Late last week, the families of two New Hampshire public high school students filed a lawsuit challenging a new state law, HB 1205, which categorically bans all transgender girls in grades 5-12 from participating in school sports.
Parker Tirrell is entering tenth grade this year. Parker played on her high school girls’ soccer team in ninth grade and is excited to rejoin her teammates at upcoming practice and for the first game of the season on August 30.
Iris Turmelle is entering her first year of high school and is looking forward to trying out for and playing with the tennis and track and field teams.
Under HB 1205, Parker and Iris’s schools are commanded to bar them from their teams. The law denies them the many educational, social, and physical and mental health benefits that come with playing sports, isolating them from friends and teammates while singling them out for discrimination solely because they are transgender girls.
The lawsuit, Tirrell and Turmelle v. Edelblut, alleges that HB 1205 denies Parker and Iris equal educational opportunities and singles them out for discrimination solely because they are transgender, in violation of federal law and constitutional guarantees of equal protection.
Motions filed today also ask the court for immediate relief to allow Parker to play with her team as the season gets underway and to allow Iris to participate in tryouts for this year’s tennis and track and field teams.
Parker, Iris, and their families are represented by Chris Erchull and Ben Klein at GLBTQ Legal Advocates & Defenders (GLAD), Henry Klementowicz and Gilles Bissonnette at the ACLU of New Hampshire, and Louis Lobel, Kevin DeJong, and Elaine Blais at Goodwin.
“Parker and Iris are teenage girls whose high school experience hangs in the balance because HB 1205 is poised to stop them from playing sports. Sports are a pillar of education in New Hampshire public schools because of the countless benefits of physical activity in a team environment, including physical and mental health, leadership skills, and social development. New Hampshire cannot justify singling out transgender girls to deny them essential educational benefits available to other students,” said Chris Erchull, Senior Staff Attorney, GLBTQ Legal Advocates & Defenders (GLAD).
— From a GLAD press release; read the complete press release here.
[UPATE from Boston Globe: “The state declined to sign onto an agreement that would have allowed the plaintiffs to keep playing school sports during an initial phase of litigation. N.H.’s ban against trans girls playing on girls’ sports team went into effect Sunday. … A federal judge will be the one to decide whether 15-year-old Parker Tirrell, a transgender student-athlete in New Hampshire, will be allowed to attend soccer practice Monday with her teammates at Plymouth Regional High School.” Click here to read the complete Boston Globe update on the story.]
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