{"id":12732,"date":"2024-03-22T11:10:11","date_gmt":"2024-03-22T11:10:11","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"-0001-11-30T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"-0001-11-30T00:00:00","slug":"new-hampshire-house-passes-bill-barring-trans-girls-from-middle-school-high-school-girls\u2019-sports-teams-54481892\/","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nne-concord-monitor-2.newspackstaging.com\/?p=12732","title":{"rendered":"House passes bill barring trans girls from middle school, high school girls\u2019 sports teams"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"House<\/a>
House Bill 1205 would require parents of students to produce a birth certificate to prove to school districts their child\u2019s sex at birth before they could participate in a team sport. The bill was voted on during the March 21, 2024, session.<\/figcaption><\/figure>

The New Hampshire House approved a bill to bar transgender girls from participating in female sports teams in K-12 schools and public colleges and universities, in a 189-182 vote that drew criticism from LGBTQ+ rights groups.<\/p>\n

\n House Bill 1205<\/a>\u00a0would require parents of students to produce a birth certificate to prove to school districts their child\u2019s sex at birth before they could participate in a team sport. Those students whose birth certificate does not indicate their sex at birth would need to \u201cprovide other evidence\u201d for it, according to the bill.<\/p>\n

The bill would require all interscholastic, intercollegiate, intramural, or club athletic teams that are sponsored by a school to label themselves according to binary genders. The teams would need to be labeled into three groups: \u201cmales,\u201d \u201cmen,\u201d or \u201cboys\u201d; \u201cfemales,\u201d \u201cwomen,\u201d or \u201cgirls\u201d; and \u201ccoed\u201d or \u201cmixed.\u201d Teams designated for \u201cfemales,\u201d \u201cwomen,\u201d or \u201cgirls\u201d would not be allowed to accept people born biologically male.<\/p>\n

Under the bill, a student who is aggrieved by a lack of compliance with the bill could bring legal action against the school and seek damages or injunctive relief from a court, in addition to attorney\u2019s fees. The legislation would also bar any licensing or accrediting organization, athletic association, or government entity from \u201centertaining\u201d a complaint against a school on the basis of separating teams by genders, opening an investigation, or taking adverse action.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The bill would apply to grades 5 through 12.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Supporters of the bill characterized it as a women\u2019s rights issue, and argued that trans girls and women who are born biologically male can have an unfair physiological advantage over their cisgender peers. They said the bill would uphold the spirit of Title IX, which barred sex-based discrimination in educational programs, arguing that limiting sports to cisgender women would protect the purpose of female sports teams.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But opponents denounced the bill as an attack on the rights of trans girls and women to participate in sports, and they said the bill would put schools in violation of Title IX, not in alignment with it.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis bill targets a small group of student athletes claiming there is a categorical advantage when there is not,\u201d said Rep. Alexis Simpson, an Exeter Democrat.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Speaking to the House Thursday, Simpson raised privacy concerns around how students who don\u2019t have applicable birth certificates could prove their biological gender.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Simpson added that the bill could directly violate Title IX because it would bar boys from participating on girls teams, which is not allowed under Title IX. That could require schools to designate all girls teams as coed teams to avoid the potential for funding to be withdrawn, she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

And she said the bill would violate the federal law for a more basic reason: It would bar opportunities for trans students to access the sports team of their gender identity, and Title IX prohibits sex-based exclusion.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cTitle IX protects student athletes, ensuring they can participate in the sport at their school if it is offered, even if it\u2019s not offered for their specific gender,\u201d Simpson said. \u201cTitle IX is how girls were able to start participating in sports in the first place.\u201d<\/p>\n

Some rights groups, such as 603 Equality, Seacoast Outright, the American Civil Liberties Union of New Hampshire, and GLBTQ Legal Advocates and Defenders, denounced the bill\u2019s passage.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cToday, the so-called \u2018Live Free or Die\u2019 state chose to exclude transgender girls from participating on girls sports teams, cruelly taking away opportunities to learn teamwork, improve mental health, and belong with other girls,\u201d said Linds Jakows, founder of 603 Equality.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But Republicans argued that trans girls would not be shut out from sports and would only need to join coed or boys\u2019 teams.<\/p>\n

