CNN
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Two transgender teenagers and their families filed a lawsuit against New Hampshire state education officials on Friday over a new law that prohibits them from participating on girls’ sports teams at public high schools.

The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Concord, demands that 15-year-old Parker Tirrell be allowed to play on the girls’ soccer team and that 14-year-old Iris Turmelle be allowed to participate in tryouts for the girls’ tennis and track teams.

House Bill 1205, set to take effect Monday, would ban both girls from playing on girls’ sports teams at their schools, according to court documents. New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu signed the bill last month and said in a statement it “ensures fairness and safety in women’s sports by maintaining integrity and competitive equality in athletic competitions.”

Advocacy group GLAD, the ACLU of New Hampshire and the law firm Goodwin Procter, which represent the girls and their families, claim the state law denies Tirrell and Turmelle equal educational opportunities and discriminates against them because they are transgender, violating federal law and the constitutional right to equal treatment.

“The law denies them the many educational, social, and physical and mental health benefits that sport brings, isolates them from friends and teammates, and discriminates against them simply because they are transgender girls,” GLAD said in a statement.

The lawsuit comes amid a heated debate in the U.S. over bans on transgender athletes in recent years. A few weeks ago, a school district in South Florida decided to suspend an employee for 10 days. She was accused of allowing her transgender daughter to play on a high school girls’ volleyball team in 2022 and 2023, which violated state law. In April, a federal appeals court ruled that West Virginia cannot enforce its anti-transgender sports ban against a 13-year-old girl, striking down one of nearly two dozen such laws passed by Republican-led states in recent years.

Tirrell and Turmelle both knew they were girls from a young age and interacted with others like girls in every aspect of their lives, the lawsuit says. They were accepted as girls by their parents, family, schools, peers, teammates and coaches, the lawsuit says.

Both girls have been diagnosed with gender dysphoria, a condition characterized by a mismatch between their birth sex and gender identity, the lawsuit says. They are receiving puberty-blocking medication and hormone therapy “to alleviate the distress caused by physical characteristics that conflict with their gender identity,” the lawsuit says.

Tirrell is a rising 10th-grader at Plymouth Regional High School who played on the girls soccer team last year and was looking forward to joining her teammates when the season begins later this month, court documents say.

“When I play soccer with my teammates, I feel the most free and happy. We are there for each other, win or lose,” Tirrell said in a statement. “If I wasn’t allowed to play with the other girls on my team, it would separate me from so many of my friends and make school a lot more difficult. I just want to be myself and learn, play and support my teammates like I did last year.”

Tirrell’s mother Sara said in a statement that being excluded from the team could have a negative impact on her daughter.

“Every parent wants to know that their child is healthy, happy and feels like they belong. It’s no different for my husband and I as parents of a transgender daughter. I’m really concerned about the damaging impact on Parker’s self-esteem and well-being of being told she has to start the new school year without being on the field with her teammates.”

Turmelle will be a freshman at Pembroke Academy and was looking forward to trying out for the tennis and track teams, court documents say.

“Starting high school is exciting and new. I played tennis in middle school. I was excited to try out for the tennis and track teams because it will allow me to make more friends at my new school and I know I will learn a lot from it. I am a transgender girl, I have known that my whole life and everyone knows I am a girl. I don’t understand why I shouldn’t have the same opportunities as other girls at school,” Turmelle said in a statement.

Turmelle’s mother, Amy, said in a statement that her daughter had been looking forward to trying out for the high school sports teams after being bullied in middle school.

“After participating in Girls on the Run, she is also looking forward to a new challenge by trying out for the school’s track and field team,” she said in a statement. “Iris was bullied in her middle school and my husband and I just want her to be safe, feel included and be treated fairly so she can have a positive and happy high school experience.”

New Hampshire is among 25 states statewide that ban transgender students from competing on sports teams that correspond with their gender identity, according to data from the Movement Advancement Project, a nonprofit think tank.

The lawsuit names New Hampshire Education Commissioner Frank Edelblut and other state and local education officials as defendants.

Governor Sununu, the New Hampshire Department of Education and the New Hampshire Attorney General’s Office could not immediately be reached for comment.