Abi and Jacob Maxwell had decided New Hampshire was no longer a place they could raise their transgender daughter even before Republican Governor Chris Sununu signed a trio of bills in July placing restrictions on LGBTQ+ people, their health care, and education. Since 2020, the Maxwells watched as more bills were introduced that would reshape their daughter’s day-to-day life, from her ability to play sports or access gender affirming care. “We knew what was coming and that even if the governor didn’t sign the bills this year, they would all come back next year,” Abi Maxwell, 44, said.
“It was taking years off our lives and we knew we had to get out.” Her husband Jacob Maxwell agreed. He said his thought was: “Let’s go as far away as we can, into the absolute most protective place, no matter the cost.
” Advertisement In July, Maxwell and her family uprooted their lives, moving across the country to California, the state she now believes offers the strongest legal protections to her 11-year-old daughter. Since 2004, California has had a law prohibiting discrimination against transgender and gender non-conforming people, according to the Transgender Law Center . While New Hampshire passed a law in 2018 to protect transgender people from discrimination, in recent years, bills targeting transgender youth have multiplied in New Hampshire and nationally as it’s become a hot-button political issue.
In 2024, there were 18 anti-trans bills introduced into the New Ham.