In Concord, they’re the speech police — literally.
According to public documents released by the New Hampshire Attorney General’s Office, a Concord police officer repeatedly “corrected” a suspect for using what prosecutors say were the wrong pronouns while discussing an alleged crime victim who identifies as transgender.
The documents were part of Tuesday’s announcement that the Department of Justice Civil Rights Unit had initiated an enforcement action against Travis Lufkin, age 24, of Concord.
The charge stems from an incident on May 19, 2024, when Lufkin allegedly assaulted a biological male who identifies as a female who was working at the Speedway gas station in downtown Concord. The victim — identified in the documents as “S.K.” — told Lufkin to leave the property, but he allegedly responded by calling the victim a “f****t” and hitting the victim in the face.
Lufkin fled, but there was a video of the assault, and police, who recognized him as a homeless person they had previously encountered, began looking for him.
According to the Attorney General’s Office, Lufkin “eventually learned that police were looking for him and, the day after the assault, went to the Concord Police Department to discuss the incident.”
While being questioned about the assault, Lufkin was also confronted by officers over his speech violations.
“Throughout his interview with the police, Defendant (Lufkin) consistently misgendered S.K., referring to her as ‘he’ and ‘him,’” according to the court documents. “This persisted after the interviewing officer corrected Defendant and informed him of S.K.’s gender identity, as Defendant maintained that she was a man. At one point in the interview, Defendant interrupted the investigating officer and asked that the officer stop referring to S.K. as ‘she.’”
According to the attorney general’s memorandum, the fact that Lufkin “repeatedly referred to S.K. as a man, even after police told Defendant that S.K. was a woman” is part of the evidence against him in the hate-crime charge.
According to some Granite State lawmakers, however, police and state prosecutors declaring a biological male a “woman” and correcting a citizen’s pronoun use is evidence that something is amiss within the state’s law enforcement community.
“First of all, I want to be clear that I do not condone, support, or excuse any form of violence or threats against anyone,” said state Rep. Lisa Mazur (R-Goffstown), who sponsored legislation protecting women from biological males in sports and private spaces.
“The First Amendment protects every individual’s right to free speech, including the right not to be compelled to express beliefs they do not hold. No person should be required by the government to use language or pronouns that conflict with their conscience or understanding of reality. While violence must always be rejected, free speech must always be protected under the Constitution.”
State Sen. Victoria Sullivan (R-Manchester) had a similar take.
“Any crime should be investigated fully. No one should be assaulted for choosing to present themselves in a way that makes them feel comfortable,” Sullivan said.
“However, the question of whether the defendant misgendered a person or not should not be part of the corrective action of the police. From a criminal justice perspective, how do you identify a person without identifying their biological sex? I would be very concerned if we found that this was a pattern or policy for law enforcement in our state.”
Sullivan also referenced recent high-profile news stories out of Great Britain, where police are literally arresting people, including celebrity comedians, for social media posts some find offensive.
“We are witnessing the slippery slope of the intolerance of differing views in the U.K. We cannot allow that to happen here, even if we find the words repugnant,” Sullivan said.
Lawyers who discussed the case with NHJournal were reluctant to speak on the record without more details, but they said having law enforcement policing speech is troubling — and using that view of speech as an element in a criminal case is even more problematic. It could be seen as declaring certain viewpoints about biology and gender to be potentially criminal.
Lufkin is no stranger to law enforcement, having been repeatedly arrested over the past two years. The most recent incident earlier this month involved crashing his car into a tree and fleeing from the police into the woods before being charged with felon in possession of a deadly weapon and aggravated DUI.
But as American author and free speech advocate H.L. Mencken said, “The trouble with fighting for human freedom is that one spends most of one’s time defending scoundrels. For it is against scoundrels that oppressive laws are first aimed, and oppression must be stopped at the beginning if it is to be stopped at all.”
