Juggling advocacy with schoolwork, 2 New Hampshire transgender girls fight to play team sports
CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — Parker Tirrell, 16, enjoys her art classes, scrolling on TikTok and working at her new job at a pet store. But most of all, the transgender teen loves playing soccer.
Until last year, that wasn't a problem.
'I was just living my life like any normal person,' said Tirrell, who has played since she was 4. 'I was accepted. I had a nice, steady team that I played on all the time.'
Then came a cascade of obstacles, starting with a state ban on transgender girls in girls' sports, and most recently President Donald Trump's Feb. 5 executive order, 'Keeping Men Out of Women's Sports."
Now, life is anything but normal. Tirrell, along with Iris Turmelle, 15, another transgender girl, are the first to challenge Trump's order, six months after suing their own state over its ban and getting a court order allowing them to play.
'I just feel like I'm being singled out right now by lawmakers and Trump and just the whole legislative system for something that I can't control,' Tirrell told The Associated Press in an interview. 'It just doesn't feel great. It's not great. It feels like they just don't want me to exist. But I'm not going to stop existing just because they don't want me to.'
Transgender people represent a very small part of the nation's youth population – about 1.4% of teens ages 13 to 17, about 300,000 people.
Turmelle, who likes trying different sports, described the past couple of years as stressful, difficult, annoying and overwhelming — 'so many laws targeting you and your community for who you are and what you stand for and just your identity.'
One message she hopes to get across to others is 'that we are human.'
'We don't go to sleep in the day and go out at night and drink people's blood. We don't hate sunlight. We're human, just like you.'
Supporters of the ban say it's about fairness and safety
Trump and others say that the ban is needed to make girls' sports fair and safe.
The idea has gotten support across the U.S. as Trump campaigned vigorously against rights for transgender people.
During the November election, AP VoteCast, a survey of more than 115,000 voters nationwide, found about half of voters overall said support for transgender rights in government and society has gone too far. About one-quarter said support has been about right and about 2 in 10 said support has not gone far enough.
About half of the states have adopted similar measures to New Hampshire's sports ban. Even some Democrats, including California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a potential 2028 presidential candidate, have come out against letting transgender girls play on girls' teams.
Trump's order gives federal agencies wide latitude to ensure entities that receive federal funding abide by Title IX -- which prohibits sexual discrimination in schools -- in alignment with the Trump administration's view interpreting 'sex' as the gender someone was assigned at birth.
Trump's administration has been using the law to push against schools and states that provide accommodations for transgender students.
The order is one of a series Trump has signed targeting transgender and nonbinary people. The U.S. Supreme Court is looking at several cases, including one from Tennessee over whether state bans on treating transgender minors violate the Constitution. At least two other states have asked the court to review rulings that blocked the enforcement of state laws prohibiting transgender athletes from competing in sports.
A Texas-based group called Female Athletes United has asked to intervene in Tirrell and Turmelle's lawsuit to defend Trump's orders. The group said in their filing that it has members across the U.S. who want to play on a safe and level playing field, 'and cannot do so if they are forced to compete against males.'
The Trump administration has not responded yet to Tirrell and Turmelle's lawsuit. The U.S. Department of Justice said in a statement to AP that allowing boys to participate in girls' sports is unfair and dangerous.
For both New Hampshire teens, the argument that they hold an unfair advantage falls flat. Tirrell says she's less muscular than other girls on her team, and Turmelle said she doesn't see herself as a major athlete.
'To the argument that it's not fair, I'd just like to point out that I did not get on the softball team,' Turmelle recalled of her tryout last year. 'If that wasn't fair, then I don't know what you want from me.'
Balancing being a teen with being an advocate
Turmelle and Tirrell are balancing school and normal life with advocacy, testifying against bills they say target their rights. Tirrell recently testified against a bill that would stop hormone treatments and puberty blockers for transgender youth. Both teens have been receiving puberty-blocking medication and hormone therapy, so they will not go through male puberty.
Turmelle, a high school freshman, began scrawling on postcards when she was in elementary school asking legislative members, 'Please let me play on the girls' teams.' Last year, she was honored by the New Hampshire Women's Foundation as one of its 'trailblazing women' for her activism.
After a controversy where two dads from an opposing team were banned from school grounds for wearing pink wristbands marked 'XX' to represent female chromosomes at a game, Tirrell said she got a nice note from two of the other team's players She pinned it up in her room, saying, 'It felt wonderful.'
'We think you are so inspiring for continuing, despite all the negativity,' it said. 'We support you and thank you. You are a great role model for young girls!'
Turmelle, who enjoys playing Minecraft with friends, adding to her collection of mineral rocks displayed in her room, and tending to the family's chickens, has her eye on tennis now. She recently tried out for and made the girls' team.
'I want to have the option to do it, because I want to have the freedom to choose,' she said of sports, adding, 'It just makes me feel accepted, and who doesn't want to be accepted?'
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