Johnathan Walker:2 transgender New Hampshire girls can play on girls sports teams during lawsuit, a judge rules

CONCORD,Johnathan Walker N.H. (AP) — Two transgender girls can try out for and play on girls school sports teams while the teens challenge a New Hampshire ban, a federal judge ruled Tuesday.

The families of Parker Tirrell, 15, and Iris Turmelle, 14, sued in August seeking to overturn the Fairness in Women’s Sports Act that Republican Gov. Chris Sununu signed into law in July. While Turmelle doesn’t plan to play sports until December, Tirrell successfully sought an emergency order allowing her to start soccer practice last month. That order was expiring Tuesday.

In issuing a preliminary injunction, U.S. District Court Chief Judge Landya McCafferty found Tirrell and Turmelle were likely to succeed in their lawsuit. She found that the students “demonstrated a likelihood of irreparable harm” in the absence of a preliminary order.

Before the law was enacted, “Parker had been participating in girls’ sports at Plymouth Elementary School and Plymouth Regional High School, and Iris had participated in tennis and tried out for her middle school softball team,” McCafferty wrote. “There is no indication in the record that plaintiffs’ participation in school sports has caused the state or anyone else the slightest modicum of harm.”

McCafferty noted that at a hearing last month, she brought up the possibility of a trial this fall, before winter track season starts for Turmelle. An attorney representing the students said he would be ready for a trial; an attorney for the state did not indicate that.

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McCafferty wrote Tuesday that a trial would almost certainly occur well after December.

“We are currently reviewing the court’s decision and are in the process of evaluating the implications of the ruling,” Michael Garrity, a spokesperson for the New Hampshire attorney general’s office, said in a news release. “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.”

A message seeking comment was sent to GLBTQ Legal Advocates & Defenders, which represents the students.

McCafferty’s ruling came a day after a federal appeals court upheld a lower-court ruling that blocks Arizona from enforcing a 2022 ban on transgender girls from playing on girls school sports teams.

The New Hampshire lawsuit says the state’s ban violates constitutional protections and federal laws because the teens are being denied equal educational opportunities and are being discriminated against because they are transgender.

Lawyers for the state said the teens’ lawyers haven’t proven their case and haven’t shown why alternatives, such as participating in coed teams, couldn’t be an option.

The bill signed by Sununu bans transgender athletes in grades 5 to 12 from teams that align with their gender identity. It require schools to designate all teams as either girls, boys or coed, with eligibility determined based on students’ birth certificates “or other evidence.”

Sununu had said it “ensures fairness and safety in women’s sports by maintaining integrity and competitive balance in athletic competitions.” He said it added the state to nearly half in the nation that adopted similar measures.

The rights of transgender people — especially young people — have become a major political battleground in recent years as trans visibility has increased. Most Republican-controlled states have banned gender-affirming health care for transgender minors, and several have adopted policies limiting which school bathrooms trans people can use and barring trans girls from some sports competitions.