Girls soccer team boycotts game vs. transgender player that Obama-era judge let play, as Trump promises ban
A Catholic school's girl's soccer team in New Hampshire is the latest group to take a stand against transgender inclusion in women's sports, as former president Trump has made the issue a priority of his candidacy.
Bishop Brady High School in Concord, New Hampshire, saw its girl's soccer Giants boycott a game against Kearsage Regional High School in North Sutton on Friday. Kearsage Regional is a public school with a girls' soccer team that has a transgender player. Kearsage is only one of two schools in New Hampshire with a player who is a biological male, despite a state law to prevent it.
So Bishop Brady's players refused to show up to the game, according to multiple reports.
Kearsage's player, Maelle Jacques, is nearly 6-foot-0 in height, according to multiple reports. Jacques was allowed to play for Kearsage Regional despite a state law in New Hampshire that restricts transgender inclusion in girls' sports. However, a federal judge's ruling in September put Maelle right back onto the field and into the locker room with the other girls' athletes.
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New Hampshire Governor Chris Sununu signed House Bill 1205, also known as the "Fairness in Women’s Sports Act," into law in July, which prohibits trans girls and women from competing on girls’ and women’s sports teams. But then Maelle's family, along with the family of another transgender athlete, sued to block it.
A federal court granted a preliminary injunction on Sept. 10, which meant that the two athletes would be allowed to play until a final ruling is made. A final ruling has not been made, so they have continued to play despite the state law.
The judge who made the ruling, Landya McCafferty, is a liberal who was appointed to her seat by former president Obama in 2013.
The other athlete involved in the case, Parker Tirrell, was allowed to play for Plymoth Regional High School. A group of New Hampshire families filed a lawsuit against Plymoth's school district after allegedly being forced to remove armbands to protest Tirrell's participation on the team.
Meanwhile, the Kearsarge Regional school board even voted 6-1 to allow Jacques and other trans girls to play on sports teams on August 29, according to The Boston Globe.
The federal ruling that has allowed Maelle and Tirrell to play is one of many legislative chess moves between Republicans and Democrats in opposing efforts addressing transgender inclusion in women's sports that have taken place during the Biden-Harris administration.
Former president Trump and even his wife, Melania, who has admitted to disagreeing with Republicans on issues of LGBT rights, each announced that they are opposed to letting biological males compete in girls' and women's sports. Trump has gone so far to advocate for a full-on ban, in a town hall event on Fox News this past week.
Meanwhile, Democrats like McCafferty, anchored by the Biden-Harris administration, have gone to great lengths to help enable transgender inclusion in women's sports.
Multiple states filed lawsuits and enacted their own laws to address this issue after the Biden-Harris administration issued a sweeping rule that clarified that Title IX’s ban on "sex" discrimination in schools covers discrimination based on gender identity, sexual orientation and "pregnancy or related conditions," in April.
The administration insisted the regulation does not address athletic eligibility. However, multiple experts presented evidence to Fox News Digital in June that it would ultimately put more biological men in women's sports.
The Supreme Court then voted 5-4 in August to reject an emergency request by the Biden administration to enforce portions of that new rule after more than two dozen Republican attorneys general sued to block the Title IX changes in their own states.
Idaho governor Brad Little even issued an executive order later that month to enforce the "Defending Women's Sports Act," which would require schools and colleges to prevent transgender athletes in women's sports.
In an exclusive interview with Fox News Digital, Little did not rule out the fear of the order resulting in his public schools losing federal funding if Kamla Harris becomes the 47th president.
"We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it," Little said. "From a national standpoint, there are radical little groups that want to implement changes in the rules that we have already. I’m confident in what we have, and we will aggressively (act), as the state of Idaho, both legally and legislatively, to protect women’s athletes and the great advances they’ve made because of Title IX."
In Nevada, a state law that was passed in 2022 to protect gender identity has caused a rift between the school's women's volleyball players and the administration. With a game coming up against San Jose State, which has a transgender player on its roster and has resulted in a lawsuit by one of its other players, Nevada's players have said they want to forfeit.
Nevada provided a statement to Fox News Digital, saying it cannot officially forfeit because of the law that Nevada passed in 2022.
A total of 23 states in the U.S. have laws to prevent transgender inclusion in women's sports. But the rest have been at the mercy of the federal government, and it is now obvious that even states with those laws might not be safe either.
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