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A biologically male athlete is expected to win big at the NHIAA indoor track championship this weekend while competing against girls. And there is currently nothing anyone can do about it. 

Not that Granite State Democrats want to. They’re opposing legislation to protect female athletes from male competitors. And one House Democrat dismissed concerns about the track meet as unimportant because it involves an “obscure competition.”

Kearsarge Regional High School sophomore Maelle Jacques, who competes on the Kearsarge girl’s team, has already racked up numerous first place wins competing against female athletes at other Division II schools over the past two seasons.

This season, Jacques dominated in the high jump competition and is the only athlete in the state competing in the girl’s division to break five feet. Competition among high school boys in New Hampshire has seen more than a dozen athletes break the five-foot mark this season.

Kearsarge Superintendent Winfried Feneberg released a statement declaring Jacques has the right to compete in any sport and as a member of any gender.

“Each student-athlete has the right to compete in the activity of their choice,” Feneberg said. “We believe that limiting access to any activity violates our core mission and vision, which are grounded in supporting every student and student-athlete’s right to pursue their goals and interests,”

Outspoken supporter of women’s athletics and 12-time All-American swimmer Riley Gaines responded to the Maelle Jacques story by calling out the athlete’s parents.

“How could the parents of this boy allow their son to cheat deserving women out of opportunities? And why don’t the parents of the girls stand up and say ‘no’ for their daughters?” Gaines posted on social media. “This country is full of failing, gutless mothers and fathers.”

The championship scheduled for Saturday at Plymouth State University is being held under the aegis of the New Hampshire Interscholastic Athletic Association. While NHIAA Executive Director Jeffrey Collins did not respond to requests for comment, the organization is fully supportive of allowing athletes to choose their gender for the purposes of competition.

“The NHIAA is committed to providing transgender student-athletes with equal opportunities to participate in NHIAA athletic programs consistent with their gender identity,” the NHII eligibility policy states. “The NHIAA has concluded that it would be fundamentally unjust and contrary to applicable state and federal law to preclude a student from participation on a gender-specific sports team that is consistent with the public gender identity of that student for all other purposes.”

Parents could change this if they started getting involved at the local school board level, said Shannon McGinley, executive director of Cornerstone Action.

“If school boards feared their constituents more than they feared (law firm) Drummond Woodsum and leftist superintendents, in a matter of months, we could have half the school districts in the state organized into an alternative NHIAA,” McGinley said. “The solution is for parents to stop accepting cowardly excuses from school board members who ran as conservative.”

Sen. Tim Lang (R-Sanbornton) is sponsoring SB 524 to address what he sees as the basic unfairness of male athletes forcing their way into sports for girls and women. Lang’s bill requires high school and college athletes to compete in the division that matches their biological sex at birth. 

“I’m a father of four kids, two of whom are girls, and I would not want my daughters bumped from a sports team because a biological male, who had a physiological advantage, chose to play on that sports team,” Lang said.

Biologically male athletes have inherent and obvious physical advantages against women and girls, he said. Medical science shows men have high bone density, more muscle mass, and even process oxygen differently than women, Lang said.

Rep. Timothy Horrigan (D-Dover) testified against SB 524 on Tuesday, arguing that “so-called ‘biological females’” did not need protection from males in their sports.

“We’re especially worried about cis women or cis girls, but this also prevents trans men from competing,” Horrigan said.

And Horrigan dismissed the case of Maelle Jacques because it involves an “obscure competition.”

“We don’t even know if she’s actually trans,” Horrigan said of Jacques, “but if she is, that’s certainly a very unfair thing [to keep her from competing]. A lot of these cases, they are pretty obscure competitions that normally sports fans wouldn’t be paying much attention to.”

Lang says his bill is not an attempt to create culture war headlines over people who suffer from gender dysphoria. He simply wants to protect women’s sports and preserve the mission of Title IX.

“This isn’t about gender; this is about biological sex,” Lang said.

Exeter High School Athletic District Bill Ball said the school respects all students.

But the attorney for an Exeter student who was punished for expressing his opinions about gender said the school needs to respect the rule of law.

During the bench trial in Rockingham Superior Court, Ball and Assistant Exeter High School Principal Marcy Dovholuk explained why they punished a Catholic student for what was a private text sent outside of school.

