MEREDITH, N.H. (AP) — The families of two transgender teens in New Hampshire filed a lawsuit Friday challenging a new state law that bans them from playing on girls’ sports teams at their public high schools.
The issue of how to treat transgender athletes has been fiercely debated across the U.S. in recent years and has sparked numerous lawsuits. Two weeks ago, a Florida school employee who allowed her transgender daughter to play on the high school’s girls volleyball team was suspended for 10 days. The employee is part of a federal lawsuit to block the state’s law. Meanwhile a legal challenge to Connecticut’s policy about trans students competing in school sports has been making it’s way through the court system for several years.
The New Hampshire lawsuit says Parker Tirrell, 15, and Iris Turmelle, 14, each knew from an early age they were girls and have been accepted as such by parents, peers, teammates and coaches.
Tirrell, who is starting 10th grade this year at Plymouth Regional High School, played soccer with the girls’ team in 9th grade and said she wants to start practicing with the team again ahead of the first game on Aug. 30.
“Playing soccer with my teammates is where I feel the most free and happy. We’re there for each other, win or lose,” she said in a statement. “Not being allowed to play on my team with the other girls would disconnect me from so many of my friends and make school so much harder.”
The suit says both girls have been diagnosed with gender dysphoria, feelings of distress due to a mismatch between their birth sex and their gender identity. Both have been taking puberty-blocking medication to prevent bodily changes such as muscle development, facial hair growth or a deepening voice that might add to that distress.
The lawsuit claims the New Hampshire law violates constitutional protections and federal laws because the teens are being denied equal educational opportunities and are being discriminated against because they are transgender.
The lawsuit names New Hampshire Education Commissioner Frank Edelblut and other education officials as defendants.
New Hampshire’s Republican Governor Chris Sununu signed the “Fairness in Women’s Sports Act” into law last month, and it takes effect next week.
He said at the time that the law was widely supported and that New Hampshire was joining nearly half of all U.S. states in taking such a measure.
The law “ensures fairness and safety in women’s sports by maintaining integrity and competitive balance in athletic competitions,” Sununu said in a statement last month.
Both the education commissioner and the governor referred inquiries to the state Department of Justice, which said it was reviewing the complaint and would “respond as appropriate.”
Turmelle is entering her first year of high school at Pembroke Academy and says she’s looking forward to trying out for both the tennis and track and field teams.
“I’m a transgender girl, I’ve known that my whole life and everyone knows I’m a girl,” she said in a statement. “I don’t understand why I shouldn’t get to have the same opportunities as other girls at school.”
The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court in Concord, seeks for an immediate ruling to allow both girls to play or participate in tryouts. The girls and their families are represented by GLBTQ Legal Advocates & Defenders (GLAD), the ACLU of New Hampshire and Goodwin.
“New Hampshire cannot justify singling out transgender girls to deny them essential educational benefits available to other students,” said Chris Erchull, a senior staff attorney at GLAD.