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Attorneys challenging Tennesse’s law banning sex-change medical procedures for children before the U.S. Supreme Court Wednesday struggled to make their case before skeptical judges. If the court upholds Tennessee’s law, that would add more support to a similar law here in New Hampshire.

The Biden administration’s Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar joined ACLU attorney Chase Strangio in challenging the law. They suffered a major setback when Strangio was forced to admit a commonly-used argument regarding sex-change treatment for minors and suicide is in fact false.

Both the Biden administration and the ACLU argue Tennessee’s ban, which is similar to the ban Gov. Chris Sununu signed into law this summer, violates the Equal Protection Clause of the United States Constitution. They argue that because hormone treatments can be given to minors struggling with the impacts of puberty to advance their sexual development — such as giving males testosterone — but these treatments can’t be used to change a child’s sex — giving testosterone to females — it is discriminating on the basis of sex.

Without those treatments, children deemed to be suffering from gender dysphoria will be at risk of suicide, according to Prelogar.

“Left untreated, gender dysphoria can result in severe physical and psychological harms. Those harms include ‘debilitating distress, depression, impairment of function, substance use, self-surgery to alter one’s genitals or secondary sex characteristics, self-injurious behaviors, and even suicide,’” Prelogar wrote in her brief to the Court. 

Alito confronted Prelogar with multiple studies that found no significant change in suicide rates, including research from Sweden and Great Britain. For example, he cited the United Kingdom’s Cass Review, which found little evidence to further the viewpoint that the benefits of transgender treatment are greater than the risks.

“I wonder if you would like to stand by the statement in your position, or if you think it would now be appropriate to modify that and withdraw your statement?” Alito asked.

Chase Strangio, the ACLU lawyer who was born a biological woman and now identifies as a man, conceded the facts show suicide among untreated transgender adolescents does not happen, but claimed untreated transgender kids think about suicide.

“Completed suicide is thankfully and admittedly rare,” Strangio said. 

The actual rarity of transgender-identifying adolescents committing suicide hasn’t stopped Democrats from using the trope to argue in favor of surgically altering children or allowing schools to socially transition kids behind their parent’s back.

New Hampshire Democratic Party Chairman Ray Buckley claimed transgender kids would kill themselves if schools were legally barred from hiding transitioning efforts from parents.

“[The children] will be kicked out or beaten (to death) or commit suicide,” Buckley wrote on social media.

Strangio also didn’t help the cause by appearing on CNN and suggesting that children as young as two years old know they were born in the wrong bodies.

“These are doctors who are wanting to treat their patients in the best way that they know how, based on the best available evidence to us,” Strangio said of doctors who give hormone treatments to young children. “And these are young people who may have known since they were two years old exactly who they are, who suffered for six or seven years before they had any relief.”

Given the Court’s 6-3 conservative majority, it is likely to side with Tennessee and uphold the ban. The conservative justices generally expressed skepticism that the medical science surrounding transgender adolescents is settled as more data comes in from Europe showing the harms of using surgery and hormone therapy on children, contradicting the current state of medicine in America.

Justice Brett Kavanaugh said the fact that the medical communities in progressive European countries are expressing reservations should give leaders in America pause.

“If it’s evolving like that and changing, and England’s pulling back and Sweden’s pulling back, it strikes me as a pretty heavy yellow light, if not red light, for this court,” Kavanaugh said.

Bow High School superintendent Marcy Kelly rejects the claim that she opposes freedom of expression at school events. She told a federal judge on Friday that flags and symbols are welcome — as long as she agrees with their message.

Specifically, Kelly told United States District Court Judge Steven McAuliffe that, while she stands by her decision to ban parents from wearing pink wristbands in support of girls-only sports, she would welcome the waving of Gay Pride flags and other symbols at the same events.

Soccer dads Kyle Fellers and Anthony Foote were slapped with “no trespass” orders by Kelly and the Bow School District after they wore the wristbands at the Sept. 17 girl’s Bow High School soccer game against Plymouth High School.

Kelly told the court she found the wristbands “exclusionary,” and therefore, she believes she has the authority to ban them from school events.

