Republicans on New Hampshire’s Executive Council voted Wednesday to move forward with a promotion for a transgender National Guard captain, after previously holding it up for more than a month.
That delay had prompted questions about whether the council was withholding a promotion based on someone’s gender identity, and comes as President Trump has moved to purge transgender servicemembers from the military.
The issue goes back to early February, when New Hampshire Air National Guard Capt. Nathalie Richter’s promotion to major first came before the Executive Council. The council’s Republican members tabled it, while allowing other National Guard promotions to advance.
Council members offered no explanation for that vote at the time. But in an interview Wednesday, Executive Councilor David Wheeler said he had moved to table Richter’s promotion because of Trump’s order barring transgender people from the military.
“The nomination was for a transgender military personnel, and then we didn't we didn't know exactly what the Trump orders were going to be,” he said.
Wheeler said he does not personally oppose transgender people serving in the National Guard, but wanted more “guidance from Washington” on the new policy. He said that guidance hasn’t been forthcoming, “so we decided to move forward” with the promotion Wednesday.
Richter, a cybersecurity engineer, serves as an operations officer at Pease Air National Guard Base, according to an interview she gave to the Boston Globe. She told the Globe that her colleagues in the military have continued to treat her with respect since she disclosed her gender identity to them in 2023.
NHPR has reached out to Richter for comment but did not hear back before this story published.
The council’s lone Democrat, Karen Liot Hill, had pushed back on the decision to block Richter’s promotion and questioned whether it violated the state’s anti-discrimination laws. At a previous meeting, she asked New Hampshire Attorney General John Formella to weigh in on that.
Liot Hill said Wednesday she was pleased the council had finally voted to move forward with Richter’s promotion, which still needs to be confirmed by a vote at a subsequent meeting.
“I think this was a really important statement that discrimination is not the New Hampshire way, and that people who have earned their promotions in our national guard will get those promotions,” she said.
Wednesday’s meeting also drew about a dozen protesters from the progressive group Kent Street Coalition, carrying signs that read “Discrimination is unpatriotic.”
