Re: Defying 200+ Years of 1A Precedent, Federal Judge Rules XX Armbands Can be Banned

 https://nhjournal.com/judge-rules-school-can-ban-xx-protests-over-males-in-girls-sports/
 The Bow School District was acting within its authority to kick two soccer
dads out of a girls game for wearing pink XX wristbands as a silent protest
against biological males playing on girls' teams, a federal judge ruled
Monday.
 But one of the dads, Anthony Foote, told NHJournal he plans to keep fighting
for what he sees as the rights of women and girls.
 "What was our offense? Supporting girls' sports and defending biological
reality?" Foote said. "This ruling is a slap in the face to every parent who
believes schools should be a place of fairness, not political indoctrination.
The judge openly admitted that Pride flags are allowed because they promote
'inclusion', but wristbands defending women's sports are banned because they
might 'offend' someone. That's viewpoint discrimination, plain and simple  and
it's unconstitutional."
 United States District Court Judge Steven McAuliffe ruled against Foote, Kyle
Fellers, Eldon Rash, and Nicole Foote in a 45-page order denying their
preliminary injunction against SAU 67. The parents are being represented by
the Institute for Free Speech, a legal nonprofit that promotes parents'
rights. Del Kolde, the senior attorney, said he is still considering his next
steps in this case.
 "We strongly disagree with the court's opinion issued today denying our
request for a preliminary injunction. This was adult speech in a limited
public forum, which enjoys greater 1st Amendment protection than student
speech in the classroom. Bow School District officials were obviously
discriminating based on viewpoint because they perceived the XX wristbands to
be 'trans-exclusionary''. We are still evaluating our options for next steps,"
Kolde said.
 The crux of McAuliffe's ruling is that while Fellers, Foote, and the others
acted within their 1st Amendment rights to protest, venues like school
athletic events are considered "limited public forums" and school officials
acted within their legal authority to restrict what the parents said and did.
 "The question then becomes whether the School District can manage its athletic
events and its athletic fields and facilities  that is, its limited public
forum  in a manner that protects its students from adult speech that can
reasonably be seen to target a specific student participating in the event (as
well as other similar gender-identifying students) by invited adult
spectators, when that speech demeans, harasses, intimidates, and bullies. The
answer is straightforward: Of course it can. Indeed, school authorities are
obligated to do so," McAuliffe wrote.
 For days before the Sept. 10, 2024, game, Anthony Foote and Fellers made it
known to school officials that they were unhappy Bow High School was going to
play a game against a girls' team with a biological male player, Parker
Tirrell.
 Days before the game, Tirrell made national news with a court victory against
the state of New Hampshire's law barring biological males from girls' sports.
 The dads went on social media to discuss various protest ideas, according to
the evidence in the case. McAuliffe wrote that it is reasonable, given the
context of the game, for SAU 67 administrators to be concerned that the
potential protests would be interpreted by Tirrell as bullying and harassing.
 And as such, the judge ruled, the school had the right to limit the dads'
speech.
 "The message generally ascribed to the XX symbol, in a context such as that
presented here, can reasonably be understood as directly assaulting those who
identify as transgender women," McAuliffe wrote. "Because gender identities
are characteristics of personal identity that are 'unalterable or otherwise
deeply rooted', the demeaning of which 'strikes a person at the core of his
being', and because Bow school authorities reasonably interpreted the symbols
used by plaintiffs, in context, as conveying a demeaning and harassing
message, they properly interceded to protect students from injuries likely to
be suffered."
 Fellers and Foote have maintained they were not targeting or harassing any
particular student with their wristbands. McAuliffe ruled that, even accepting
their stated intent not to harass Tirrell, the broader context for the game
made the SAU's actions reasonable and justified.
 "While plaintiffs may very well have never intended to communicate a demeaning
or harassing message directed at Parker Tirrell or any other transgender
students, the symbols and posters they displayed were fully capable of
conveying such a message and that broader messaging is what the school
authorities reasonably understood and appropriately tried to prevent,"
McAuliffe said.
 Critics of the judge's ruling say that it is clearly viewpoint discrimination
and the judge's view that "gender identity" is "inalterable" isn't based on
biological fact or in law.
 McAuliffe has yet to rule on the permanent injunction. Fellers, Foote, and the
other parents are seeking to allow them to protest at school games and other
events.