Kelly testified she knew from emails and social media posts that the men might wear the pink “XX” wristbands, and that was something she wanted to stop. “I had concerns (Foote and Fellers) were going to display an anti-trans message on that one day.”

Kelly admitted she initially considered banning all would-be spectators from the game. Instead, she settled on a plan to have police at the game and use school officials to patrol the sidelines looking for actions or symbols she found offensive.

“XX is a pretty well-known anti-trans symbol,” Kelly claimed.

(According to science, women have XX chromosomes and men have XY chromosomes.)

Del Kolde, an attorney with the nonprofit Institute for Free Speech who is representing the plaintiffs in the lawsuit against Kelly, asked Kelly if she would allow parents to wear LGBTQ+ Rainbow Pride wristbands at games.

No problem, Kelly said. “It’s inclusionary, it’s not targeting or harassing anyone,” she said.

And that, Kolde told NHJournal, is a legal smoking gun.

“The Bow School officials have basically admitted to engaging in viewpoint discrimination. That is illegal in a limited public forum, such as school sporting events. We hope that this censorship regime will soon be enjoined.”

United States District Court Judge Steven McAuliffe has already overturned Bow’s “no trespass” order that prevented Fellers and Foote from going to games and other afterschool events. Whether the dads can engage in silent protests at future games and events by wearing the XX wristbands is still up in the air.

Kelly said her belief that “XX” symbolism is anti-transgender bigotry is on based on her reaction to the work of Riley Gaines, the NCAA swimmer who was forced to compete against a biological male, Lia Thomas.

“I find that when (Gaines) says ‘XX means real women,’ that is exclusionary,” Kelly said.

Gaines has emerged as a national advocate for girls-only sports and private spaces. In August, Gaines came to New Hampshire to support a new law banning males from girls’ support in the 5th through 12th grades. She described “the experience of competing against a man in women’s sports, being forced without warning or consent to undress before the fully intact male.”

Support for protecting girls’ sports from biological males who want to compete has soared over the past few years. Polls in New Hampshire and at the national level show voters support banning males from girls’ sports by a three or four-to-one margin.

Also on Friday, New Hampshire Attorney General John Formella joined a group of 24 state attorneys general urging the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn a lower court ruling and uphold an Arizona law prohibiting biological boys from competing on girls’ sports teams.

“Basing the distinction on biology rather than gender identity makes sense because it is the differences in biology—not gender identity—that call for separate teams in the first place: Whatever their gender identity, biological males are, on average, stronger and faster than biological females,” the brief reads in part.

New Hampshire passed a similar law over the unanimous opposition of Democrats in the state House and Senate.

Last week’s hearings in the Bow case will inform McAuliffe’s decision on possibly lifting the ban on silent protests. A trial on the merits of the lawsuit is still to come. 

When it comes to obeying the law, the Kearsarge School District is suffering from legal schizophrenia.

On one hand, district officials claim they can’t stop a convicted sex offender busted for child pornography from walking on campus to attend girls soccer games.

On the other hand, they claim the right to ignore New Hampshire’s state law banning biological males from playing on the girls’ soccer team.

The player is Maelle Jacques, a biological male who identifies as a girl and plays goalie for Kearsarge.

The convicted sex offender, who’s scheduled to report to prison in December but insists on attending games today, is Jacques’ father, Marc.

Kearsarge is scrambling to contain the damage the district’s administration created when it became known that officials were aware that parent Marc Jacques pleaded guilty to distributing child sex abuse images earlier this year. Marc Jacques was never prevented by school officials from going to any girl’s soccer games this year to watch his child Maelle Jacques compete.

“Because these events are open to the public, the district may restrict access only in the case of a prior civil no trespass order, or active court order. In general terms, we cannot selectively determine who may or may not attend any event,” Superintendent John Fortney said in a letter sent to parents this week.

Marc Jacques is back in custody after he allegedly violated the conditions of his pre-incarceration release by possessing a flash drive containing more child sex abuse images.  Marc Jacques was sentenced to five years in prison last month, but given until December to report to prison authorities to begin his sentence. 

