Connect with us

New Hampshire

Judge to decide Monday whether transgender N.H. teen can play on her school’s soccer team – The Boston Globe

Published

on

Judge to decide Monday whether transgender N.H. teen can play on her school’s soccer team – The Boston Globe


Christopher G. Bond, general counsel for the New Hampshire Department of Justice, said Sunday that the attorney general’s office is tasked with defending duly enacted state laws in court, so the office won’t agree to a temporary restraining order that would result in the suspension of provisions of the law at issue in this case.

The parties had until Monday morning to file a joint stipulation to formalize their potential agreement. But the court on Sunday scheduled a hearing for Monday at 2 p.m. to address a pending emergency motion, which signaled that no deal had been reached.

The plaintiffs’ emergency motion asks the judge to temporarily block New Hampshire education officials from enforcing the law and to allow Tirrell to keep attending practice and games with her team.

Chief Judge Landya B. McCafferty is presiding over this case in the US District Court for the District of New Hampshire. She was nominated by former president Barack Obama and is the first woman to serve as a federal district court judge in New Hampshire.

Advertisement

The enforcement action that triggered this lawsuit came Thursday, when the superintendent of Tirrell’s school district notified Tirrell’s parents that the teen would no longer be welcome at soccer practice beginning Monday, since the new law barring her from the team would take effect over the weekend.

With backing from three law firms that advocate for the rights of LGBTQ+ people, Tirrell and Turmelle, along with their respective parents, filed a lawsuit Friday to challenge enforcement of the new law.

Their attorneys argue in court filings that Tirrell, a rising sophomore at Plymouth Regional High School, and Turmelle, a rising ninth-grader at Pembroke Academy, will be denied “a critical aspect of their education” unless the court provides immediate relief.

“They are young adolescents at a critical stage of their personal development,” the attorneys wrote. “They will never get their early high school years back and, as such, a preliminary injunction is necessary to avoid the denial of a critical and unique educational program that cannot be repeated or replaced, let alone adequately compensated by money damages.”

“In their short high school careers, a single day that they miss out on essential educational opportunities will cause them great harm,” they added.

Advertisement
Iris Turmelle, 14, at her home in Pembroke, N.H.Erin Clark/Globe Staff

Proponents of the legislation — which Governor Chris Sununu, a Republican, signed last month — said it would protect safety and fairness for girls’ sports.

“It may not be universal, but biological males have a strength and speed advantage over biological females,” said New Hampshire Senate President Jeb Bradley, a Wolfeboro Republican, during legislative debate in May.

The lawsuit contends, however, that being transgender “is not an accurate proxy for athletic performance or ability.” Tirrell and Turmell are taking puberty-blocking medication and hormone therapy, so they won’t experience the muscular development and other physical changes that is typical for testosterone-driven male puberty, their lawsuit says.

Their attorneys argue they don’t have any physiological or biological advantage in girls’ sports and are being excluded based on their status as members of “a politically unpopular class.”

Advertisement

Under the new restrictions, public schools that serve students in fifth through 12th grades, and private schools whose students compete against public schools, must designate each of their interscholastic sports and club athletics teams as being for either males, females, or both.

A student’s sex is determined based on their unamended birth certificate. If a birth certificate “does not appear to be” original or does not specify sex at birth, then the student “must provide other evidence indicating the student’s sex at the time of birth” and cover any costs associated with doing so.

Private parties can sue schools for failing to enforce the new law’s restrictions.

The issue of how to treat transgender athletes has been a contentious topic in recent years. In late July, the Associated Press reported, a Florida school employee who allowed her transgender daughter to play on the high school’s girls volleyball team was suspended for 10 days. The employee is part of a federal lawsuit to block Florida’s law. A legal challenge to Connecticut’s policy about trans students competing in school sports has been making its way through the court system for several years.


Steven Porter can be reached at steven.porter@globe.com. Follow him @reporterporter.





Source link

Advertisement
Continue Reading
Advertisement
Click to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

New Hampshire

Crash impacts traffic on I-95 northbound in NH

Published

on

Crash impacts traffic on I-95 northbound in NH


New Hampshire State Police responded to a crash Friday evening on Interstate 95 northbound in Portsmouth.

The crash happened near Exit 5 and closed the highway in the northbound direction, but police said around 7:45 p.m. that one lane had reopened.

Authorities did not have any word on injuries.

Drivers are being asked to avoid the area if possible. Delays and detours are expected.

Advertisement

No further details were immediately available.