The football coach benched the freshman student for one game in 2021 over a discussion he had with a classmate. He is seeking $1 in damages. He also wants Ball to admit wrongdoing. The student insists he was punished for defending his view that there are only two genders, male and female.

His attorney, Richard Lehmann, told NHJournal Exeter is another example of New Hampshire school districts running roughshod over anyone who disagrees with the new, extreme gender mores.

“It’s bad enough that children are made to feel uncomfortable expressing traditional views on matters related to gender in school,” Lehmann said. “Or when schools announce they will lie to parents about their children’s in-school gender expression, as Manchester, Exeter, and other schools do. But it’s made even worse when schools reach beyond their gates and into children’s private lives and seek to control their behavior at home or in private communications with other kids that happen entirely outside of any context related to the school,” Lehmann said.

Lehamann’s client, John Doe, is using a pseudonym to protect his identity. He has since left Exeter and is enrolled at a Catholic high school. Doe testified he was talking with friends on a bus after school about another student who claimed to be “non-binary” during Spanish class. Doe testified he thought that odd since the Spanish language relies on feminine and masculine genders.

The non-binary student was not involved or aware, of the conversation at the time.

Instead, a female classmate who was not part of the conversation later confronted Doe, insisting that humans come in more than two genders. Doe and this female student then got into a heated conversation, with Doe arguing the mainstream stance that there are two sexes. Doe based this view on both science and his religious beliefs.

The girl texted him later that evening to continue the argument. At one point, Doe told the girl to “STFU,” which he testified was an attempt to be funny.

The next day, Doe was called in by Dovholuk and informed he would be punished for the conversation he had the night before over text. Dovholuk claimed the punishment was for bullying and bad language and not Doe’s beliefs regarding gender.

“At Exeter, we respect people, and we respect how they identify,” Dovholuk reportedly said.

Ball testified he told Doe, “We respect all.”

Lehmann said the United States Supreme Court already ruled that schools cannot punish students for things they say off campus. In June 2021, the High Court ruled against a Pennsylvania high school that suspended cheerleader Brandi Levy for using the f-word in a social media video about the cheer team.

“Three months before the facts of this case arose, the United States Supreme Court dismissed an athletic sanction imposed by a coach because the authority of the athletic department to penalize students for engaging in free speech could only extend to off-campus, non-school activities in rare circumstances,” Lehmann said.

In its ruling, the Supreme Court ruled that school districts cannot police students’ speech when they are not in school.

“From the student speaker’s perspective, regulations of off-campus speech, when coupled with regulations of on-campus speech, include all the speech a student utters during the full 24-hour day. That means courts must be more skeptical of a school’s efforts to regulate off-campus speech, for doing so may mean the student cannot engage in that kind of speech at all,” the justices wrote.

The Doe case is now being considered by Judge Andrew Schulman, who is expected to render a verdict in the coming weeks. Doe is doing well at his new school, Lehmann said.

“He is a great kid from a terrific family, and Exeter High School is a lesser place because of his absence.”

A New Hampshire family said in a new lawsuit their daughter is one of the victims in the child sex abuse image case brought against former Democratic state Rep. Stacie Laughton and Laughton’s girlfriend, Lindsay Groves.

Both Laughton, 39, and Groves, 38, are currently held without bail on child sex abuse image charges out of state and federal courts. Groves used her position at Creative Minds daycare in Tyngsborough, Mass., to take explicit nude photos of children and text them to Laughton, according to court records.

The family also suspects their daughter was sexually abused by Groves, according to the lawsuit.

Filed in Middlesex Superior Court in Massachusetts, the lawsuit claims the New Hampshire child was the subject of sexually explicit photos Groves took while she was enrolled at Creative Minds. 

Creative Minds is owned by Maura Sheehy Costello and Erica Jussaume of Massachusetts, with daycare center branches in Dracut and Tyngsborough. Neither could be reached for comment.

According to the suit, Sheehy Costello and Jussaume allowed Groves access to the children at the daycare despite the fact that Groves was repeatedly reported for inappropriate behavior. The family is suing the business owned by Sheehy Costello and Jussaume for negligence in hiring Groves and keeping her employed despite the red flags.

