Tentative deal on transgender girl’s soccer participation falls through; hearing in Concord Monday

Iris Turmelle (left) with her family, mother Amy Manzelli, sister Ida, and father, Chad Turmelle, in their Pembroke home.

Iris Turmelle (left) with her family, mother Amy Manzelli, sister Ida, and father, Chad Turmelle, in their Pembroke home. GEOFF FORESTER

Parker Tirrell of Plymouth

Parker Tirrell of Plymouth Courtesy

By SRUTHI GOPALAKRISHNAN, JEREMY MARGOLIS and MICHAELA TOWFIGHI

Monitor staff

Published: 08-18-2024 7:52 PM

Modified: 08-19-2024 11:10 AM


A tentative agreement brokered Friday to allow a transgender Plymouth girl to temporarily practice on the girls’ soccer team has fallen through, according to two people familiar with the situation.

Instead, a determination on whether Parker Tirrell – a plaintiff in a lawsuit challenging New Hampshire’s recently enacted law that bars transgender girls from playing on female sports teams – can practice with her team starting tomorrow will be made at a hearing scheduled in federal court in Concord at 2 p.m.

Tirrell, 15, and Iris Turmelle, a Pembroke 14-year-old, along with their families, sued their school districts and the state’s education commissioner on Friday, alleging that the ban, which took effect Sunday, violated their rights under Title IX and the 14th Amendment.

The transgender sports ban being challenged was signed into law by Gov. Chris Sununu on July 19. It prohibits students assigned male at birth from participating on female sports teams in grades 5 through 12.

At a court conference Friday, the parties in the case agreed to file a stipulation by Monday morning that would allow the girls to participate in school sports and protect the school districts from liability while an initial motion was being litigated, according to a court record.

But late Sunday afternoon two people involved with the case who spoke on background to discuss litigation details said the agreed-upon stipulation will not be filed.

“There’s not going to be that agreement,” one of them said.

Neither person would explain what had occurred over the previous two days to alter the plan set during an online court conference held Friday.

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The first soccer practice for Tirrell, a rising sophomore at Plymouth Regional High School, is at 6 p.m. on Monday. Turmelle, a rising freshman at Pembroke Academy, is planning to participate in sports during the winter and spring seasons, according to the complaint in the case.

Tirrell was notified by the Pemi-Baker regional school district on Thursday that she would not be allowed to attend soccer practice with Plymouth High School on Monday, in accordance with the new law. Pembroke Academy notified Turmelle on Friday that she would not be able to participate with girls’ sports teams.

In 2019, Turmelle’s birth certificate was updated to list her gender as female, but this didn’t help the family’s case. The law requires the birth certificate to reflect the student’s biological sex “at or near the time of birth.” Tirrell is also seeking to have her gender changed to female on her birth certificate.

The hearing on Monday will be held at the U.S. District Court in Concord before Chief Judge Landya McCafferty.