High school athletes challenge Trump’s order on trans athletes

[Jessica_Rose]

High school athletes challenge Trump's order on trans athletes

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/high-school-athletes-challenge-trump-s-order-on-trans-athletes/ar-AA1yVpBu?ocid=hpmsn&cvid=14fb8a8a1bce4d6ea491e18898449558&ei=7

Story by Brooke Migdon (12 Feb 2025)

A federal judge on Wednesday granted a request from two transgender high school athletes in New Hampshire to add the Trump administration to a lawsuit challenging a state law barring trans athletes from girls' and women's sports after President Trump's issued an executive order doing the same earlier this month.

The teenage plaintiffs, Parker Tirrell and Iris Turmelle, filed a challenge last year to a New Hampshire law prohibiting transgender girls in grades fifth through 12th from participating in girls' sports. The law, which the state's Republican-controlled Legislature passed in May and Gov. Chris Sununu (R) signed in July, does not prevent transgender boys from competing in boys' sports.

A federal judge granted the girls' request for a preliminary injunction in September, allowing them to continue playing sports according to their gender identity.

"If anything, the plaintiffs' own circumstances suggest that transgender girls' participation in girls' sports in New Hampshire has not presented a fairness or safety issue," Judge Landya McCafferty of the U.S. District Court for the District of New Hampshire wrote at the time. "Parker's soccer team had a winless season last year, and Iris did not make the cut for middle school softball."

Chris Erchull of the organization GLBTQ Legal Advocates & Defenders, also representing the plaintiffs, said Trump's orders "amount to a coordinated campaign to prevent transgender people from functioning in society."