It is not unusual for federal defendants to get a few weeks of freedom between the sentencing hearing and the start of their incarceration. That time is meant to allow the defendants to get their affairs in order before going to prison. 

But Marc Jacques was given months of pre-incarceration release after he pleaded with the court that his child, Maelle Jacques, needed him at the soccer games. Marc Jacques said factors like the state law banning biological boys from playing girl’s sports, and potential threats of violence against transgender people, required that he be at the games.

“Maelle is going to need me to be present and in attendance to support [Maelle] and protect [Maelle] in the face of the fears [Maelle] will have of what could happen to [Maelle] on the athletic fields,” Marc Jacques wrote.

But Fortney is also telling parents who are upset that a biological male is on the high school’s girls soccer team that Kearsarge is not going to comply with state law. In New Hampshire, state law requires high school athletes to compete on the team that matches their sex at birth.

But the school district told parents who want the law enforced that it refuses to do so.

“Relative to HB 1205, this bill is a violation of federal law, the U.S. Constitution, and NH’s own Civil Rights Provision,” the district declared, without evidence or any court rulings confirming their statements.

While a federal judge has suspended the enforcement of HB 1205 for two specific students, the law has not been overridden, nor has it been declared unconstitutional.

“Kearsarge is violating the law,” an attorney with knowledge of the case told NHJournal on background.

As for the convicted sex offender, Fortney claims Kearsarge takes the safety of all the students seriously, and consulted with police and attorneys about the matter. Sutton Police Chief Jonathan Korbet told NHJournal he had conversations with Kearsarge about the girl’s soccer games.

“We decided it was necessary to provide police details at JV and varsity girl’s soccer games,” Korbet said.

Under the conditions of the pre-incarceration release, Marc Jacques is to have no unsupervised contact with anyone under the age of 18. Korbet said that condition is vague and difficult to enforce at the soccer games.

“It’s hard to determine what constitutes unsupervised. In a public place, in a public setting, one could argue that’s not unsupervised,” Korbet said.

But Kearsarge knew Marc Jacques was going to away girl’s soccer games as well. Hopkinton Superintendent Michael Flynn said this week officials in his district were unaware of Marc Jacques’ conviction until hours before the Kearsarge team was set to play at Hopkinton on Oct. 7. Flynn also talked to local police and the Hopkinton’s legal team, and put in a safety plan 45 minutes before the game time. Like Fortney, Flynn said he legally could not stop Marc Jacques from attending the game.

“We want to make sure that we, as a school district, follow the laws. I am not able to arrest anybody, and I can’t create court orders,” Flynn said.

At the Oct. 7 Hopkinton game, Marc Jacques was caught on video interacting with a young boy until the child’s mother was alerted. NHJournal has seen the video, but is not sharing it in order to protect the boy’s identity.

The hands-off treatment Marc Jacques received from multiple school districts before he was arrested for violating his release is in stark contrast to the way the Bow School District treated a group of parents who engaged in a silent protest last month.

Kyle Fellers and Anthony “Andy” Foote were slapped with no trespassing orders by Bow school officials for wearing pink “XX” wristbands at the Sept. 17 girl’s soccer game. Bow officials claim they acted out of an obligation to protect a transgender student on the opposing Plymouth High School team from the silent protest. 

When parents and players of the Bishop Brady High School soccer team began organizing to oppose a game against a team with a biological male on the roster, they found they faced an opponent off the field as well.

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Manchester.

Parents and players began expressing concern about playing against Kearsarge High School and its goalie Maelle Jacques, a male athlete who won the state girls high jump earlier this year.

Word that parents or students might take action prompted Bishop Peter Libasci to huddle with his legal team to craft a statement opposed to a boycott, according to information obtained by NHJournal.

Dave Thibault, Superintendent of Schools for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Manchester, relayed the message, telling the girls they ought to play at Kearsarge out of a sense of Christian charity.

“We don’t believe it’s right to just forfeit a game when playing a team with a transgender athlete because we have an issue that is not being handled properly by another party,” Thibault wrote. 