“As a result of the Defendant’s neglect, the Plaintiffs have reason to believe that their daughter may have been sexually exploited by Lindsay Groves while the minor was under the care of Creative Minds,” the lawsuit states.

The family is being kept anonymous in the legal filings, with the father and mother referred to as John and Jane Doe, and the child referred to as Jane Doe. They are represented by Lowell attorney Roger Peace. Peace did not respond to a request for comment.

This is the second lawsuit brought against Creative Minds since Groves and Laughton were arrested in June.

A Massachusetts mother filed a lawsuit against Creative Minds last month alleging her young son was sexually molested by Groves at the Tyngsborough center. That lawsuit also alleges Sheehy Costello and Jussaume were told about Groves inappropriately touching children in 2018 and told she was taking explicit photos in 2022, and yet she remained on the job.

According to court records in the criminal case, Groves and Laughton exchanged approximately 10,000 text messages over the past 18 months, including numerous explicit photos of the children Groves was caring for at the facility. During one text message conversation, the pair discussed raping children, and Laughton appeared to admit having raped a child in the past.

“LAUGHTON: I was asking because I know we’ve had some back-and-forth, and I know we initially said we do nothing with kids ever again, and you said you were afraid that if we had kids if they would go back and tell the parents the same with the kids you work with.”

In the same exchange, Laughton and Groves discussed the possibility of raping children at Creative Minds.

“GROVES: I want to do it with the kids at work 

GROVES: than you can put your **** inside them

GROVES: I wasn’t being serious about the kids running back and telling their parents 

GROVES: Plus, I want to do it with kids who use to come here cause they can enjoy it 

LAUGHTON: Well, I know but you were afraid that the kids at work might tell their parents and we said we would do it if we knew we were not gonna get caught and I was just wondering like like basically you have no problem with that…”

Laughton became New Hampshire’s first transgender elected official in 2012 but is now more famous for a career of criminal exploits. Laughton, a Democratic state representative, was forced to resign shortly after the 2012 election when it was learned the erstwhile lawmaker was still on probation for a felony theft conviction. Laughton has also been charged with stalking and making bomb threats.

Laughton was reelected to a Nashua House seat in 2020 and, after winning reelection again in 2022, spent weeks in jail after being charged with stalking and harassing Groves, according to court records.

Though Laughton and Groves remain at Valley Street Jail in Manchester pending trial, Groves was recently deemed safe for release by a federal judge. The Boston Office of the United States Attorney is appealing that decision. Groves is staying locked up until the appeal is heard.

The Hudson woman who allegedly supplied former Democratic State Rep. Stacie Laughton with child sex abuse images is set to be freed from jail.

A federal judge ruled Lindsay Groves, 38, can remain out of jail pending her trial on charges of sexual exploitation of children, aiding and abetting, and distribution of child pornography so long as she meets certain conditions.

Laughton, 39, faces identical federal and state charges of distributing child sex abuse images. Laughton, who identifies as transgendered, is being held without bail in the male population at Valley Street Jail in Manchester.

A federal judge ruled last week that Groves can be released safely, meaning she would not be a danger to the community so long as she lives with her parents, has no contact with children, and does not use an iPhone or other internet-connected devices.

“Critically, however, the court finds that conditions of release can be fashioned to address this risk and reasonably assure the safety of the community,” the ruling states.

Prosecutors with the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Boston will appeal this order. Groves will remain locked up until another judge hears the appeal and rules on the potential release. Groves is also being held at the Valley Street Jail with the female population.

Investigators said Groves used her job at Creative Minds Daycare in Tyngsborough, Mass., to access young children for the graphic photos she shared with Laughton. Court records released in the case include a text conversation with a seeming admission from Laughton that the pair had raped children in the past and planned to do it again.

Groves and Laughton were arrested last month in the child sex abuse image case, a culmination of their twisted relationship. In recent years, the pair have been involved in multiple court cases and no contact orders. One case last year landed Laughton in jail for stalking Groves right after Laughton had won re-election to the legislature. According to the court records in the stalking case, Laughton was publicly calling Groves a pedophile and using social media to amplify that accusation.

