In New Hampshire, two transgender teens and their families sued school officials on Friday over a new law that says they can’t play on girls’ sports teams at their public high schools.
Parker Tirrell, 15, wants to play soccer on the girls’ team, and Iris Turmelle, 14, wants to try out for the tennis and track and field teams for girls. The case was filed in the US District Court in Concord.
The girls would not be able to play on any school sports teams after Monday because of House Bill 1205; this is what court papers say. In a statement, New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu said that the bill “ensures fairness and safety in women’s sports by maintaining integrity and competitive balance in athletic competitions.” He signed the bill into law last month.
GLAD, the ACLU of New Hampshire, and the law firm Goodwin Procter are representing the girls and their families. They say that state law discriminates against Tirrell and Turmelle because they are transgender and doesn’t give them equal educational opportunities. This goes against federal law and the constitutional right to equal protection.
GLAD said in a statement, “The law keeps them from the many educational, social, physical, and mental health benefits that come with playing sports. This keeps them away from their friends and teammates and makes them targets for discrimination just because they are transgender girls.”
In the past few years, there has been a lot of heated discussion in the US about whether transgender athletes should be banned. A South Florida school board voted a few weeks ago to suspend an employee for 10 days because they think she broke the law by letting her transgender daughter play on a girls’ high school volleyball team in 2022 and 2023. In April, a federal appeals court said West Virginia couldn’t make a 13-year-old girl follow its anti-transgender sports ban. This was a blow to one of almost two dozen similar laws passed by GOP-led states in the past few years.
The suit says that Tirrell and Turmelle knew they were girls from a very young age and behaved like girls in all parts of their lives. The suit said that their parents, family, schools, friends, teammates, and coaches thought they were girls.
Gender dysphoria is a mental illness in which a person feels bad because their birth sex does not fit their gender identity, the suit said. Both of the girls had been diagnosed with it. The suit said that they are getting hormone treatment and medicine to stop puberty “to ease the distress of physical traits that conflict with their gender identity.”
Court papers say that Tirrell is a rising tenth grader at Plymouth Regional High School and played on the girls’ soccer team last year. She was excited to start the season with her teammates later this month.
It makes me feel free and happy to play soccer with my friends. He said in a statement, “We’re there for each other win or lose.” “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.” Just like last year, I just want to be myself, learn, play, and help my friends.
Sara, Tirrell’s mother, said in a statement that her daughter might not do well if she is not on the team.
“Every parent wants their kid to be healthy, happy, and like they belong.” That’s the same for my husband and me, even though our daughter is transgender. If Parker is told she can’t play with her friends on the field at the start of the new school year, I’m really worried about how that will hurt her self-esteem and health.
Court papers say Turmelle was excited to try out for the tennis and track and field teams before she became a freshman at Pembroke Academy.
“Beginning high school is fun and different.” I played tennis with other kids in middle school. I’m excited to try out for the tennis and track teams because I know they will help me make more friends at my new school and even teach me a lot. I’ve known my whole life that I’m transgender and that I’m a girl. “I don’t get it why I shouldn’t have the same chances at school as other girls,” Turmelle said in a statement.
After being picked on in middle school, Amy Turmelle, Turmelle’s mother, said in a statement that her daughter was excited to try out for the high school sports teams.
“Now that she has done Girls on the Run, she is excited to take on a new challenge by trying out for the school track and field team,” she said in a statement. “Iris was bullied in middle school, and my husband and I just want her to be safe, feel like she belongs, and be treated fairly so she can have a good time in high school.”
Movement Advancement Project, a non-profit think tank, says that New Hampshire is one of 25 states with rules that make it illegal for transgender students to play on sports teams that match their gender identity.
The lawsuit is against Frank Edelblut, who is the education commissioner for New Hampshire, and other state and local school leaders.
The New Hampshire Attorney General’s Office, Gov. Sununu, and the New Hampshire Department of Education could not be reached for comment at this time.
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