But the girl’s soccer game against Kearsarge High School was canceled after several team members refused to play. When asked about the incident, Tara Bishop, director of communications for the Diocese, attempted to suggest there was no boycott.

“There simply weren’t enough players available for this game,” Bishop said.

And it’s not just the Maelle Jacques’ presence that had parents worried. Jacques’ father, Marc Jaques, is a regular at his child’s games. He’s also a convicted sex offender.

Marc Jacques attending the Hopkinton versus Kearsarge girls high school girls soccer game on October 7, 2024 at Hopkinton High School.

Marc Jaques was convicted last month on federal charges of distributing child sex abuse material. According to court records, Marc Jaques was found in possession of at least 200 child sex abuse images and video files, many of which he uploaded to the social media platform, Kik. 

Marc Jaques had been free pending his report date to prison, most likely in December, when he will begin a five-year sentence. In the meantime, he’d been seen at the stands for Kearsarge girl’s soccer games. 

To make matters worse for worried parents, federal law enforcement arrested Marc Jaques on Friday, however, on an alleged bail violation. He’s due Monday in the United States District Court in Concord for a bail revocation hearing. 

While Thibault’s statement came before he was reportedly made aware of Bishop Brady parents’ concerns about Marc Jaques, his criminal case has been a matter of public record for months.

Neither Bishop Brady Principal Andrea Elliot nor Athletic Director Annie Mattarazzo responded to requests for comment on Friday.

Elliot did try to allay concerns about Marc Jaques’ presence at the game, however. In an email to parents, Elliot said Kearsarge would have a police presence at the game, and at least three school administrators would be on hand as well. Further, according to Elliot’s email, Marc Jaques would not be permitted on the sideline near the benches. He’s supposed to watch the games from his car in the parking lot, according to Elliot.

However, photos provided to NHJournal show Marc Jaques standing behind the benches and near the sideline during an Oct. 7 game played at Hopkinton High School. 

Marc Jacques attending the Kearsarge v Hopkinton girls soccer game.

Critics of male athletes playing on girls’ sports teams note the irony of the current situation in New Hampshire. While Marc Jacques is allowed seemingly free range at the games pending the start of his prison sentence, Kyle Feller, the father of a Bow High School girl’s soccer player, had to get a federal court order to be able to attend his daughter’s games. Feller’s crime was taking part in a silent protest against biological males in girl’s sports.  

Thibualt urged the Bishop Brady girls and their families not to express their views.

“Parents and fans should not protest, even silently, but attend games in goodwill also seeing the deep, inherent dignity of each and every player,” Thibault wrote. 

After the Bow School District slapped them with a no trespass order over wearing pink wristbands to their daughters’ soccer game in support of girls-only sports, Anthony “Andy” Foote and Kyle Fellers filed a lawsuit defending their right to free speech.

On Tuesday, Fellers will be in court asking a federal judge to remove the no trespass order banning him from his daughter’s activities, hours before her next home soccer game.

The Institute for Free Speech and local counsel Richard Lehmann will argue in favor of a temporary restraining order to block the district’s ban. The hearing is set for 2:30 p.m. Tuesday in the United States District Court in Concord.

The next Bow soccer game is scheduled for Tuesday at 6:45 p.m.

“We just want a dad to be able to see his daughter play high school soccer,” Lehmann told NHJournal. “The idea that someone gets punished for holding views that are unpopular with people at the top of the local power structure is un-American, and it should end. Now.”

The lawsuit was filed by Fellers, Foote, Foote’s wife Nicole, and Eldon Rash, all Bow residents.

On Sept. 17, when Bow was facing Plymouth Regional High School, Fellers and Anthony Foote showed up wearing pink wristbands with “XX” written on them, symbolizing the two X chromosomes women have. Plymouth has a biological male on its girls soccer team.

During the game, school officials, along with Bow Police Lt.  Phil Lamy confronted the parents and demanded they remove the wristbands or leave. When the parents refused, citing their First Amendment rights, they were threatened with arrest for trespassing. The referee then stopped the game and said Bow High School would forfeit if the plaintiffs did not remove their wristbands.

