Bow Residents Sue School District for Free-Speech Violation
Three parents and a grandfather in Bow have filed a lawsuit against the Bow School District, accusing the district of stifling free speech after they were issued no-trespass orders for protesting against transgender girls participating in girls’ sports teams.
On September 17th, during a Bow High School girls’ soccer game against Plymouth Regional High School, parents Anthony Foote and Kyle Fellers attended wearing pink armbands emblazoned with ‘XX,’ a reference to the sex chromosomes associated with biological females.
On that day, Parker Tirrell, a transgender girl was playing for the Plymouth soccer team.
But the match was paused for 10 to 15 minutes as school officials asked the parents to remove their armbands, and they were subsequently issued no-trespass orders for targeting a student on the soccer field.
The school district also had to call additional police to maintain order amid the protest. In response, a lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Hampshire by Fellers, Anthony and Nicole Foote; and Eldon Rash, a family member of Fellers against the school district. This case comes in the wake of a recent law signed by Governor Chris Sununu, which prohibits students assigned male at birth from competing on female sports teams in grades 5 through 12.