As Laughton was receiving the child sex abuse photos from Groves, the disgraced lawmaker was engaging in sexually explicit text conversations with Groves about having sex with children, according to court records. Laughton started showing other people the photos being sent by Groves last month, and texting the photos to those people, according to the complaint filed in federal court. The people who got the photos were disturbed by the images and reported the matter to the police, according to the complaint.

Laughton became New Hampshire’s first elected transgender state representative in 2012 and was praised by New Hampshire Democratic Party Chair Ray Buckley as part of the “backbone of the Granite State.”

Officials at Hillsborough County’s Valley Street Jail say former Democratic state representative and current inmate Stacie Marie Laughton is male.

What they won’t say is whether Laughton — who identifies as a female — is being housed in the male population or whether they are keeping the convicted stalker charged with the sexual exploitation of children in the women’s population.

Laughton, 39, is being held without bail after being arrested last month on charges of distributing child sex images in a case involving Lindsay Groves, a daycare employee and Laughton’s lover. 

According to court records, Groves took explicit photos of children in the daycare and texted them to Laughton. The couple then engaged in graphic conversations about child rape. In one text, Laughton seemingly admitted to raping a child. Groves is accused of inappropriately touching children in a civil lawsuit.

In multiple conversations with NHJournal, Valley Street Jail Superintendent Joseph Costanzo refused to disclose if Laughton is being housed with men or women.

“It’s a security practice,” Costanzo said. “We don’t disclose where any inmate is housed.”

From the Hillsborough County Valley Street jail records regarding the incarceration of former Dem Rep. Stacie-Marie Laughton in July, 2023.

In fact, the location of male and female inmates who don’t claim transgender status is a matter of public information. Costanzo appeared to be making a policy exception for the former representative.

Costanzo was hired by the three members of the Hillsborough County Commission. The fact county officials are trying to keep Laughton’s status secret is a sign the alleged sexual criminal is being kept in the women’s population. If that is the Hillsborough County policy, it is a matter of concern to state Rep. Katherine Prudhomme O’Brien (R-Derry).

“If you are a man who is predatory, what would keep you from saying you’re trans in order to be more predatory in a prison situation,” Prudhomme O’Brien said. “You have to be naive to think that doesn’t happen.”

According to published reports, abuse against female inmates by transgender inmates is happening in prison systems across the country. After Gov. Gavin Newsome (D-Calif.) liberalized the rules to allow more trans-identifying inmates to transfer to women’s prisons in California, female inmates said they had been raped and assaulted. In a class action lawsuit brought by several female inmates, the women said predatory men are taking advantage of the system in order to commit rape.

In one particularly disturbing case, a twice-convicted baby killer is now incarcerated in the same facility as the mother of his children, whom he killed.

Transgender inmates have also been accused of raping female inmates in New York and Illinois, and one transgender inmate in New Jersey recently got two female inmates pregnant.

According to the booking information for Laughton’s latest stay at the county jail, Laughton is listed as a biological male. 

Costanzo said information about Laughton’s incarceration is too sensitive to make public. However, he has yet to cite any specific county, state, or federal policy that requires information about Laughton’s housing to be kept from the public. Disclosing whether or not Laughton is being housed with men or women would not reveal specific cell assignments or work details.

As for housing transgender inmates at Valley Street Jail in general, Costanzo said the Hillsborough Department of Corrections adheres to the Prison Rape Elimination Act, or PREA.

“We follow the PREA guidelines and house all inmates accordingly. We make sure to comply with any standards within that guideline.”

PREA was enacted in 2003, but the United States Department of Justice issued the first set of PREA guidelines for jails and prisons in 2012. Under PREA, corrections facilities will place transgender inmates into housing corresponding to their gender identity after a round of screening.

Last year, the Biden administration enacted rules to make it easier for transgender inmates to transfer to the gender population corresponding to their stated identity. 

Prudhomme O’Brien understands New Hampshire prison and jail officials are in a tough spot when it comes to trying to keep all prisoners safe while following federal guidelines, like PREA.

“I know it’s really hard to eliminate prison rape because prison is full of rapists,” Prudhomme O’Brien said.

Stacie Laughton is a convicted sexual predator who stalked a woman and is now accused of heinous crimes against children. Is the former Democratic state representative now incarcerated with women? One GOP House member who served with Laughton is trying to find out.

