. To submit testimony you must email the Judiciary Committee. Email the Judiciary: William.Gannon@gc.nh.gov, Daryl.Abbas@gc.nh.gov, Debra.Altschiller@gc.nh.gov, Tara.Reardon@gc.nh.gov, Sharon.Carson@gc.nh.gov, brendan.bunnell@gc.nh.gov

Attend in person:
Thursday, April 2, 2026 • 1:50 PM • Room 100, State House, Concord

Stand with NH women & girls. Protect privacy and safety.

Pass HB 1442.

#ProtectNHGirls #HB1442 #BiologyIsNotBigotry