School district defends decision to ban parents who wore ‘XX’ wristbands at daughters’ game with trans athlete
Roughly two months after barring parents who wore "XX" wristbands during a high school soccer game against a transgender athlete, a school district is confident in its decision to do so.
Anthony Foote of Bow, New Hampshire, told the New Hampshire Journal he had received a notice of trespass from Bow and Dunbarton School Districts Superintendent Marcy Kelley after he had worn armbands in support of biological girls-only sports to his daughter’s high school soccer game back in September.
Foote, his wife Nicole, Kyle Fellers, and Eldon Rash then filed a federal lawsuit against the Bow School District, Superintendent of Schools Marcy Kelley, Principal Matt Fisk, Athletic Director Mike Desilets, Bow Police Lieutenant Phil Lamy and soccer referee Steve Rossetti several days later.
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The "silent protest" at Bow High School, the lawsuit says, intended to "show solidarity" with the Bow team and oppose a policy that allowed a transgender girl to play on Plymouth's team.
Fellers and Foote testified Thursday that they hadn’t intended to harass or otherwise target a transgender player on the opposing team, but the school district said differently.
Kelley and Desilets believed that the protest wouldn't stop at just wristbands, saying they had received strongly worded emails from Foote in which he called himself a "real leader" who was prepared to take action. They also said Foote urged others to attend the game on social media.
In the days leading up to the game, another parent told school officials that she had overheard others talk about showing up to the game wearing dresses and heckling the transgender player.
"When we suspect there’s some sort of threat . . . we don’t wait for it to happen," Kelley said on Friday.
Kelley also pushed back on the idea that the plaintiffs were simply expressing support for their daughters and the girls' teammates in general, noting that they had chosen the one game involving a transgender player to begin wearing the wristbands.
"This was organized and targeted," she said. "If we were to allow harassment, we’re liable."
A federal judge in the case, Steven McAuliffe, pushed back on the parents for repeatedly referring to the athlete as a boy on Thursday.
"You seem to go out of your way to suggest there’s no such thing as a trans girl," McAuliffe said during the hearing.
The transgender player in question, Parker Tirrell, and another student athlete are challenging the state law that bans transgender athletes in grades 5 to 12 from playing on teams that align with their gender identity. A federal judge ruled in their case that they can play sports during the ongoing lawsuit that seeks to overturn the law.
Gov. Chris Sununu, who signed the Fairness in Women’s Sports Act into law in July, has said that it "ensures fairness and safety in women’s sports by maintaining integrity and competitive balance in athletic competitions."
Fox News' Paulina Dedaj, Landon Mion, Jackson Thompson, and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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