The placement of transgender inmates, like former Democratic Rep. Stacie Laughton, in New Hampshire jails is up to individual jail administrators as well as the specific medical status of the inmate.

Laughton is currently being held without bail in Valley Street Jail in Manchester for alleged trafficking in child sex abuse images supplied by Laughton’s lover, Lindsay Groves. According to reports, Groves and Laughton are currently jailed at Valley Street pending their trials. 

Valley Street’s superintendent, Joseph Costanzo, did not respond to a request for comment on Laughton’s placement. 

However, Rep. Katherine Prudhomme O’Brien (R-Derry) told NHJournal she had concerns about the safety of women who might be incarcerated with an alleged sexual predator like Laughton, saying she had reached out to the superintendent.

“The superintendent reiterated to me that he can’t tell me where they both are housed and that it’s a security concern,” O’Brien said. “He only shared that they are following federal guidelines of The Prison Rape Elimination Act regarding intersex, binary and trans inmates.

“I am not happy with this lack of information as I do think this is a safety concern for female inmates,” O’Brien added. “Or maybe I should say ‘guests’ as a corrections officer in the state prison told me that’s the new term.”

New Hampshire’s Department of Corrections does not automatically house transgender women in the female population or transgender men in the male population. Hillsborough County Jail is unaccredited and does not follow published guidelines for housing transgender inmates.

In New Hampshire, decisions on transgender inmate housing are generally made on a case-by-case basis. The placement of those individuals tends to correspond with biological sex unless the individual is far along in treatment for a medical sex change, though there are exemptions to allow transgender-identifying individuals to be housed with the gender of their preference despite a lack of medical transition progression.

A legislative effort to tighten up the exemptions for incarcerated people,  HB 1180, “Relative to State Recognition of Biological Sex,” failed last year. The bill would have allowed the Department of Corrections to keep transgender individuals housed with members of their biological sex. Laughton missed the House vote to table the bill in March of last year.

Laughton, born Barry Laughton, has been identifying as Stacie Laughton since at least 2012 when Laughton became the state’s first elected transgender lawmaker. It was not clear how far Laughton’s medical transition had progressed. Laughton appears to be balding with many masculine features, though the convicted felon wears makeup and clothing traditionally identified with women. 

Laughton was married for many years to Lisa Laughton, the alleged co-conspirator in the 2008 fraud case that resulted in the felony conviction that temporarily derailed Laughton’s political career. Laughton has also conducted a long-term sexual relationship with Groves. Both Groves and Lisa Laughton are biological women. 

Laughton and Groves were both arrested last month in the child sex abuse image case. Groves allegedly used her position at Massachusetts daycare facility, Creative Minds in Tyngsborough, to take explicit photos of young children. Groves would then text the images to Laughton.

Laughton and Groves shared approximately 10,000 text messages, at times engaging in graphic discussions about raping children. At one point, Laughton seemingly admitted to past child rape in one conversation, according to court records.

A civil lawsuit filed in Massachusetts alleges Groves herself molested children at the daycare, as well as taking the photos.

Groves and Laughton are facing federal charges connected to the case. Laughton is facing state charges as well. 

Former Nashua Democratic State Rep. Stacie Laughton talked about raping children and appears to admit having committed the crime in the past, according to the federal complaint filed this week.

“I was asking because I know we’ve had some back-and-forth, and I know we initially said we do nothing with kids ever again, and you said you were afraid that if we had kids if they would go back and tell the parents the same with the kids you work with,” Laughton texted to lover and co-defendant, Lindsay Groves.

Investigators combed through 10,000 text messages between the pair this year as part of the child sex abuse image case that’s put them both behind bars for now. 

Prosecutors with the United States Attorney’s Office in Boston announced Laughton, 39, is now indicted on a federal charge for the sexual exploitation of children and faces up to 30 years in prison on that one count.

Grove, 36, was working at a Tyngsborough daycare where she allegedly took explicit photos of the children in her care and texted them to Laughton. The two discussed the photos and discussed sexually assaulting children, according to prosecutors.

