A “No Trespass Order” from Bow School District showed up in the mail addressed to two fathers after they wore a pink “XX” armband to defend their daughters and to protest Parker Tirrell, a transgender player for Plymouth Regional High.
The controversy was first reported in mid-September by New Hampshire Journal, an online news outlet, and got noticed by radio host Todd Starnes.
The punished parents have been identified by news reports as Anthony Foote, who was banned from one game for wearing the armband during the high school soccer match.
A second parent, Kyle Feller, was suspended from attending Bow High soccer games for the remainder of the season after refusing to leave the field. He was also accused by the school of refusing to remove his armband when a police officer ordered him to do so.
Feller reportedly told the police officer he was wearing it for breast cancer awareness.
“We have the right to be silent and wear our armbands – an armband that’s protesting breast cancer,” the defiant parent said, according to a story by The Concord Monitor.
The school district was aware of the planned protest, which was announced on social media, but the New Hampshire Journal says video footage confirms the two armband-wearing fathers did not cause a disruption nor draw attention to themselves during the game.
Despite their silent protest, the no trespassing order accused them of violating school policy about "threatening, harassing, or intimidating" others.
The day before the Sept. 17 game, an email from athletic director Mike Desilets warned that “any inappropriate signs, references, language or anything else present at the game will not be tolerated.”
That ban apparently included a pink armband.
Tom Joyce, a reporter for the New Boston Post, has been following the controversy surrounding Tirrell and women’s sports. He tells AFN that Tirrell, a high school sophomore, is suing the State of New Hampshire over its female-only sports law.
That legislation was signed into law in July by Gov. Chris Sununu, the state’s Republican governor.
“And there's been a preliminary injunction,” Joyce advises, “that allows just this one specific athlete to continue participating in girls' sports, despite being a male, during the fall season until the court decides on this case.”
Tirrell is represented in the federal lawsuit by ACLU of New Hampshire and GLBTQ Legal Advocates and Defenders.
