Latest news with #NHIAA
Fox News
21-02-2025
- Politics
- Fox News
New Hampshire follows Trump's transgender sports executive order despite lawsuit from two trans athletes
New Hampshire is following President Donald Trump's executive order to prohibit transgender athletes from competing against girls and women. Prior to the order, according to New Hampshire Public Radio, the New Hampshire Interscholastic Athletic Association deferred to athletes and their districts on their eligibility. But the association reversed course, citing a potential lack of federal funding. "In light of these developments, the NHIAA has consulted with legal counsel and determined that it would be prudent to further clarify the NHIAA's requirements," association Executive Director Jeffrey Collins wrote, adding schools have a responsibility to "comply with state and federal law." WCAX noted that a statement from the Department of Education "commend[ed] the New Hampshire Interscholastic Athletic Association for changing its policies that allowed students to play on a team that matched their gender identity, not biological sex." Former New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu signed the state's Fairness in Women's Sports Act in July, but a lawsuit filed by the families of trans athletes followed and remains active. The suit alleges the New Hampshire law Sununu signed violates constitutional protections and federal laws because the teens are being denied equal educational opportunities and are being discriminated against because they are transgender. The teenage plaintiffs, Parker Tirrell and Iris Turmelle, originally filed the lawsuit last year to challenge the law. Earlier this month, though, a federal judge granted a request to add the Trump administration to the list of defendants due to the president's recent executive order. The situation involving the two transgender athletes has also prompted a second lawsuit after parents wore wristbands that said "XX" in reference to the biological female chromosomes and were allegedly banned from school grounds. Trump signed the "No Men in Women's Sports" executive order Feb. 5, which prohibited any federal funding for educational institutions that allow biological males to compete on women's or girls sports teams. New Hampshire was already one of 25 states with a law in place to enforce similar bans on transgender inclusion, but Tirrell and Turmelle have been allowed to compete on girls teams anyway due to a ruling by a federal judge in their state. Representatives from California, Minnesota, Massachusetts and Maine have all said they would continue to follow state law and ignore Trump's order, which has resulted in Title IX investigations. Follow Fox News Digital's sports coverage on X, and subscribe to the Fox News Sports Huddle newsletter.
Yahoo
20-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
NHIAA sides with Trump over trans sports ban
Feb. 19—The New Hampshire Interscholastic Athletic Association told schools to abide by President Donald Trump's executive order banning transgender girls from playing girls sports. Just two days after attorneys for Parker Tirrell and Iris Turmelle filed a motion to add Trump as a defendant in an ongoing legal battle over a new state law banning them from playing girls sports, the 21-member NHIAA Council announced it had unanimously capitulated to Trump's Feb. 5 order. With the NHIAA suspending its own rule and telling schools to follow all state and federal laws on the matter, school districts essentially lost the ability to determine a trans athlete's eligibility to play without solidarity with or the protection of the NHIAA. The NHIAA Council is made up of athletic directors, school principals, superintendents, members of the NH School Boards Association and politically appointed members of the State Board of Education. In a press release issued Friday but not received by the Union Leader, NHIAA Executive Director Jeffrey Collins made it clear that "possible consequences to federal funding" would be held over local school officials' heads for noncompliance. The responsibility was placed entirely on schools. HB 1205, a state law also known as the "Fairness in Women's Sports Act," was enacted last summer, but a federal judge blocked enforcement after Tirrell and Turmelle's families sued the state in U.S. District Court, challenging the constitutionality of the measure. "By-Law Article II Section 21 has been suspended pending further review," Collins advised in the written statement. "Member schools remain responsible for ensuring compliance with state and federal law regarding gender-based eligibility determinations, which may be reviewed as appropriate per the due process procedures found in NHIAA By-Law Article V, Section 1, B." The NHIAA's ruling went into effect Friday. Collins declined to comment on the NHIAA's action Wednesday. Back to court? Last week, Chris Erchull, an attorney at GLBTQ Legal Advocates & Defenders (GLAD Law), said if a school district or state entity enforced Trump's ban, Tirrell and Turmelle might need to ask for emergency relief and file a motion to block enforcement of what he called the president's discriminatory order. Erchull and the ACLU of New Hampshire are representing Tirrell, a sophomore at Plymouth Regional High School and Turmelle, a freshman at Pembroke Academy. Tirrell was allowed to play girls soccer for Plymouth last fall and Turmelle wanted to try out for girls tennis this spring. Both girls and likely any other high school trans athletes should be allowed to play under U.S. District Court Chief Judge Landya McCafferty's order blocking enforcement of HB 1205. Ben Klein, a GLAD Law attorney, said Wednesday the preliminary injunction to block enforcement of the state law should also apply to Trump's executive order now that they've added him to the case. "Things could change, but right now, we're litigating the case based on our second amended complaint, which challenges the executive order as unconstitutional and exceeding the president's authority," Klein said. "I think it's important to keep in mind also that the NHIAA has not prohibited transgender girls from playing sports. What they've done is they've essentially decided to suspend their policy and remain neutral." Case timeline The case was initially scheduled to go to trial Nov. 10 this year, but Trump's order combined with the NHIAA's ruling could lead to a series of court motions and filings that could postpone the trial. Also complicating matters, state Education Commissioner Frank Edelblut is seeking to be removed from the case as a defendant. The lawsuit's shortened name is Tirrell v. Edelblut, but the state Attorney General's Office said the commissioner was not appropriately named with the other defendants because he lacks jurisdiction to enforce state law. Edelblut, a former Republican state representative who has previously had lofty political aspirations, has been education commissioner since being appointed in 2017 by former Gov. Chris Sununu, who narrowly defeated him in the 2016 primary. The plaintiffs objected to dismissing Edelblut from the case in December. Klein said he did not anticipate any major actions involving the lawsuit for now. dpierce@
