Tentative deal could allow transgender girls to keep playing on girls’ sports teams in N.H. – The Boston Globe

If that joint stipulation is not filed by the deadline, then a hearing will be scheduled on the plaintiffs’ motion for a temporary restraining order as shortly after noon on Monday as possible, according to the records. The parties were also directed to file a joint scheduling proposal by Wednesday regarding the plaintiffs’ motion for a preliminary injunction.

Lawyers for Tirrell and Turmelle — who are represented by attorneys from GLBTQ Legal Advocates & Defenders, the American Civil Liberties Union of New Hampshire, and Goodwin — asked the court to provide relief on an expedited emergency basis so Tirrell can attend practice on Monday with her teammates.

Chris Erchull, a senior staff attorney with GLAD, said barring Tirrell, a rising sophomore, from returning to practice at Plymouth Regional High School is “the perfect exemplar of why this law is so unfair and so cruel.”

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.

Kyla A. Welch, superintendent of the Pemi-Baker Regional School District, which includes Plymouth Regional High School, said her leadership team had no choice but to begin enforcing the new restrictions, even though the district has yet to enact a policy to govern application of the new law. Welch noted that the new law allows private parties to sue schools for failing to enforce its restrictions. The state hasn’t provided any guidance, she said Friday, on how to handle the new law.

Proponents of the legislation, which Republican Governor Chris Sununu 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,” New Hampshire Senate President Jeb Bradley, a Wolfeboro Republican, said 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’s typical for testosterone-driven male puberty, their lawsuit says.

Tirrell said she has entertained hopes of one day winning an athletic scholarship, but the notion that she has an unfair advantage or poses a physical risk to her teammates doesn’t match the reality: She stands 5 feet 6 inches tall and has less muscle mass than some of her female peers — not exactly the imposing presence that policy makers seem to have in mind.

“They imagine a trans girl as a big, buff, beefy, bodybuilder man,” she said. “I feel like that’s how they picture it.”

The lawsuit, which says it would be “painful and humiliating” for Tirrell to be forced to switch from the girls’ team to the boys’ team, alleges that enforcement of the state law violates both Title IX and the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment.

The defendants are New Hampshire Education Commissioner Frank Edelblut, each of the seven members of the state Board of Education, the Pemi-Baker Regional School District and each member of its board, and the Pembroke School District and each member of its board.

A spokesperson for the New Hampshire Department of Justice, which represents the state defendants, said Saturday the DOJ would not comment beyond the court filings.

Attorneys representing the Pemi-Baker Regional School District defendants and the Pembroke School District defendants did not immediately respond Saturday.

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