Speech Police? Concord Cops 'Correct' Suspect's Pronoun Use In Transgender Case

By Michael Graham, NH Journal

In Concord, they’re the speech police — literally.

According to public documents released by the New Hampshire Attorney General’s office, a Concord police officer repeatedly “corrected” a suspect for using what prosecutors say were the wrong pronouns while discussing an alleged crime victim who identifies as transgender.

The documents were part of Tuesday’s announcement that the Department of Justice Civil Rights Unit had initiated an enforcement action against Travis Lufkin, age 24, of Concord.

The charge stems from an incident on May 19, 2024, when Lufkin allegedly assaulted a biological male who identifies as a female who was working at the Speedway gas station in downtown Concord. The victim — identified in the documents as “S.K.” — told Lufkin to leave the property, but he allegedly responded by calling the victim a “f****t” and hitting the victim in the face.

Lufkin fled, but there was a video of the assault and police, who recognized him as a homeless person they had previously encountered, began looking for him.

According to the Attorney General’s office, Lufkin “eventually learned that police were looking for him and, the day after the assault, went to the Concord Police Department to discuss the incident.”

While being questioned about the assault, Lufkin was also confronted by the cops over his speech violations.

“Throughout his interview with the police, Defendant (Lufkin) consistently misgendered S.K., referring to her as ‘he’ and ‘him,’” according to the court documents. “This persisted after the interviewing officer corrected Defendant and informed him of S.K.’s gender identity, as Defendant maintained that she was a man. At one point in the interview, Defendant interrupted the investigating officer and asked that the officer stop referring to S.K. as ‘she.’”

According to the attorney general’s memorandum, the fact that Lufkin “repeatedly referred to S.K. as a man, even after police told Defendant that S.K. was a woman” is part of the evidence against him in the hate-crime charge.

According to some Granite State lawmakers, however, police and state prosecutors declaring a biological male a “woman” and correcting a citizen’s pronoun use is evidence that something is amiss in the state’s law enforcement.

“First of all, I want to be clear that I do not condone, support, or excuse any form of violence or threats against anyone,” said Rep. Lisa Mazur (R-Goffstown), who sponsored legislation protecting women from biological males in sports and private spaces.

“The First Amendment protects every individual’s right to free speech, including the right not to be compelled to express beliefs they do not hold. No person should be required by the government to use language or pronouns that conflict with their conscience or understanding of reality. While violence must always be rejected, free speech must always be protected under the Constitution.”

Lawyers who discussed the case with NHJournal were reluctant to speak on the record without more details, but they said having law enforcement policing speech is troubling — and using that view of speech as an element in a criminal case is even more problematic. It could be seen as declaring certain viewpoints about biology and gender to be potentially criminal.

Lufkin is no stranger to law enforcement, having been repeatedly arrested over the past two years. The most recent incident earlier this month involved crashing his car into a tree and fleeing from the police into the woods before being charged with felon in possession of a deadly weapon and aggravated DUI.

But as American author and free speech advocate H.L. Mencken said, “The trouble with fighting for human freedom is that one spends most of one’s time defending scoundrels. For it is against scoundrels that oppressive laws are first aimed, and oppression must be stopped at the beginning if it is to be stopped at all.”

This story was originally published by the NH Journal, an online news publication dedicated to providing fair, unbiased reporting on, and analysis of, political news of interest to New Hampshire. For more stories from the NH Journal, visit NHJournal.com.