A federal judge ruled that parents cannot wear pink wristbands with an XX on them to a high school sporting event
The parents argue their First Amendment rights are being violated
A federal judge in New Hampshire is siding with a local school district in preventing parents from wearing armbands on school property with the symbol XX on them, in support of biological girls-only sports.
In September 2024, the parents wore the pink-colored “XX” wristbands during a high school soccer game where a trans-identified male athlete was playing on an opposing team. The XX was meant to represent the biological reality of females having XX chromosomes.
The protest led to the school district superintendent issuing a notice of trespass against the parents. The parents then sued the school district, claiming their free speech First Amendment rights were violated.
Yesterday, a judge ruled against the parents, upholding the school district’s decision. The judge stated that the wristbands could be considered a disruption to the game environment for children. The judge said that “narrow, plausibly inoffensive” intentions of the parents who wore the wrist bands, were not as important as the wider context of adults attending a high school athletic event who do not enjoy First Amendment-protected right to convey messages that demean, harass or harm students.
A senior attorney for the Institute for Free Speech and one of the attorneys representing the parents, said: “This was adult speech in a limited public forum, which enjoys greater First Amendment protection than student speech in the classroom. [School District] officials were obviously discriminating based on viewpoint because they perceived the XX wristbands to be ‘trans-exclusionary’.”
The judge and the school district are equating the XX — which is tied to biological reality — to a swastika or wearing a white hood, two actual symbols of hate. They are using hate speech principles and applying them to reality and saying, in essence, that reality is hate speech.
This is all happening in the Live Free or Die state of New Hampshire.
The parents argue that the ruling infringes upon their First Amendment rights to free speech in a public forum. I agree.
I commend these parents. We need more parents who are willing to stand up for their daughters and for the truth. Despite the fact that 80% of Americans agree that women’s sports are for women only, the vast majority are silent. But not these New Hampshire parents.
At XX-XY Athletics, we made this hat and these t-shirts in honor of the parents who donned the pink wristbands.
Hot pink is the color of truth these days.
You can get them here.
Support the parents!
