New Hampshire’s first transgender public official has been arrested and charged with stalking and violating a restraining order.
Stacie Laughton, a Democrat who was recently reelected to New Hampshire’s State House, was arrested on November 12 for alleged stalking after disobeying a restraining order which was placed on him by an unidentified woman in July.
This was not the first time that Laughton allegedly violated the restraining order. In September, Laughton was arrested after attempting to contact the victim in August.
Somehow, most of the media failed to report on this information, meaning that voters were unaware of it prior to the midterm elections.
News outlet Reduxx confirmed this in their reporting, writing: “There was virtually no media coverage of his September arrest, which likely meant voters were unaware of it ahead of the November 8 elections.”
New Hampshire's first openly transgender elected official has been arrested on charges of stalking a woman.
Stacie Laughton was re-elected to the state's House of Representatives on November 8 despite having a lengthy criminal history.https://t.co/mo33zz4xRC
— REDUXX (@ReduxxMag) November 21, 2022
The transgender legislator has a lengthy criminal history.
In 2021, Laughton was accused of unlawfully using the emergency system in Nashua, New Hampshire — after he sent seven texts to police and prompted them to show up at his address. Laughton then denied sending the texts.
Laughton was first elected to the state legislature in 2012 but withdrew before entering office after it was revealed that he had been convicted of a felony for identity fraud, credit card fraud and falsifying physical evidence. The conviction resulted in a four-month prison sentence. The transgender legislator later attempted to run for office multiple times before being deemed ineligible to hold public office at the time.
Laughton was also arrested in 2015 for making a bomb threat to Southern New Hampshire Medical Center. Laughton attempted to blame the crime on a mental health episode — and thus was only charged with a misdemeanor and sentenced to a six-month suspended jail term.
The media even tried to dismiss Laughton’s behavior following the bomb threat in news coverage.
In a post on Twitter, one Democrat attempted to defend Laughton’s stalking. Rep. Timothy Horrigan, one of Laughton’s colleagues in the New Hampshire state legislature, claimed that the transgender legislator “is basically a good person” and is “not violent or abusive or harmful to anyone other than herself.”
FWIW, Rep.Laughton is a lifelong Granite Stater.
She's gotten into a lot of trouble over the years & she keeps getting into trouble, but she's basically a good person. She's not violent or abusive, or harmful to anyone other than herself.
— Timothy Horrigan (@TimothyHorrigan) November 15, 2022
