Two student athletes have dropped their litigation against the state of New Hampshire over its 2024 law barring transgender girls from participating in girls’ school sports, following the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent ruling upholding similar laws across the nation.
Parker Tirrell and Iris Turmelle, along with their parents, voluntarily withdrew their case, Tirrell and Turmelle v. Edelblut, on Wednesday afternoon.
Chris Erchull, senior staff attorney at GLAD Law, which represents the students and their families, said in a statement that the decision “reflects the realities facing our clients.”
Erchull described how the litigation has affected the two students’ lives since the case was first filed in 2024.
“Over the years of litigation, Parker Tirrell endured sideline protests, attacks on social media and relentless scrutiny simply because she wanted to play soccer with her classmates and friends,” Erchull wrote. “Her love of the game was overshadowed by political and legal battles no child should be drawn into.”
State law requires students in grades 5–12 who participate in school sports to compete on teams or against students based on the biological sex listed on their birth certificate. The law applies to students attending public schools, as well as private schools that compete against public schools.
Since the lawsuit was filed, Tirrell has quit playing, and Turmelle and her family — who lived in Pembroke — have moved to Maine because of a slew of bills targeting transgender people, Erchull wrote.
New Hampshire’s law was signed by Gov. Chris Sununu.
The recent Supreme Court ruling in West Virginia v. B.P.J. has also changed the legal landscape by giving states greater latitude to exclude transgender girls from school sports. The June ruling drew praise from Gov. Kelly Ayotte.
“It is unfair for biological males to compete in women’s sports,” Ayotte said in a statement. “And as the mom of a daughter who competed in varsity sports in high school, I am pleased with the Supreme Court’s decision today that protects women’s sports and paves the way to enforce our law in New Hampshire prohibiting men from competing in women’s sports.”
The court’s six-justice conservative majority ruled that state bans challenged in Idaho and West Virginia don’t violate the Constitution. The court unanimously agreed that barring transgender girls and women also doesn’t run afoul of the federal law known as Title IX, which prohibits sex discrimination in education.
