Nearly two months after banning parents from wearing “XX” wristbands during high school soccer games with transgender players, a school district is confident in its decision.
Bow City and Dumbarton School District Superintendent Marcy Kelly accused Anthony Foote of Bow, New Hampshire, of wearing an armband supporting a biological girls-only sport at his daughter's high school soccer game. told the New Hampshire Journal that he received a trespassing notice from. In September.
Foote, his wife Nicole, Kyle Fellers, and Eldon Rush were joined in the coming days by Bow School District, Superintendent Marcy Kelly, Principal Matt Fisk, Athletic Director Mike Desilets, Bow Police Lt. Phil Ramey, and football referee Steve Rossetti. filed a federal lawsuit against. later.
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A group of New Hampshire parents is suing a school district over their exclusion from a girls' soccer game for protesting the participation of a transgender player. (Getty Images)
The “silent protest” at Bow High School was meant to “show solidarity” with Bow's team and oppose a policy allowing transgender girls to play on Plymouth's team, according to the complaint. That was the purpose.
Ferrers and Foote testified Thursday that they had no intention of harassing transgender players on opposing teams, but the school district took a different view.
Kelly and Desilets said they believed the protests would go beyond wristbands and received a strongly worded email from Foote, calling him a “true leader” who was ready to take action. They also said Mr Foote encouraged others to attend the match on social media.
In the days leading up to the game, another parent told school officials that she had heard of others who showed up to the game in a dress and heckled a transgender player.
“When we suspect there's a threat of some kind, we don't wait for it to happen,” Kelly said Friday.
The “silent protest” at Bow High School was meant to “show solidarity” with Bow's team and oppose a policy allowing transgender girls to play on Plymouth's team, according to the complaint. That was the purpose.
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Kelly also pointed out that the plaintiffs chose a game involving a transgender player to begin wearing wristbands, noting that the plaintiffs were simply expressing support for their daughter and female teammates in general. He rejected the idea that it was just that.
“This was systematic and targeted,” she said. “If we allow harassment, we are also responsible.”
The federal judge in the case, Stephen McAuliffe, on Thursday criticized the player's parents for repeatedly calling him a boy.
“You seem to be going out of your way to suggest that there are no such things as transgender women,” McAuliffe said during the hearing.
The transgender athlete in question, Parker Tyrrell, and another student-athlete are challenging a state law that prohibits transgender athletes in grades 5-12 from playing on teams that align with their gender identity. are. A federal judge ruled in their case that they can play the sport during an ongoing lawsuit seeking to overturn the law.
The Bow School District defended its decision to prohibit players from attending games wearing “XX” wristbands. (Friedemann Vogel/Getty Images)
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Gov. Chris Sununu, who signed the Women's Sports Fairness Act into law in July, said the law “ensures the fairness and safety of women's sports by maintaining a balance of integrity and competition in athletics.” Ta.
Fox News' Paulina Dedaj, Landon Mion, Jackson Thompson and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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