Rep. Katy Peternel, a Wolfeboro Republican, said the bill was necessary because the New Hampshire Interscholastic Athletic Association had passed a policy that allows trans students to play on sports teams. Without the bill, there was no recourse to other girls who felt it was unfair.<\/p>\n

Peternel argued that some girls could be cut from higher teams because they are displaced by trans girls, which could affect their ability to acquire scholarships in college.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat about the girls whose self-esteem and mental health suffers because they can\u2019t live out their true authentic selves?\u201d Peternel said. \u201cThese girls work hard to train and practice only to have their dreams crushed by allowing biological males to compete in women\u2019s sports.\u201d<\/p>\n

For Lane, a transgender woman who requested that her last name be omitted, competing in girls sports as a transgender girl was also important to living out her authentic self.<\/p>\n

As a fifth grader, Lane was quickly enamored with soccer, following in the footsteps of her dad, who played it in college. \u201cIt\u2019s sort of ingrained in my DNA,\u201d she said in an interview with the Bulletin. \u201cI just found so much joy in doing it.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Fifth grade was the first year Lane played soccer, at a private school in Maine. It was also the year she came out as a trans girl to her school. Her classmates and teachers were supportive, she said. And the girls\u2019 soccer team welcomed her, too.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was accepted by everyone,\u201d said Lane, who has since graduated high school. \u201cI was seen as a girl. I went to the bathroom as a girl. \u2026 And it would be weird if there was an exception on the soccer field.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lane, who testified against HB 1205 earlier this year, said while she had an accepting environment growing up, other transgender students do not, and bills barring them from girls\u2019 sports would only exacerbate that. If her school had prevented her from joining her girls\u2019 team, she would not have played, she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cSports are a huge part of upbringing,\u201d she said. \u201cThey\u2019re a huge part of growing up. Trans kids are kids and they shouldn\u2019t be denied that experience because they\u2019re trans.\u201d<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The New Hampshire House approved a bill to bar transgender girls from participating in female sports teams in K-12 schools and public colleges and universities, in a 189-182 vote that drew criticism from LGBTQ+ rights groups.House Bill 1205\u00a0would…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":193,"featured_media":12733,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"newspack_ads_suppress_ads":false,"newspack_popups_has_disabled_popups":false,"newspack_sponsor_sponsorship_scope":"","newspack_sponsor_native_byline_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_native_category_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_style":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_placement":"inherit","_newspack_byline_active":true,"_newspack_byline":"by [Author id=193]Ethan Dewitt[\/Author] New Hampshire Bulletin","newspack_content_restriction_is_exempt":false,"newspack_featured_image_position":"","newspack_post_subtitle":"","newspack_article_summary_title":"Overview:","newspack_article_summary":"","newspack_hide_updated_date":false,"newspack_show_updated_date":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,508],"tags":[505],"newspack_spnsrs_tax":[],"coauthors":[545],"class_list":["post-12732","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-top-headlines-cm","tag-paywall","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/nne-concord-monitor-2.newspackstaging.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/43212889-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nne-concord-monitor-2.newspackstaging.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12732","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nne-concord-monitor-2.newspackstaging.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nne-concord-monitor-2.newspackstaging.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nne-concord-monitor-2.newspackstaging.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/193"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nne-concord-monitor-2.newspackstaging.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=12732"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/nne-concord-monitor-2.newspackstaging.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12732\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12734,"href":"https:\/\/nne-concord-monitor-2.newspackstaging.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12732\/revisions\/12734"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nne-concord-monitor-2.newspackstaging.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/12733"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nne-concord-monitor-2.newspackstaging.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=12732"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nne-concord-monitor-2.newspackstaging.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=12732"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nne-concord-monitor-2.newspackstaging.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=12732"},{"taxonomy":"newspack_spnsrs_tax","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nne-concord-monitor-2.newspackstaging.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fnewspack_spnsrs_tax&post=12732"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nne-concord-monitor-2.newspackstaging.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcoauthors&post=12732"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}