“(A) preliminary forensic review of Groves’ cellphone allegedly revealed over 10,000 text messages between Laughton and Groves that included discussion about, and transfer of, explicit photographs that Groves had taken of children while employed at Creative Minds daycare – including at least four sexually explicit images of children who appear to be approximately three to five years old, as well as explicit descriptions of sex with each other and others, including children,” prosecutors said in a statement.

According to the complaint, Laughton and Grove discussed raping the children at the daycare facility. In one chilling exchange, they discussed how to get away with the horrific crime. Laughton maintained there was nothing wrong with sexually abusing children:

GROVES: You mentioned how I said I was afraid that the kids will run to the parents if we do it with them I wasn’t being serious

LAUGHTON: OK because like I get concerned about that cause I don’t wanna get caught if we do

GROVES: I was joking anyway and you took me serious

LAUGHTON: Oh I know but I just don’t wanna get in trouble. I mean I want to do what we want to do because we like it and we approve of it but others think this is wrong. Lots of parents don’t like people touching their kids and it is against the law …”

Laughton is currently being held without bail on state charges connected to the case. The former state representative will be arranged in the federal court in Boston at a later date. Groves is being held without bail on federal charges brought last month.

Laughton became New Hampshire’s first transgender elected official in 2012, but the most significant history the Nashua Democrat has made is as a criminal. 

Laughton was forced to resign from the House in 2012 after it was learned the newly-elected representative was still on probation on a felony theft charge. Laughton has also been charged with stalking and making bomb threats.

 After regaining the seat in 2020 and winning reelection in 2022, Laughton spent weeks in jail after being charged with stalking and harassing Groves, according to court records. 

Laughton and Groves have a disturbing history of their own. Laughton reportedly harassed Groves and her family off and on for years. After being arrested last year for harassing Groves, Laughton was accused of using a local radio show and social media accounts to stalk Groves and repeatedly called 911 to report Groves was suicidal, according to court records. At one point during this campaign of harassment, Laughton referred to Groves as “wife,” though there is no record that they were legally married.

As part of the harassment case, Laughton is alleged to have repeatedly tried to get Groves fired from her job at the daycare and called Groves a pedophile on social media and on her radio program, according to court records.

Federal prosecutors say members of the public with questions, concerns, or information regarding this case should call 617 748 3274. Case information, including links to charging documents and victim resources, can also be found here: https://www.justice.gov/usao-ma/victim-and-witness-assistance-program/united-states-v-lindsay-groves 

Last June, New Hampshire Democratic Party chair Ray Buckley gave a shoutout to state Rep. Stacie-Marie Laughton as one of the “LGBTQIA+ Democrats who are the backbone of the Granite State.”

Today, former Rep. Laughton is under arrest on charges of trafficking child sex abuse images taken by a former lover at a Massachusetts daycare.

When Buckley gave his endorsement last year, Laughton had already been in and out of jail on multiple charges, including credit card fraud and calling in a false bomb threat. But the shocking new charges — Laughton’s partner allegedly took photos of young children at Creative Minds daycare in Tyngsboro — are more serious than the crime of stalking for which Laughton was most recently jailed.

Lindsay Groves, 38, of Hudson, N.H., allegedly used her position at the daycare to take explicit photos of children, sending them to Laughton, who in turn distributed those images to others, according to court documents.

The arrest warrant affidavits in both their cases were still under seal Friday afternoon in the Hillsborough Superior Court—South in Nashua, but the available records show a link between the two cases.

“Groves allegedly used natural bathroom breaks for the children (routine diaper/pull-up changes before ‘naptime’) to take multiple photos of the prepubescent children in a private bathroom and then sent the photos to the individual via text message,” federal prosecutors wrote in a statement on Groves’ arrest.

That same day, Laughton was arrested in Nashua after police were tipped off about the Democrat’s alleged distribution of child sex abuse images. The court descriptions of the child sex abuse images that Groves took with her cell phone and the images that Laughton distributed to others are identical.

Laughton, New Hampshire’s first transgender elected official, spent weeks in jail last year after being charged with stalking and harassing Grove, according to court records. 

Laughton and Groves have a disturbing relationship, and Laughton reportedly harassed Groves and her family off and on for years. When Laughton was arrested last year for harassing Groves, the state representative was accused of using a radio show and social media accounts to stalk Groves and repeatedly called 911 to report Groves was suicidal, according to court records. At one point during the campaign of harassment, Laughton used the word “wife” to describe Groves.

