Four parents who protested the court-ordered inclusion of a transgender student athlete at a New Hampshire high school girls’ soccer match are suing the school district for shutting them down. The parents claim their free speech was violated; the district called their actions harassment.
Reports the Boston Globe:
The protesting parents sued the Bow School District on Monday, alleging officials violated their First Amendment rights by shutting down their protest against the transgender athlete, Parker Tirrell, a 16-year-old sophomore from Plymouth Regional High School, and issuing “no trespass” orders.
The four plaintiffs had worn pink wrist bands with a black “XX” on them at the Sept. 17 game to express their view that girls’ sports should be limited to athletes with two X chromosomes. After the game, one plaintiff, Kyle Fellers, stood in the parking lot with a poster that said “Protect Women’s Sports for Female Athletes,” according to the lawsuit.
“We wore pink wrist bands to silently support our daughters and their right to fair competition,” Fellers said in a statement. “Instead of fostering open dialogue, school officials responded with threats and bans that have a direct impact on our lives and our children’s lives.”
Attorneys for the plaintiffs — from the Institute for Free Speech in Washington, D.C., and local counsel Richard J. Lehmann in Concord, N.H. — argue that school officials engaged in unconstitutional viewpoint discrimination. And the parents have since found support from like-minded groups with concerns about what has become a hot-button issue in New Hampshire and across the country.
But school officials cited policies requiring civility and prohibiting threats, intimidation, and harassment as the basis for their enforcement actions.
Tirrell is one of the plaintiffs suing New Hampshire in federal court over a newly enacted state law that bars transgender girls from girls’ school sports. A judge ruled Tirrell and her co-plaintiff must be allowed to continue participating in girls’ school athletics while their lawsuit proceeds.
In an email the day before the game, Bow High School’s athletic administrator, Mike Desilets, notified parents that the school is following New Hampshire Interscholastic Athletic Association guidelines and that those who attend the match would be expected to exhibit good behavior.
Read the complete Boston Globe story here.
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