Parents sue school district following wristband protest against transgender girl at soccer game

CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — Three parents and a grandparent have sued a New Hampshire school district, saying their rights were violated when they were barred from school grounds for wearing pink wristbands with “XX,” representing the female chromosome pair, in protest of a transgender girl playing in a girls soccer game.

The lawsuit filed Monday in U.S. District Court in Concord followed a Sept. 17 match at Bow High School against Plymouth Regional High School. A 15-year-old transgender girl is playing on the Plymouth team as she and another teen challenge a New Hampshire ban in court.

Two of the parents whose daughters play for Bow wore the wristbands during the second half of the game to “silently express their opinion about the importance of reserving women’s sports for biological females,” according to their lawsuit filed by attorneys from the Institute for Free Speech.

The lawsuit said school officials and a local police officer confronted the parents during the game, telling them to remove the wristbands or leave. The plaintiffs refused, citing their First Amendment rights, then said they were threatened with arrest for trespassing.

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At one point, the referee stopped the game and said that Bow High School would forfeit if the plaintiffs did not remove their wristbands, the lawsuit said. The wristbands were removed and the game resumed.

Following the game, the two parents received “No Trespass Orders” banning them from school grounds and events, the lawsuit said. One was banned for a week, the other for the fall term.

“Parents don’t shed their First Amendment rights at the entrance to a school’s soccer field. We wore pink wristbands to silently support our daughters and their right to fair competition,” Kyle Fellers, one of the plaintiffs who said he received a no-trespass order, said in a statement. “Instead of fostering open dialogue, school officials responded with threats and bans that have a direct impact on our lives and our children’s lives.”

The lawsuit says it seeks to prevent what it describes as the unconstitutional application of several school policies, including those requiring “mutual respect, civility, and orderly conduct” and prohibiting actions that “injure, threaten, harass, or intimidate” or “impede, delay, disrupt, or otherwise interfere with any school activity or function.”

In addition to the school district, the lawsuit names as defendants district Superintendent Marcy Kelley, Bow High School Principal Matt Fisk, school athletic director Michael Desilets, as well as the police officer and referee.

“At this time, we have no comment,” Kelley said in an email Tuesday when asked if she, other members of the school district, or an attorney representing them, wanted to respond to the lawsuit. Emails sent to the police officer and to the organization representing the referee were not immediately answered.

An email seeking comment from the attorney representing the transgender athlete also was not immediately returned.

Bow School Board chairperson Bryce Larrabee mentioned the lawsuit at a meeting Monday night and said the board would not be commenting on it. Kelley, who attended the meeting, also did not comment on the lawsuit.

Audience members spoke in favor and against the protesters during the public comment period.

“You just silenced someone who had a different opinion,” one man said.

Criticizing those who wore the pink wristbands during the game, the parent of a player on the Bow team said, “This is not the right way to go about doing things.”