Source link

Continue Reading

New Hampshire

NH Butterfly Monitoring Network Offers Online Trainings

Published

on

NH Butterfly Monitoring Network Offers Online Trainings


CONTACT:
Heidi Holman, NH Fish and Game: 603-271-2461
Haley Andreozzi, UNH Cooperative Extension: (603) 862-5327
January 10, 2025

Concord, NH — Butterflies serve as important biodiversity indicators for ecosystem health and provide food for many speciess, such as migrating birds. There are more than 100 typess of butterflies in New Hampshire, but data on their presence and distribution is limited. With butterflies using forests, fields, wetlands, and backyards all over the state, volunteer observations are critical to providing a landscape view of these species.

A five-part online training series hosted by the NH Butterfly Monitoring Network will provide information on butterflies in New Hampshire, butterfly biology and identification, and how to get involved with the Network. The NH Butterfly Monitoring Network is a collaborative effort with a goal of engaging volunteers in counting and identifying butterflies across New Hampshire. Data collected by volunteers can contribute to the understanding of long-term trends in butterfly populations and inform conservation actions for both common and declining species.

Webinars in the series will include:

Advertisement

February 12, 6:30–7:30 p.m.: Intro to New Hampshire Butterflies
Mark Ellingwood, Wildlife Biologist and Volunteer with the Harris Center for Conservation Education

February 26, 6:30–7:30 p.m.: Wetland Butterflies of New Hampshire
Rick Van de Poll, Ecologist and Certified Wetland Scientist

March 12, 6:30–7:30 p.m.: Butterflying New Hampshire’s Woodlands
Levi Burford, Coordinator of the Errol Butterfly Count

March 26, 6:30–7:30 p.m.: Identifying New Hampshire’s Grassland Butterflies
Amy Highstrom, Coordinator of the Lake Sunapee Butterfly Count, and Vanessa Johnson, NH Audubon

April 9, 6:30–7:30 p.m.: Become a Volunteer Guide with NH Butterfly Monitoring Network
Haley Andreozzi, UNH Extension

Advertisement

All butterfly enthusiasts are welcome, with or without prior experience. For more information and to register for the session(s) you are interested in, visit nhbutterflies.org.

The NH Butterfly Monitoring Network is led by the NH Fish and Game Department and UNH Cooperative Extension with collaboration from partners statewide, including NH Audubon, Tin Mountain Conservation Center, the Harris Center for Conservation Education, and Ausbon Sargent Land Preservation Trust.



Source link

Advertisement
Continue Reading

New Hampshire

Cooper scores 20, UAlbany beats New Hampshire

Published

on

Cooper scores 20, UAlbany beats New Hampshire


Posted:

Updated:

Advertisement

ALBANY, NY (NEWS10) — A strong second half powered the UAlbany women’s basketball team to their third conference victory in as many contests on Thursday night.

COACH COLLEEN MULLEN: “To start the game, New Hampshire had great defensive intensity and pace. Once we settled in and started moving the ball, we were able to capitalize with our inside-out game. In the second half, we had solid offensive execution and grinded out multiple defensive stops. This was a great team win on both ends.”

KEY STATS

  • Graduate student Kayla Cooper led the team with 20 points, six rebounds, three steals, and three assists while shooting over 50% from the field.
  • Fellow graduate student Jessica Tomasetti followed with nine points and five rebounds. The point guard also shot 50% from the field.
  • Junior Gabriela Falcao tallied a team-high two blocks.
  • As a team, the Great Danes totaled nine steals with 19 points off turnovers.
  • The UAlbany defense did not allow any singular Wildcat to surpass seven points.

HOW IT HAPPENED

  • Graduate student Lilly Phillips scored the first basket of the game after a combined four scoreless possessions.
  • That defensive nature continued throughout the rest of the half.
  • New Hampshire gained a 9-5 lead within four minutes of action but the Great Danes quickly answered to tie the score in the next two minutes.
  • UAlbany ended the quarter with a one-possession advantage, 14-11.
  • Throughout the second quarter, the Great Danes allowed just two field goals for five Wildcat points.
  • Four different Great Danes scored in a defensive quarter to make it a 24-16 game at halftime.
  • The second half was a different game – UAlbany nearly doubled its score from the first half in the third quarter alone.
  • The Great Danes began the third with a 12-2 scoring run. Ten of those points were scored in just two minutes and 23 seconds.
  • Kayla Cooper and Jessica Tomasetti combined to score 10 additional points and close the third quarter with a 22-point advantage, 46-24.
  • Cooper and Tomasetti scored all but three of the 22 points in the third quarter. Cooper tallied 12 alone.
  • Following two fourth-quarter layups from senior Laycee Drake and Phillips, the Great Danes held a 26-point lead.
  • UAlbany continued to extend their lead throughout the next seven minutes of action. The largest lead of the contest came with 1:24 left – 29 points (59-30).
  • The Wildcats got the final say to make it a 27-point decision, 59-32.

NEXT: The Great Danes will close out the week at home against Maine on Saturday (Jan. 11).



Source link

Advertisement
Continue Reading

Trending