A strange twist in the harassment case alleged Laughton repeatedly tried to get Groves fired from her job at Creative Minds and spread rumors on social media and on the radio that Groves is a pedophile, according to court records.

Laughton’s criminal history is extensive, including being convicted in 2008 for credit card fraud for stealing from a person in Laconia and charged in 2015 for calling in a bomb threat at the Southern New Hampshire Medical Center hospital in Nashua. Those charges were later dropped as Laughton claimed to be suffering from a mental health crisis at the time.

Laughton first became a state representative from the Democratic stronghold of Nashua in 2012 but was forced to resign soon after when the 2008 credit card fraud arrest became public. Despite pressure from the Democratic Party, Laughton tried to run to fill the vacancy created by the Democrat’s own resignation. But that bid was cut short when it was deemed Laughton was legally ineligible for office since the candidate was still technically serving a suspended sentence for the felony credit card fraud case.

Laughton ran for the seat again in 2020 without any public pushback from the New Hampshire Democratic Party. But re-election in 2022 turned problematic when the stalking arrest left Laughton behind bars on Organization Day, unable to cast a vote for the Democratic Caucus. At that point, Buckley and other Democrats called for Laughton to resign. 

Laughton left the House and entered a plea agreement on the stalking charges. Asked by NHJournal if this was the end of politics for the Nashua Democrat, Laughton said another run for office after completing court-ordered therapy is possible.

New Hampshire beer drinkers are opting for a light beer that tastes great, is less filling, and isn’t combatant in the current culture wars.

That means less Bud Light.

Consistently the best-selling beer in America in recent years,  Bud Light’s sales have tanked since the company featured a promotion with transgender social media influencer Dylan Mulvaney. Sales of Bud Light have dropped a staggering 21 percent nationally since the backlash to the Mulvaney promo started.

Anheuser-Busch, a $132 billion company, saw its market value plummet by some $5 billion after the April 1 campaign kickoff.

On Sunday, former President Donald Trump kicked the beer company while it’s down, posting a message on his Truth Social site about the brouhaha.

“It’s time to beat the Radical Left at their own game,” Trump wrote. “Money does talk — Anheuser-Busch now understands that.”

The controversy is hitting beer sales in New Hampshire, too. Keith Murphy, owner of Murphy’s Taproom restaurants in Bedford and Manchester, said Bud Light sales are down 20 percent in his establishments. The Mulvaney stunt is the main reason his customers are choosing a different brew these days.

“It was an unforced error,” Murphy said.

Even his customers who support the transgender movement are skipping the beer now associated with culture war politics and looking for something to simply drink with their meals.

“Some people vehemently disagree with Bud Light endorsing transgenderism; some people don’t care. Most people just wonder why Bud jumped into such a controversial issue when there was no reason to do it,” Murphy said.

Murphy is the Republican state Senator representing District 16.

Taproom patrons aren’t the only ones putting down the Bud Light. A social media video went viral purporting to show baseball fans at Fenway Park last week ignoring the Bud Light concession stands and instead waiting in long lines at nearby vendors. 

Not every local restaurant is seeing the same results, however.

“I drove to all our stores from Concord down to Salem, and I asked all the bartenders if Bud Light sales were down,” said Tom Boucher, CEO of Great NH Restaurants, Inc., which owns popular brands like T-Bones and the Copper Door. “They said, ‘Meh, not really.’ When I told them Bud Light was down more than 20 percent, they couldn’t believe it.”

The beer crisis started when Bud Light sent personalized cans of beer to Mulvaney to celebrate what the influencer called “365 Days of Girlhood.” The cans featured Mulvaney’s likeness, and the social media personality showed them off in an Instagram post.

As the promotion drew attention from national media outlets, particularly on the right, Bud Light’s customers responded by abandoning the brand. The company has lost $5 billion in market value. 

Within weeks, the Anheuser-Busch executives behind the promotion were forced to take a leave of absence. Emma Ferrara, a marketing strategist, told Fox News Anheuser-Busch hurt itself by engaging in the culture war and alienating its core customers.

