Two students and their families, represented by GLAD Law of Boston and the ACLU of New Hampshire, are challenging the Trump administration’s executive orders aimed at banning transgender girls and women from playing sports.
Reports ESPN:
It’s believed to be the first time the constitutionality of the [so-called “Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports”] executive order signed by Trump [two weeks ago] is being challenged in court, according to Boston-based GLBTQ Legal Advocates & Defenders, also known as GLAD Law, one of the groups representing the teens.
“The systematic targeting of transgender people across American institutions is chilling, but targeting young people in schools, denying them support and essential opportunities during their most vulnerable years, is especially cruel,” said Chris Erchull, a GLAD attorney.
his past fall, a federal judge in New Hampshire ruled that the two students can try out for and play on girls’ school sports teams while the teens challenge the state ban.
The families of Parker Tirrell, 15, and Iris Turmelle, 14, sued in August, seeking to overturn the Fairness in Women’s Sports Act that former Republican Gov. Chris Sununu signed into law in July.
Tirrell is a 10th grade student who plays on her high school soccer team, and Turmelle is a ninth grade student who plans to try out for tennis in the spring.
“I love playing soccer and we had a great season last fall,” Tirrell said in a statement. “I just want to go to school like other kids and keep playing the game I love.”
Trump’s order last week gives federal agencies wide latitude to ensure entities that receive federal funding abide by Title IX in alignment with the Trump administration’s view, which interprets “sex” as the sex someone was assigned at birth.
GLAD and ACLU of New Hampshire asked the judge for permission to add Trump, the U.S. Department of Justice, Attorney General Pam Bondi, the U.S. Department of Education and acting Secretary Denise Carter as defendants.
Read the complete ESPN story here.
Not a subscriber? Sign up today for a free subscription to Boston Spirit magazine, New England’s premier LGBT magazine. We will send you a copy of Boston Spirit 6 times per year and we never sell/rent our subscriber information. Click HERE to sign up!
