Just hours after a court hearing in Concord, 15-year-old Parker Tirrell, a transgender girl, was on her way to lace up her soccer cleats and join her teammates for girls’ soccer tryouts at Plymouth Regional High School on Monday night.

A federal judge ruled Monday that Tirrell could join the girls’ team, despite a newly-enacted New Hampshire law that barred transgender girls from participating on female sports teams.

This temporary victory came only days after she and Iris Turmelle, 14, another transgender high school student, filed a lawsuit challenging the state’s controversial law.

Chief Judge Landya McCafferty at the U.S. District Court in Concord ruled that Tirrell “is likely to suffer irreparable harm” if she is barred from attending soccer tryouts, which began Monday at 6 p.m.

“The uncontested reality is that there is no physiological or biological advantage because Parker has not gone through puberty with testosterone,” said Judge McCafferty.

Tirrell and Turmelle and their families argued that the law infringes on their equal protection rights and violates Title IX by discriminating based on their sex and transgender status. Turmelle, who is entering her freshman year at Pembroke Academy, did not plan to play a sport during the fall season.

McCafferty’s decision capped a whirlwind four days for the two families.

Last Thursday and Friday, the girls’ school districts informed their parents that they would not be allowed to play on girls’ sports teams starting Monday, a day after the new law took effect.

On Friday, they sued. Later that day, the girls’ attorneys reached a tentative agreement with attorneys for the Department of Education to allow them to play while an initial court motion was being litigated. But over the weekend, that agreement fell through after the lawyers failed to come to agreement on the wording of a stipulation.

“We are very happy with the judge’s order,” said Chris Erchull, an attorney for Tirrell and Turmelle. “It is also what we expected because we know that this law is unfair and violates the rights of transgender girls in New Hampshire.”

Nearly two dozen defendants are named in the lawsuit, including Frank Edelblut, the commissioner of the New Hampshire Department of Education, members of the state’s Board of Education, both the Pemi-Baker Regional and Pembroke school districts, and members of those districts’ school boards.

Diane Gorrow, an attorney for the Pemi-Baker School District, said that Monday’s court ruling “provides the district with direction” with respect to enforcement of the law.

Chris Bond, the general counsel for state’s Department of Justice, declined to comment on the court’s ruling, except to say that the state would “make our legal arguments in our court filings over the coming weeks.”

The law specifically prohibits students assigned male at birth from joining female teams and requires proof of sex through a birth certificate.

Both Tirrell and Turmelle are on puberty-blocking medication and hormone therapy, which suppresses their testosterone levels. This treatment delays the growth of facial and body hair, prevents their voices from deepening, limits the development of external reproductive organs and limits muscle growth.

New Hampshire is the 26th state to enact a law banning transgender girls from participating on girls’ sports teams. The law applies to girls in fifth through 12th grade.

Proponents of the law, which passed in the closely-divided legislature this spring, have said that it is necessary to protect girls and ensure fairness in sports. Opponents have countered that it unfairly discriminates against a tiny number of girls who are transgender.

Karolyn Domini, a mother of a high school junior in Bow and a former collegiate athlete, had anticipated the court ruling in Tirrell’s favor, but she was left disappointed.

While she supports transgender youth participating in sports, Domini is firmly against transgender girls competing on girls’ teams.

“The girls should not have to sacrifice themselves, their health, safety and welfare,” she said.

“The public interest is not for Parker Tirrell,” Domini added. “The public interest is for all these biological women out there, for girls to keep them safe. That’s the public interest that they’re missing.”

Susan Stearns, executive director of NAMI NH, said that any law that discriminates will have a detrimental mental health impact, and she believes that House Bill 1205 is unnecessary as it “codifies discriminatory practices.”

“It has a really negative impact on children when they’re not able to develop as they should, which is a process of experimentation and self- expression and testing boundaries, all of that that we all go through, and that’s normal,” said Stearns.”We want all of New Hampshire’s children to recognize this is your home. It doesn’t matter who you are, or where you come from, this is your home, and you belong here.”

If you nee d help

The Trevor Project: A national 24-hour, toll-free confidential suicide hotline for LGBTQ youth. If you are a young person in crisis, feeling suicidal or in need of a safe and judgment-free place to talk, call 1-866-488-7386.