A N.H. House committee has retained, or removed from consideration, a Republican-backed bill aimed at preventing transgender women or girls from participating in women’s sports in public schools or entering female locker rooms.

The 12-5 vote in the House Education Policy and Administration Committee on Senate Bill 211 came Tuesday after Rep. Lisa Freeman, R-Tilton, pointed out that a similar bill the N.H. Legislature passed last year, House Bill 1205, is tied up in court.

On Sept. 10 in Concord, U.S. District Judge LandyaMcCafferty blocked enforcement of HB 1205 with a preliminary injunction, saying the measure appears discriminatory

In an interview Wednesday, Freeman acknowledged senators and representatives have spent hours listening to testimony, debating and voting on SB 211 even though its content is under court challenge.

“We have to consider these bills whether they are in court or not,” she said. “We have to do that. Those are the rules. It doesn’t even matter if a bill comes to us and it doesn’t have a chance of survival. We have to hold a hearing.”

Sometimes lawmakers will back a bill to highlight an issue or make a political statement.

“And, truly, not to be philosophical, isn’t all legislation political?” she asked.

Michael Haley, an attorney for Boston-based GLBTQ Legal Advocates & Defenders and a former member of the N.H. Attorney General’s Office, spoke against SB 211 before the Senate Education Committee on March 4.

“This bill is essentially a copy of a bill that was passed in the last session and has already been enjoined by a federal court,” he said, adding that the judge said HB 1205 violates Title IX, a federal civil rights law, and the Equal Protection Clause of the U.S. Constitution.

“So if this bill (SB 211) were to pass, it would also swiftly be enjoined and is essentially a waste of this Legislature’s time.”

N.H. Sen. Kevin Avard, R-Nashua, urged the committee to vote in favor of the bill, which he authored.

“I’m very concerned about how we’ve evolved in the last few years where biological males are entering into sports with biological females,” he said. “It’s concerning because there is a physical difference. It’s obvious. It’s been obvious.”

He said he has concerns that transgender girls could injure others, particularly in contact sports such as lacrosse.

Backers of the measure also claim transgender girls pose locker room privacy concerns for others.

Critics say safety and privacy concerns are overblown. They say the bill amounts to a solution in search of a problem because there are only about four or five girls who identify as transgender athletes in New Hampshire.

The committee recommended in favor of the bill, 2-1, on March 18, and the full Senate passed it, 16-8, along party lines on March 27, before moving it to the N.H. House.

Meanwhile, the federal case against HB 1205 is pending further proceedings.

Then-Gov. Chris Sununu signed HB 1205 into law July 19, saying it “ensures fairness and safety in women’s sports by maintaining integrity and competitive balance in athletic competitions. With this widely supported step, New Hampshire joins nearly half of all U.S. States in taking this measure.”

Also last year, Sununu vetoed a separate bill intended to allow business and government entities to enforce gender separation in bathrooms and locker rooms, among other places.

In her Sept. 10 ruling, Judge McCafferty said HB 1205 “on its face, discriminates against transgender girls,” and that it “is not even a close call.”

“The stigma and humiliation that comes from such treatment of a child at the hands of the State is substantial and irreparable.”

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