New Hampshire Democrat lawmaker compares keeping men out of women sports to racial Jim Crow era

Comments came during a debate over a bill to keep biological men out of women’s locker rooms and sporting events.

Published: May 23, 2025 1:54pm

A New Hampshire Democrat state lawmaker is comparing a proposed law keeping men out of women’s sports and private spaces to the "Jim Crow" laws of the racial segregation era.

State Sen. Debra Altschiller made the comments Thursday as she debated a bill to keep biological men out of women’s locker rooms and sporting events.

She argued the legislation is “cut from the same cloth” as Jim Crow laws that were validated by the 1896 Supreme Court decision in Plessy v. Ferguson and weren't overturned until the Civil Rights Act of 1964..

“It tells transgender Granite Staters, you may live among us, but, in certain spaces, you must step aside. You must use different facilities. You may not compete with your peers,” Altschiller said.

“The court in 1896 said segregation did not stamp black Americans with a badge of inferiority unless they interpreted it that way. And we all know how wrong that reasoning was. And it behooves us to remember that today,” she added.

You can see her whole state in the video above.