Judge allows transgender girl to play soccer as lawsuit challenges new law

A federal judge temporarily cleared the way Monday for a transgender girl to play soccer for her high school team while she and another student challenge a New Hampshire ban.

The families of 15-year-old Parker Tirrell and 14-year-old Iris Turmelle filed a lawsuit Friday to overturn the “Women’s Sports Equity Act” that Republican Gov. Chris Sununu signed into law last month . Although Turmelle doesn’t plan to play sports until December, Tirrell requested an emergency order to allow him to begin Monday night football practice.

U.S. District Court Chief Judge Landya McCafferty granted the request with just hours to spare, finding that Tirrell had demonstrated probable success on the merits of the case. The two sides now have 14 days to schedule a hearing on the plaintiffs’ broader request for a preliminary injunction to block the state from enforcing the law during the trial.

The lawsuit said the law violates constitutional protections and federal laws because teenagers are denied equal educational opportunities and discriminated against because they are transgender.

The judge questioned how the law, as applied to Tirrell, would protect the girls from unfair competition, given that the state did not dispute evidence that she had no physiological advantage after taking puberty-blocking drugs to prevent changes in body, such as muscle development. McCafferty also found that Tirrell proved he would suffer irreparable harm without it, another criterion for emergency relief.

Michael DeGrandis, an attorney for the state, argued that missing soccer practice, while “stressful,” did not meet that standard, but the girls’ attorney disagreed, saying it would have a “permanent, stigmatizing impact.”

“We are very pleased with the judge’s order. It’s also what we expected because we know this law is unfair and violates the rights of transgender girls in New Hampshire,” Chris Erchull, an attorney at GLBTQ Legal Advocates & Defenders, said after the hearing.

The rights of transgender people – and young people in particular – have become a major political battleground in recent years as trans visibility has increased. Most Republican-controlled states have banned gender-affirming healthcare for transgender minors, and several have passed policies that limit school bathrooms that trans people can use and ban trans girls from some sports.

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Law of processes