MEREDITH, New Hampshire — On Friday, the families of two transgender teens in New Hampshire sued to stop a new law that says they can’t play on girls’ sports teams at their public high schools.
In the past few years, how to treat transgender athletes has been hotly discussed across the U.S. and has led to many lawsuits. A Florida school worker was fired for 10 days two weeks ago because she let her transgender daughter play on the high school’s girls’ volleyball team. The worker is part of a federal case that is trying to stop the state’s law. In the meantime, a lawsuit against Connecticut’s rule that transgender kids can’t play sports in school has been going through the courts for years.
Parker Tirrell, 15, and Iris Turmelle, 14, are both named in the New Hampshire lawsuit. It says they knew they were girls from a very young age and that their parents, friends, teammates, and coaches all accepted them as girls.
Tirrell is going to be in the 10th grade at Plymouth Regional High School this year. In 9th grade, she played soccer on the girls’ team and plans to start training with them again before the first game on August 30.
It makes me feel free and happy to play soccer with my friends. “We’re always there for each other, win or lose,” she said. “I would lose touch with a lot of my friends and find school a lot harder if I couldn’t play on my team with the other girls.”
The lawsuit says that both girls have been diagnosed with gender dysphoria, which is when they feel bad because their birth sex doesn’t match their gender identity. Both of them have been taking drugs that stop puberty to stop changes in their bodies that might make things worse, like building muscle, getting facial hair, or thickening their voices.
The lawsuit says that the New Hampshire law breaks the teens’ constitutional rights and federal laws because it keeps them from getting the same educational chances as straight teens and treats them differently because they are transgender.
Frank Edelblut, who is the education commissioner for New Hampshire, and other school officials are named as defendants in the case.
Governor Chris Sununu, a Republican from New Hampshire, put the “Fairness in Women’s Sports Act” into law last month. It starts next week.
At the time, he said that the law had a lot of support and that New Hampshire was almost half of all U.S. states that had passed it.
Sununu said in a statement last month that the law “ensures fairness and safety in women’s sports by maintaining integrity and competitive balance in athletic competitions.”
The governor and the education commissioner both sent questions to the state Department of Justice. The department said it would “respond as appropriate” after reviewing the report.
Turmelle is going to Pembroke Academy for the first time for high school. She is excited to try out for both the tennis and track and field teams.
They said, “I’ve known my whole life that I’m a transgender girl and that everyone knows I’m a girl.” “I do not understand why I should not have the same chances at school as other girls.”
The lawsuit was sent to the U.S. District Court in Concord and asks for an instant decision that both girls can play or try out. The girls and their families have lawyers representing them. These lawyers are Goodwin, GLAD, and the ACLU of New Hampshire.
Chris Erchull, a senior staff attorney at GLAD, said, “New Hampshire cannot explain why it should pick on transgender girls and deny them important educational benefits that other students get.”