The no trespass order against Foote expired after a week, but the one filed against Fellers extends through the entire fall season. Not only does it ban him from future soccer games, it also bars him from going to any school event, sports related or not. It even keeps him from being able to do things like picking up his children from after-school practices, according to the complaint.

The Bow School District is scrambling to fix its apparent free speech violation, according to the motion filed to support the TRO. Since the Sept. 17 game, the district created a new “free speech zone” at home games, restricting any protests or demonstrations to an area near the scoreboard that is 50 yards away from the field.

The new policy also limits the times people are allowed to use the “free speech zone” to 30 minutes before and after games, and the policy limits the number of people allowed to take part to no more than 50 people at a given time. 

The lawsuit names Kelley and Lamy as defendants along with Bow High School Principal Matt Fisk, Bow Athletic Director Mike Desilets, and soccer referee Steve Rossetti. 

Several members of the Hillsboro-Deering High School Girls Soccer team refused to play against the Kearsarge team Tuesday due to safety concerns over Kearsarge’s star athlete, biological male Maelle Jacques.

“This isn’t about transgenderism. This is about biology for us and the increased physical risk when playing a full contact sport against the opposing sex” said Heather Thyng, mother of a Hillsboro-Deering player.

At least five girls on the varsity squad skipped the game at Kearsarge Regional High School, according to Hillsboro-Deering parent Betsy Harrington. With 17 varsity players on the roster, Hillsboro-Deering was forced to use JV players in order to play the game. 

“The Hillsboro girls can’t even get down the field without any of their best players. It’s one-sided,” Harrington told NHJournal.

Jacques played goal for most of the game, but was pulled off their field with 10 minutes left after having nothing to do. 

“No one ever got near [Maelle,] so I guess they’ll never be in any danger if there’s enough girls to always have a weak team,” Harrington said. “If every game has a few girls refusing to play, we will never know the ability of the Kearsarge team. They have an advantage I hadn’t thought about. It’s that they get to always play a crippled team without all of their players.”

Thyng stood by her daughter’s decision since players like Jacques should not be competing against girls, she said.

“We believe, my daughter included, that refusing to compete is the best way to push back on this issue, and we are hoping parents will be more willing to put themselves out there knowing they don’t have to be the first or the only family within our community to do so,” Thyng said.

Thyng is concerned that her daughter and other players could be hurt playing against Jacques, a nearly 6-foot tall biological male. Scenarios like tonight’s soccer game, where girls would be forced to play contact sports against biological males, were supposed to be a thing of the past after Gov. Chris Sununu signed HB 1205 this summer.

The law requires all school athletes from 5th grade through high school to compete on teams that correspond to their biological sex at birth. But the Kearsarge School Board voted this summer to ignore the law in order to allow Jacques to keep playing.

Jacques is well known in New Hampshire high school sports, having already won first place in the girls high jump competition earlier this year, beating every female in the New Hampshire Interscholastic Athletic Association (NHIAA) indoor track and field championship.

Two New Hampshire transgender students, Parker Tirrell and Iris Turmelle, are challenging the law in federal court and have so far won an injunction to allow them to play on girls’ teams. But that order does not apply to any other student in the state, including Jacques.

The team’s coaches told Tyng that neither her daughter nor any other player who boycotts the game will suffer retaliation as a result. “The coaches reassured me they told the girls there would be no negative repercussions for anyone who refuses to compete. They said they understood the increased risk and would be paying attention to the aggressiveness of the game, and if anyone was getting hurt or play was too rough, they were prepared to end the game, Thyng said.

The Bow School District is facing a First Amendment lawsuit from parents who were punished for taking part in a silent protest at a girls’ soccer game. The parents were hit with a no trespass order when they wore pink “X” wristbands to the game earlier this month.

This story was updated after the game was played.

United States District Court Judge Landya McCafferty ruled Tuesday that the state’s new law protecting girls school sports from male competitors is a clear case of discrimination.

“This issue ‘is not even a close call,’” McCafferty wrote in her ruling. “HB 1205, on its face, discriminates against transgender girls.”

