It sounds like politics at its most typical. At the end of the first House session of the month, Rep. Erica Layon (R-Derry) used the “unanimous consent” time at the end of Thursday’s session to read remarks noting that March is Women’s History Month.
But in the political climate of 2025, there is nothing “typical” about issues of sex and gender.
The “unanimous consent” part of the legislative day is when members can speak on issues they find important, give shoutouts to causes they care about, etc. — as long as the full House consents for them to speak,
When Layon used the moment to argue that women are currently being “silenced,” pressured to accept the “erasing of women’s spaces and women’s sports,” Rep. Alissandra Murray (D-Manchester) withdrew consent. The House was forced to vote on whether to allow Layon to continue speaking.
When the House voted in Layon’s favor, Democrats stormed out of the chamber. “They’re dying because of you,” shouted Rep. Paige Beauchemin (D-Nashua).
NH House Democrats walk out on speech honoring Women’s History Month due to references to “women’s sports.” March 6, 2025.
Layon’s speech was provocative (“We must overcome the campaign to silence women, or women ourselves will become history”), but it was in line with the discourse heard in the State House. The decision Democrats had to make was how to respond to it.
They could have ignored it, let Layon make her case, and moved on. Instead, they sent a male member — Rep. Nicholas Germana (D-Keene)– up to the mic to make the case that a woman shouldn’t be allowed to speak about a women’s issue during Women’s History Month. “I’ve been teaching women’s history for more than 20 years,” Germana said as he urged House members to “bring this (speech) to an end.”
Republicans, as they say, pounced.
“Democrat men attempting to silence women in the NH House. Sad,” tweeted Majority Leader Rep. Jason Osborne (R- Auburn).
Murray took to Twitter to respond.
“Only bullies and bigots feel the need to cheer and laugh with glee as they pass legislation dehumanizing an entire population. It’s not enough for you to win, you have to mock our pain as you strip away our rights. ‘
“These are not Granite State values,” Murray added, “and you are not good people.”
The legislation referenced could be the Parental Bill of Rights, which passed the state Senate over the unanimous opposition from Democrats.
Or it could be legislation allowing women to have their own private spaces — bathrooms, locker rooms, etc. — free from biological males. That, too, is almost certain to pass this year.
And in a sign of just how hard Granite State Democrats are swimming against the political tide, earlier in the day, California Gov. Gavin Newsom released a podcast in which he said forcing women athletes to compete against males is “deeply unfair.”
“I think it’s an issue of fairness. I completely agree with you on that,” Newsom told rightwing activist Charlie Kirk. “It is an issue of fairness. It’s deeply unfair.”
Rep. Joe Sweeney (R-Salem) expressed his amazement.
“Hard to believe, but New Hampshire Democrats are more extreme on males in women’s sports than the governor of California.”
In fact, the politics of promoting biological males in girls sports and spaces has gotten so bad, Axios reports Senate Democrats are now reversing their stance and grabbing a card out of the GOP deck: State’s rights.
“In the Senate, their emerging strategy is to argue that one part of the issue is best left to the states,” it reported. That’s a strategy being pushed by U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.)
“Republicans in Washington are saying they know better than parents and local school districts. They are wrong. I trust parents, schools, and local sports leagues to make these decisions for their children.”
Not only is this the GOP’s position on abortion, nearly word for word, but it’s a complete reversal of Senate Democrats’ stance as recently as November. The Biden administration used executive power to try and force every K-12 school in the country to treat self-declared “girls” the same as biological girls, via Title IX rules.
On Monday, every Senate Democrat backed a filibuster to block legislation protecting girls sports nationwide.
A New York Times poll taken in January found that 67 percent of respondents said biological males should not be allowed to play on women’s sports teams.
And that was just the Democrats. Among all voters, it was 79 percent.
