A federal judge ruled Monday that a male Plymouth Regional High School who identifies as a girl can still play on the girl’s soccer team.
United States District Court Judge Landya McCafferty, an Obama appointee, issued a temporary restraining order allowing Parker Tirrell, 15, to keep playing, in violation of HB 1205, the new law banning biological boys from girls sports.
The order only applies to Tirrell and no other students in New Hampshire. However, McCafferty said in her order that a more broad injunction against the law is possible following a hearing set for Aug. 27.
The cause of the high school sports careers of Tirrell and Iris Turmelle, a Pembroke Academy boy who also identifies as a transgender girl, is being championed by GLAAD and the American Civil Liberties Union of New Hampshire in the federal lawsuit filed earlier this month.
Turmelle is not playing on any fall sports teams and was not part of Monday’s hearing.
HB 1205 which took effect on Monday, was passed in the wake of a series of high-profile incidents in which biological males won girls championships or injured female competitors while playing girls sports in New England. But GLAAD lawyer Chris Erchull argued Monday that Tirrell has no physical advantages over the girls since having started hormone therapy, according to NHBulletin reporting.
Assistant Attorney General Michael DeGrandis argued against the temporary restraining order, telling McCafferty there is no need to block the law while the case is pending.
Monday’s hearing came as a social media rumor swirled that the state planned to make a deal on the temporary restraining order with Tirrell and the GLAD and ACLU lawyers. New Hampshire Department of Justice General Counsel Chris Bond told NHJournal no deal was ever in the works.
“There is not now and there never was a deal regarding entry of a TRO. The Attorney General’s Office is responsible for defending the duly enacted laws of the State of New Hampshire when they are challenged in court. Given that mandate, the AGO will not voluntarily assent to a TRO that would result in the temporary suspension of the provisions of [the law],” Bond said in an email.
Those on the left see McCafferty’s ruling as the first victory in abolishing the law.
“Transgender youth, like all adolescents, want and deserve every opportunity to experience joy, including through activities like school sports. We won’t stop fighting until they have that opportunity again,” the ACLU posted on social media.
Meanwhile, some on the right are frustrated, not by Monday’s ruling, but by the law itself. Cornerstone Action Executive Shannon McGinley said HB 1205 was doomed to fail due to the actions of Gov. Chris Sununu.
Last month, when Sununu signed HB 1205 to keep biological males out of girls sports he also vetoed HB 396, a law that would have made it legal for the state to make legal distinctions based on biological sex and separate men from women in bathrooms, locker rooms, and jails.
“The new law uses birth certificates as the definition of biological sex – an unwieldy and unworkable concept that has failed both practically and legally around the country,” McGinley said.
“What Gov. Sununu has just done is a fraud, not a compromise. He caved entirely to the most far left 10 percent of the state while giving nothing to female prisoners, athletes, and vulnerable students,” McGinley said.