McCafferty’s ruling is based on the controversial premise that males who identify as females are girls in the same way that biological females are, and they are protected by the same antidiscrimination laws designed to protect biological females. The issue is almost certain to eventually be addressed by the U.S. Supreme Court.

As a result, high school freshmen Parker Tirrell and Iris Turmelle, two biological males who identify as female, are allowed to play girls sports pending the outcome of their lawsuit against the state.

McCafferty’s injunction against HB 1205 only applies to Tirrell and Turmelle at this time. McCafferty’s statements in court and her rulings so far, however, indicate she’s likely to overturn the law soon.

Tirrell and Turmelle, represented by GLAD and the New Hampshire ACLU, brought the lawsuit soon after Gov. Chris Sununu signed the bill into law this summer. HB 1205 requires New Hampshire student-athletes to play on sports teams that correspond to the biological sex recorded on their birth certificates.

The requirement that students stick with their biological sex at birth for sports teams is an obvious legal mechanism to discriminate against transgender girls, the judge claimed.

“Indeed, transgender girls are the only group whom the Act bars from playing on the team associated with their gender identity. HB 1205’s ‘disparate treatment of transgender girls because they are transgender is clear on the face of the statute,’ and this ‘singling out of transgender females is unequivocally discrimination,’” McCafferty wrote.

HB 1205 supporters have said the bill aimed to protect the integrity of girls sports and prevent biologically male transgender students from gaining a competitive advantage over biological girls. The bill also sought to protect girls from being injured by biologically male athletes.

But McCafferty notes that neither Tirrell nor Turmelle are likely to have any physical advantage over their prefigured teammates. Both children are receiving female hormone therapy and are not expected to undergo normal male physical development. 

“Neither Parker nor Iris have undergone male puberty. Neither of them will undergo male puberty. Both have received hormone therapy to induce female puberty, and both have developed physiological changes associated with female puberty. It is uncontested that there is no medical justification to preclude Parker and Iris from playing girls’ sports,” McCafferty wrote.

Instead, McCafferty relies largely on an expansive reading of the 2020 U.S. Supreme Court’s Bostock v. Clayton County decision regarding sex-based dress codes in the workplace. However, Justice Neil Gorsuch, writing for the majority, explicitly stated that the ruling only applied to the case the Court was addressing at the time.

“The employers worry that our decision will sweep beyond Title VII to other federal or state laws that prohibit sex discrimination. And, under Title VII itself, they say sex-segregated bathrooms, locker rooms, and dress codes will prove unsustainable after our decision today. But none of these other laws are before us; we have not had the benefit of adversarial testing about the meaning of their terms, and we do not prejudge any such question today. Under Title VII, too, we do not purport to address bathrooms, locker rooms, or anything else of the kind.”

Michael Garrity, spokesman for the New Hampshire Department of Justice, said the agency is considering the next appropriate step.

“We are currently reviewing the court’s decision and are in the process of evaluating the implications of the ruling. We remain dedicated to providing a safe environment for all students. The state will continue to consider all legal avenues to ensure that we uphold both the law and our commitment to student welfare,” Garrity said.

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.

Kearsarge Regional High School sophomore Maelle Jacques, a biological male, took first place in the girls high jump competition on Sunday, beating every female in the New Hampshire Interscholastic Athletic Association (NHIAA) indoor track and field championship.

As expected, Jacques dominated and finished with a 5’1” mark, an inch better than any other athlete in the girls Division II competition. In the boys Division II, the lowest high jump was 5’8”, and the winning jumpers hit 6’2”.

The NHIAA did not respond to NHJournal’s request for comment last week. The non-profit group that oversees high school sports allows athletes to compete in whatever gender division they choose.

Jacques’ participation on the girls team, as well as Jacques’ string of wins over the last two indoor track seasons, have garnered national attention. Outspoken supporter of women’s athletics and 12-time All-American swimmer Riley Gaines blamed Kearsarge parents for allowing their child to take wins away from female athletes.

“How could the parents of this boy allow their son to cheat deserving women out of opportunities? And why don’t the parents of the girls stand up and say ‘no’ for their daughters?” Gaines posted on social media. “This country is full of failing, gutless mothers and fathers.”