“In my career, and from what I’ve seen, this has been by far one of the most polarizing instances within the social media sphere,” Ferrara said.

Ferrara said if the company was determined to make inroads with the LGBTQ community, it should have found someone more genuine than Mulvaney. Or, the company should have first tried to understand its existing customer base first.

“When you’re looking to connect with a new community, which I think is incredibly important, I think there is a right and wrong way to approach that. And it starts with understanding who your core audience is,” she told Fox. “It starts with also understanding who is your brand and what your values are and what’s your purpose.”

Boucher put the story much more simply.

“The marketing director learned a very valuable lesson. Know your customer.”

Call it the “Don’t Let the Door Hit You” Defense.

During oral arguments in a lawsuit over its policy of keeping parents in the dark about their children’s behavior, the Manchester School District’s attorney told the state Supreme Court that parents shouldn’t be able to challenge the district’s policy. Instead, they should pull their kids out of public school and go somewhere else.

“If the parents want to make a different choice, they can homeschool, or they can send their child to a private school; those are options available to them,” said attorney Meghan Glynn.

The district is being sued over its policy of keeping students’ behavior related to sex and gender secret from their parents.

Richard Lehmann, the attorney for the Manchester mother going by Jane Doe, who filed the lawsuit, said parents have the right to know if their children are being socially transitioned in schools with the aid of school staff.

Manchester School District lawyer Meghan Glynn told Supreme Court justices that parents who don’t like the district’s policies can send their kids to private school.

“The real issue is not a school reporting on what a student is doing in school, but for the school to report what the school itself is doing in school,” Lehmann said.

Lehmann rejected the argument that Doe’s lawsuit was an attempt to force the district to out LGBT students to their parents. He argued that it is about a government entity usurping parental powers and making decisions in place of a parent.

“This is the government substituting its own judgment over a parent’s judgment when it comes to gender identity,” Lehmann said. 

Jane Doe stated in her original complaint that she found out in the fall of 2021 that her child was using a different pronoun and gender identity at school. The school’s name was withheld in court documents to protect the child’s identity.

The mother spoke with school staff, including the student’s guidance counselor. According to the lawsuit, the mother made it clear she wanted her child to be called by the name and pronouns the child had at birth while in school.

Even though the staff she spoke to initially agreed, the mother received an email from the school principal stating that the mother’s instructions were being overridden due to the district’s policy. According to the lawsuit, the principal stated that the district’s policy requires school staff to keep such matters secret from parents if the child so chooses. Even if staffers agree to use the child’s true gender identity when speaking with the mother, they would be obligated to not tell the mother if the child wished to be identified as something else.

The policy states teachers and staff are not to tell anyone about a child’s gender identity without the express consent of the child. School employees are also directed to use the child’s biological pronouns and given name when talking about the child to people who do not know about the nonconforming gender identity.

Last September, Hillsborough Superior Court Judge Amy Messer ruled in favor of the school district, declaring parents ultimately do not have the right to direct how their children are to be educated in public schools.

“(T)he right to make decisions about the care, custody, and control of one’s child is not absolute,” Messer wrote.

Because Justice Anna Barbara Hantz Marconi has recused herself from the case without giving a reason, the court may issue a 2-2 tie decision. If they do, Messer’s original ruling will stand.

On Friday, Glynn maintained the Manchester school staff, and officials did not lie to Doe about her child’s gender identity. They simply followed policy.

“If the issue, in this case, is truly that the district has a constitutional duty to report what the school is doing, the school has met that burden,” Glynn said.

Glynn said that parents have the right to have their voice heard when the district crafts policies, and they have the right to vote out school board representatives who pursue policies they do not support. A comment from Justice James Bassett seemingly rebuked this line of reasoning.

“Constitutional rights are not up for a vote,” Bassett said.  

In fact, parents’ rights are coming up for a vote in the New Hampshire House. Last week, the House Education Committee cast a 10-10 party-line vote on SB272, the Parents Bill of Rights. The full Hous is expected to vote on the legislation, which is supported by Gov. Chris Sununu, later this month.

Glynn cautioned the justices that if they decide in favor of Doe and parents’ rights in this case, more lawsuits will likely come.

“The next case up is going to be the case of a student,” she said.