Wednesday’s state Senate Health and Human Services Committee hearing on legislation banning puberty blockers and sex-change surgery for minors appeared relatively routine. The issue has been debated multiple times as bills protecting minor children from permanent physical alterations made their way through the legislature over the past two years.
That all changed when a Boscawen-based therapist sat down to testify.
Holly Testerman’s website reports she “provide(s) individual therapy services to teens and adults age 12+” with a focus area that includes “ADHD, Autism, LGBTQ+ experiences, and gender-affirming care.”
Testerman claims to use “evidence-based skills,” and rather than make the case for allowing children to undergo sex-change surgeries, she rejected the authority of the elected legislature to regulate the procedures. She accused lawmakers of “working outside their scope of care” in pursuing the legislation in question.
“The majority of legislators supporting this bill are not in medical or mental health fields,” Testerman told the committee. “Those who are, are not endocrinologists, specializing in pediatric care, or work with trans people. By supporting this bill they’re working outside their scope of care.”
Rep. David Rochefort (R-Littleton) responded to Testerman’s complaints with a simple question that appeared to leave her flummoxed.
“We, as a legislature, deal a lot of times with roads and bridges,” Rochefort, who chairs the committee, said. “Should we be civil engineers?”
Following a prolonged silence and some snickers from the back of the hearing room, Testerman provided an answer.
“Again, this is my scope of care. I’m not a civil engineer, I can’t tell you that,” she said. “I can tell you as a therapist, my scope of care.”
Rochefort followed up by asking Testerman where she obtained her license to practice therapy. Testerman referenced the state’s Office of Professional Licensure (OPL). Rochefort then asked her to identify the body that oversees the OPL.
“Because they’re the board?” Testerman guessed.
“No, the legislature gives the OPLC the authority to give them the license,” Rochefort said.
“You came here and accused us of not having the authority or expertise to do what we’re doing,” Rochefort continued. “We’ve been elected by the people to do this job. This is my committee. I’m the one who asks questions. I’m the one who makes statements. You cast a big accusation against all of us.”
Testerman’s argument — that New Hampshire voters don’t have the right to regulate medical procedures through the democratic process — may have been the most extreme of the day, but she was hardly alone. New Hampshire Democrats have been nearly unanimous in their support for allowing children to undergo sex change surgeries that involve removing their sex organs, as well as chemical treatments that can sterilize them for life.
Sen. Kevin Avard (R-Nashua) had another question for Testerman, noting that the state previously outlawed the practice of conversion therapy.
“Are you engaging in conversion therapy?” he asked.
“I’m not sure that question makes sense to me,” Testerman said. “It’s not converting if it’s their identity.”
The two bills are sponsored by Rep. Lisa Mazur (R-Goffstown). HB 377 bans the use of hormone treatments and puberty blockers on minor children, and HB 712 bans mastectomies on children for the purposes of sex reassignment.
The back-and-forth between Testerman and committee members wasn’t the only controversial moment.
Jamie Reed, a former Missouri pediatric gender clinic case worker turned whistleblower, disputed Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center’s claim that it does not perform sex-change surgeries on minors. She referenced data released by the group Do No Harm to alleged DHMC has performed at least 20 since 2018.
Avard asked DHMC government relations director Courtney Tanner to respond to Reed’s claim.
She dismissed it as “falsified data.”
“We have reviewed the information,” Tanner said. “Unfortunately, misinformation does happen.”
The hearing was held a day after the U.S. Supreme Court heard a case involving Christian, Jewish and Muslim parents asking for the right to protect their young children from classroom content advocating transgender ideology and teaching children to look for images in storybooks associated with LGBT lifestyle decisions like “drag queens” and “leather.”
According to reporting by left-leaning outlets, the court appeared to be leaning toward supporting parents’ rights in this case.
In the committee hearing, Mazur appeared emotional at times while delivering her testimony. Mazur said both bills are “grounded in a simple but crucial question. Do children change their minds?” she said.
“The foundation of medical ethics is simple — do no harm,” she added. “When a minor’s physical health is not at risk, the ethical choice is to wait.”
Rep. Erica Layon (R-Derry) is also a sponsor and said the legislation “is not anti-trans.”
“You’re going to hear that today, but it is not,” she added. “It is responsible.”
In her testimony, Evelyn Ullman with the Massachusetts chapter of Democrats For an Informed Approach to Gender, also alluded to the issue of children being “caught up in gender ideology.”
Ullman said parents are being “led to believe their children are being evaluated and treated through an evidence-based protocol.”
“These kids are merely being affirmed for a set of beliefs they’ve learned in school and online,” Ullman added. “Neither the parent nor the kids are giving informed consent for this experimental and dangerous practice called gender-affirming care.”
Avard said “there seems to be an explosion of the issue” before asking Ullman why she thinks “there is such an abundance of gender dysphoria.”
“It seems to be a social contagion that is mostly spread online,” Ullman answered.
As of April, at least 26 states have passed bans on sex-change surgery and/or puberty blockers for children. New Hampshire law currently bans what is known as “bottom” surgery, which permanently reconfigures the genitals of children.
Both HB 712 and HB 377 were approved by the House last month. Only one Democrat voted in support of restricting top surgery for minors and barring them from obtaining puberty and hormone blockers – Rep. Jonah Wheeler (D-Peterborough).
Wheeler has since been ostracized by fellow Democrats, with progressive activists dismissing him during a League of Women Voters event last month as a “fascist” and “useful idiot” for Republicans.
On Wednesday, the national news outlet The Free Press published a profile of Wheeler headlined The Young Black Democrat Dubbed a ‘Puppet of the Right.’