Meanwhile, Democrats in the New Hampshire legislature continue to oppose legislation that would protect girls sports from male athletes. Rep. Tim Horrigan (D-Dover) dismissed concerns about Jacques’ domination of the girls high jump, calling it an “obscure competition.”

When state Rep. Timothy Horrigan (D-Durham) dismissed high school girl’s track as an “obscure competition,” some Granite State women were ready to run him off the field.

“Rep. Tim Horrigan’s statements belittling women’s sports should be a rallying cry to all women to stand up to the crazy out-of-touch liberal Democrats who do not appreciate or celebrate the uniqueness of women,” said Kate Day, former Chair of the Cheshire County Republican Committee. “There is a biological reason we have women’s sports. Horrigan certainly dismisses any concern for women’s safety and the spirit of competition between women.”

Horrigan made his comments while testifying against SB 524, which would prohibit biological men from competing in women’s sports. During his testimony, Horrigan referred to women and girls as “so-called ‘biological females.’” He also referenced the case of Kearsarge Regional High School sophomore Maelle Jacques, a biological male who is on the girl’s track team. Jacques has dominated the high jump the last two seasons, competing against high school girls, and is expected to win big at an NHIAA meet this Sunday.

“We don’t even know if she’s actually trans,” Horrigan said of Jacques, “but if she is, that’s certainly a very unfair thing [to keep her from competing]. A lot of these cases, they are pretty obscure competitions that normally sports fans wouldn’t be paying much attention to.”

After NHJournal reported Horrigan’s comments, several women reached out to lambast the liberal legislator’s apparent misogyny. 

“So, if it’s such a small percentage of the population, we shouldn’t care about and ignore their needs?” asked Pamela Tucker, former state GOP vice chair.

“Rep. Tim Horrigan’s statement sends the message that we shouldn’t care about our young females in certain sports. You can’t minimize a sport to fit your agenda,” said Nashua mom Kimberly Allan.

“As a mom, I have concerns about men participating in women’s sports. It is important to ensure fairness and a level playing field for all athletes. Men generally have physical advantages such as greater strength and size, which can create an unfair advantage in certain sports. Allowing men to compete in women’s sports could potentially hinder the opportunities and achievements of female athletes who have worked hard to excel in their respective fields.

“It’s crucial to prioritize the protection and advancement of women’s sports, providing female athletes with the recognition and opportunities they deserve.”

Asked about his comments, Horrigan gave NHJournal a “no comment.” However, he then turned to social media to show his solidarity with female athletes.

“Don’t believe anyone who doubts my support of women’s sports. I am at yet another UNH women’s basketball game,” Horrigan wrote.

State House Democrats overwhelmingly oppose measures to protect women’s sports from biological males who choose to compete as females, and they plan to fight SB 524. However, polls show Americans overwhelmingly oppose allowing biological men to compete in women’s sports, and that opposition is growing.

State GOP chair Chris Ager said women are tired of getting erased by progressive Democrats who dismiss them and their concerns.

“The NHGOP is disappointed that Rep. Horrigan has such low regard for women’s sports achievements. Republican women are speaking out,” Ager said.

If other Democrats were upset with Horrigan, they were keeping it to themselves. House Minority Leader Rep. Matt Wilhelm (D-Manchester) did not respond to a request for comment.

Unfortunately for Democrats, Horrigan has a history of making denigrating statements about women. In 2010, Horrigan was forced to apologize after he joked on Facebook about former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin getting killed in a plane crash.

“I don’t wish Sarah Palin dead … but not merely for compassionate reasons. I also want her to live because a living Sarah Palin is less dangerous than a dead one. “A dead Palin is more dangerous than a live one,” he wrote.

Horrigan apologized to House leadership the following day and later announced the end of his reelection campaign.

“She is, as far as I know, not a bad person at all—and certainly she deserves to live a long and happy life,” Horrigan wrote to then-House Speaker Terie Norelli (D-Portsmouth.)

Horrigan then reneged on his resignation and was promptly re-elected in his deep-blue district.