In Small-Town New Hampshire, a Renegade State Legislator Is Labeled a ‘Fascist’ for Bucking Democratic Dogma on Transgender Issues

PETERBOROUGH, New Hampshire — Politicians across the country are facing hostile constituents at town halls these days, but the accusations of “traitor” and “fascist” lobbed by a room full of white liberals at a Black, 22-year-old Democratic New Hampshire state representative, Jonah Wheeler, on Tuesday night was on another level.The town hall was hosted by the Peterborough chapter of the League of Women Voters. Constituents in this overwhelmingly Democratic town — Vice President Harris won 69 percent of the vote there in November — were not railing against Elon Musk or the party’s failure to combat the Trump agenda.Many in the audience were, instead, angry with Mr. Wheeler for the sin of breaking with his party on an issue that has become one of the Democratic party’s biggest electoral liabilities: transgender issues.“There’s so much fervor on the left that if you bring up one counter opinion to the orthodoxy you’re shouted down, screamed down,” Mr. Wheeler told The New York Sun at the meeting. “This isn’t just a Peterborough problem. This is indicative of the Democratic Party at large.”When Democratic Congressman Seth Moulton and Tom Suozzi spoke critically last year of allowing transgender athletes to compete in women’s sports they faced immediate backlash from members of their party. Now, Democratic leaders are debating about how to tailor their approach to these issues in a way that doesn’t alienate both sides of their base. Nearly 80 percent of Americans — and 69 percent of Democrats — think transgender women should not compete against biological women in sports. Two prominent national Democrats, Governor Newsom and a United States Senator from New Hampshire, Jean Shaheen, also broke with their party and recently voiced their opposition to biological men competing against female athletes, regardless of a person’s gender identity.Audience members at a town hall in Peterborough, New Hampshire. Caroline McCaughey/The New York SunMr. Wheeler voted for and gave a speech on the state house floor last Thursday in support of a Republican sponsored bill, HB 148, which gives localities, educational institutions, and private businesses in the Granite State the right to set their own policies regarding transgender participation in women’s sports, use of bathrooms, and prisons.“Just because one person is comfortable with a transgender woman being in the bathroom with them or playing sports with them or being in a prison with them, doesn’t mean that another woman is,” Mr. Wheeler said during debate over the bill, as half his Democratic caucus walked out of the house chamber. “We should listen to those women. And just because a small segment of the population would like those policies to accommodate them over women, doesn’t mean that we here today can do that.”Mr. Wheeler’s speech went viral on X. New Hampshire Democrat Party leadership, though, is not ready to change its stance. A local party executive, Dan Gross, read a statement Tuesday night condemning Mr. Wheeler. Another former Democratic elected official suggested Mr. Wheeler change his party affiliation.“This is about a racist, misogynistic, homophobic, transphobic, xenophobic agenda,” a Democratic Executive Councilor, Karen Liot Hill, told the audience.This isn’t the first time Mr. Wheeler has strayed from his party on transgender issues. Last year, he voted in favor of a bill banning transgender genital surgeries — phalloplasties and vaginoplasties — for minors. He then won re-election in November.The room at the Peterborough Town Library was filled to capacity with around 100 people and a crowd that spilled into the hallway. Mr. Wheeler was one of only two Democratic state representatives to vote in favor of HB 148. The other Democrat did not show up to the town hall.Tall and slender with dreadlocks, Mr. Wheeler insisted that he’s for “civil rights” and that the bill does not impose any mandates. “Nobody should be discriminated against because of who they are,” he said. He kept his composure and called for “nuanced” dialog. He got anything but.“I proudly voted for you, and I am ashamed of what you have done out in the world,” a former teacher of Mr. Wheeler’s, Mary Goldthwaite, said. “This room is full of people you are actively hurting. I don’t know how you sleep at night.”“I sleep just fine. I’ve done my research,” Mr. Wheeler responded.Transgender rights activists at a town hall in Peterborough, New Hampshire. Caroline McCaughey/The New York Sun.A transgender childhood friend of Mr. Wheeler’s, who self-identifies as Jane, gave a long prepared speech in which she said, “I was proud when you won, you gave me hope, and then you stabbed me in the back.” Jane also wrongly claimed that the bill Mr. Wheeler voted for would result in genital inspections in restrooms. “Your complacency is cooperation with fascism,” she said.“The legislation didn’t mandate genital inspections and it didn’t mandate a bathroom policy,” Mr. Wheeler said.Another constituent yelled that Mr. Wheeler’s actions would lead to more transgender children committing suicide. “What I would ask you is if you’re willing to accept responsibility for the number of children who statistically will commit suicide because they’ve been forced out to their parents in school?”A former Missouri pediatric gender clinic case worker turned whistleblower, Jamie Reed, was in the audience and interjected that it’s dangerous to designate blame for suicide. Recent research refutes the commonly held belief that children who think they’re transgender and do not receive affirming care have increased suicidal ideation.The hostility wasn’t reserved solely for Mr. Wheeler. After asking what paper I worked for, Jane rummaged through my reporter’s notebook without asking while I walked toward the podium to take a picture. When confronted, Jane called me a “fascist.” Audience members opposed to gender ideology in the audience were on the receiving end of such vitriol.“I want my trans friends to feel safe, and that’s why I’m here today,” a friend of Jane’s, Sarah Gingras, told the Sun.Despite the vocal opposition to Mr. Wheeler and shouts for him to “shut up,” there was a significant portion of the audience in support of the legislator. Ms. Reed travelled to New Hampshire for the event, as did gender-critical author and attorney, Kara Dansky. There were several detransitioners and members of a group called LGB Courage Coalition. They wore pins that looked like transgender “progress flags” with the transgender-supporting colors cut out.“I am here specifically as a Democrat, as a lesbian, and as a whistleblower from a pediatric gender center to stand up with a fellow Democrat who is finally taking a position I can support publicly,” Ms. Reed told the Sun.Ms. Reed said despite Mr. Newsom’s recent statements, she doesn’t think the party is on the verge of changing its positions. She said a Democratic Party executive at the town hall told her he didn’t care about polling on the issue. “This is like Germany in the 1920s and 1930s,” Ms. Reed said he told her of Mr. Wheeler’s stance.Ms. Dansky agreed that the change will be slow — but she’s fighting hard to make it happen. “A lot of Democrats got it wrong on gay marriage and they changed their minds and apologized,” Ms. Dansky told the Sun. “They did it on that. They can do it on this.” The racial dynamics at the town hall were also noteworthy and emblematic of demographic changes in partisan affiliation. Black and Hispanic men shifted in substantial margins toward President Trump during the last election. New Hampshire is more than 90 percent white. There were only four people in the meeting, including Mr. Wheeler, who did not look white. All of them were on Mr. Wheeler’s side.“I think that’s part of what we saw here today,” Mr. Wheeler told the Sun. “Our inauthenticity and disrespect to people who don’t have a college degree or aren’t part of the upper echelon of the country has resulted in somebody like Trump winning the election.”

In Small-Town New Hampshire, a Renegade State Legislator Is Labeled a ‘Fascist’ for Bucking Democratic Dogma on Transgender Issues

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