Judge: Transgender girl can continue to play on girls’ soccer team for now, trial expected this fall

The plaintiffs, family, lawyers and supporters stand outside the federal courthouse in Concord on August 19, 2024.

The plaintiffs, family, lawyers and supporters stand outside the federal courthouse in Concord on August 19, 2024. JEREMY MARGOLIS—Monitor staff

By JEREMY MARGOLIS

Monitor staff

Published: 08-27-2024 4:57 PM

Modified: 08-27-2024 5:56 PM


A transgender girl in Plymouth can continue to play on her school’s girls soccer team for at least the next two weeks despite a newly enacted law that bars her from doing so, a federal court judge ruled Tuesday.

During a 90-minute hearing at the U.S. District Court in Concord, Judge Landya McCafferty said that preventing 15-year-old Parker Tirrell from playing on her Plymouth Regional High School team could have a “stigmatizing and shame-filled effect.”

“I’m concerned about irreparable harm to a child who is told they cannot be essentially who they think they are,” Judge McCafferty said.

Judge McCafferty also appeared poised to issue a more lasting ruling within the next two weeks that would allow both Tirrell and her co-plaintiff, 14-year-old Iris Turmelle of Pembroke, to participate in girls’ sports until a trial occurs in the case.  The judge’s rulings – both on a preliminary injunction motion and at trial – will likely only apply to Tirrell and Turmelle, rather than to all transgender girls in the state.

The trial could be held as soon as late October, Judge McCafferty indicated.

Tirrell and Turmelle, who sued the State Board of Education and their school districts earlier this month, have become the public faces of opposition to a law enacted in July that bars students assigned male at birth from playing on girls’ school sports teams in grades five through 12.

Proponents of the law, which passed by razor-thin margins in both the House and Senate this spring, have argued that it is necessary to protect fairness and safety in girls’ sports. New Hampshire became the 26th state in the country to enact such a ban, though some of the laws in other states have been challenged in court.

Both Tirrell and Turmelle are on puberty-blocking medication and hormone therapy, which suppresses their testosterone levels. The attorney for the state, Assistant Attorney General Michael DeGrandis conceded that neither has “any biological advantage” in sports.

But, DeGrandis argued in a legal filing, the court “should not undo the policy determinations of lawmakers by judicial fiat.”

“There is an election coming up and there is an opportunity to either amend or repeal the statute if it doesn’t meet New Hampshire residents’ needs,” DeGrandis said in court on Tuesday.

The number of transgender girls in New Hampshire who wish to play on girls’ sports teams is small – perhaps single digits, according to some estimates.

McCafferty’s ruling Tuesday only affects Tirrell, while her ruling on the request for a preliminary injunction – which was the primary subject the hearing – may affect both Tirrell and Turmelle.

While Tirrell started soccer tryouts last week and is scheduled to play in her first game this week, Turmelle – an incoming freshman at Pembroke Academy – does not plan to play a sport during the fall season. McCafferty contemplated scheduling a bench trial prior to when Turmelle plans to participate in winter track, which starts Dec. 2.

Tirrell and Turmelle did not file a class action lawsuit because that process is more involved and they did not have the time prior to the start of Tirrell’s sports season, said Chris Erchull, their attorney.

However, Erchull did ask McCafferty on Tuesday to consider granting “broader relief” – a request on which she did not opine and which the state’s attorney opposed.

Following the hearing, Erchull said his advocacy organization, the GLBTQ Legal Advocates & Defenders, was open to bringing a class action lawsuit in the future.

Tuesday’s hearing and ruling followed similar ones last week, which allowedTirrell to try out for her team and protected her school district, Pemi-Baker Regional, from facing any legal repercussions for violating the state law. The girls sued on Aug. 16.

“I think it’s really trying to have the uncertainty hanging over you, but it’s also really hard to sit back and do nothing,” Erchull said regarding the families’ mindsets over the last two weeks. “I think both families have been really dedicated to doing everything that they can to ensure that their children have equal access to educational opportunities in public schools.”

Tirrell and Turmelle and their parents, who were all present at the hearing, did not speak to reporters Tuesday.

The superintendents of the Pemi-Baker and Pembroke school districts, who were also at Tuesday’s hearing, said that they were also seeking guidance on how to proceed.

“We’re stuck in the middle” between the state law and the individual students, said Kyla Welch, the Pemi-Baker superintendent.

Last week, Commissioner of Education Frank Edelblut, who is also named in the lawsuit, sent school leaders a letter stating that the new law “is still applicable to all other students” in the state besides Tirrell.

“Edelblut’s letter narrows the gap between Scylla and Charybdis and forces school districts and school officials into the impossible situation of choosing between complying with a potentially unlawful law or refusing to do so and subjecting themselves to the powers of the commissioner and the liability imposed by the law,” Michael Eaton, a lawyer for the Pembroke School District, wrote in a legal filing.

The law went into effect on Aug. 18, the day before fall school sports practices and tryouts, prior to the start of the school year that begins this week or next in school districts across the state.

“We remain committed to vigorously defending this new law and will  determine next steps once the Court issues its order” on the preliminary injunction motion, Attorney General John Formella said  in a statement following Tuesday’s ruling.

If you need 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.

Jeremy Margolis can be contacted at jmargolis@cmonitor.com.