New Hampshire

Transgender girls sue New Hampshire officials over sports ban

Published

5 months ago

August 16, 2024

Transgender girls sue New Hampshire officials over sports ban

Two transgender teenage girls and their families sued New Hampshire education officials on Friday over a new law that will bar some trans students in the state from competing on school sports teams that match their gender identities.

The legislation, House Bill 1205, goes into effect Monday and will require students in grades 5-12 to compete on school sports teams that match the gender marked on their birth certificates.

Parker Tirrell, 15, and Iris Turmelle, 14, along with their families argue in their lawsuit that the new law violates Title IX federal civil rights rules, which prevent sex discrimination in federally funded education programs and activities.

A spokesperson for the New Hampshire Department of Education said in an email that the department does not comment on pending litigation and referred NBC News to the state attorney general’s office. Mike Garrity, a spokesperson for the New Hampshire Attorney General’s Office, said in an email that the office is “reviewing the complaint and will respond as appropriate.”

Tirrell, who is a rising sophomore at Plymouth Regional High School, said her school has already barred her from participating on the girls’ soccer team.

“Not being allowed to play on my team with the other girls would disconnect me from so many of my friends and make school so much harder,” Tirell said in a statement. “I just want to be myself and to learn, play, and support my teammates like I did last year.”

Turmelle, a rising freshman at Pembroke Academy in Pembroke, has not been explicitly barred from participating in any school sports yet, but intends to try out for her school’s girls’ tennis and track and field teams.

“I’m a transgender girl, I’ve known that my whole life and everyone knows I’m a girl,” Turmelle said in a statement. “I don’t understand why I shouldn’t get to have the same opportunities as other girls at school,”

Since Idaho enacted a law limiting trans students’ participation in school sports in 2020, a total of 25 states have passed laws banning some or all trans students from competing on sports teams consistent with their gender identities, according to LGBTQ think tank Movement Advancement Project.

Proponents of these laws say that some trans athletes can have unfair competitive advantages, while critics say they’re discriminatory and prevent trans students from obtaining the benefits of school sports.

“Sports are a pillar of education in New Hampshire public schools because of the countless benefits of physical activity in a team environment, including physical and mental health, leadership skills, and social development,” Chris Erchull, a staff attorney at the Massachusetts-based nonprofit GLBTQ Legal Advocates & Defenders, or GLAD, said. “New Hampshire cannot justify singling out transgender girls to deny them essential educational benefits available to other students.”

The Tirrell and Turmelle families are being represented by GLAD, the American Civil Liberties Union of New Hampshire and law firm Goodwin Procter.

In April, the Biden administration expanded Title IX rules to include protections for LGBTQ students. However, the rules notably did not mention the issue of trans athletes. Furthermore, over 20 GOP-led states have sued the administration over the new rules. And in June, federal judges temporarily blocked the rules from taking place in 10 states challenging them.

New Hampshire’s transgender sports law was one of two bills Gov. Chris Sununu, a Republican, signed into law last month affecting the state’s trans community. The other measure will prevent trans minors from receiving transition-related surgery and bar physicians from referring patients for out-of-state procedures starting next year.

Sununu said in a statement at the time that the bills “reflect commonsense, bipartisan solutions that reflect the values of parents across our state.”

Sununu vetoed a bill last month that would have limited which restrooms trans people could access.

A representative for Sununu did not immediately return a request for comment regarding Friday’s lawsuit.

For more from NBC Out, sign up for our weekly newsletter.

Source link

New Hampshire

Crash impacts traffic on I-95 northbound in NH

Published

4 hours ago

January 10, 2025

Press Room

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.

No further details were immediately available.

Source link

New Hampshire

NH Butterfly Monitoring Network Offers Online Trainings

Published

15 hours ago

January 10, 2025

Press Room

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:

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

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

New Hampshire

Cooper scores 20, UAlbany beats New Hampshire

Published

23 hours ago

January 10, 2025

Press Room

Cooper scores 20, UAlbany beats New Hampshire

by: UAlbany Athletics

Posted: Jan 9, 2025 / 11:20 PM EST

Updated: Jan 9, 2025 / 11:20 PM EST

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.