New Hampshire School District Pays $275K for Violating First Amendment Rights

In a significant ruling for free speech, the Bow School District in New Hampshire has settled a lawsuit after banning two fathers from school grounds for wearing pink "XX" wristbands that protested transgender participation in girls' sports. This settlement, approved by U.S. District Judge Steven McAuliffe, concludes over two years of litigation and requires the district's risk pool to pay $275,000 in attorneys' fees and costs. The judgment affirms the right of the four plaintiffs to wear the wristbands silently at any Bow School District sporting event, explicitly stating that the district violated their constitutional rights during a girls' varsity soccer game on September 17, 2024.

Plaintiff Kyle Fellers expressed relief, stating, "It took more than two years, but the court has recognized that what happened to us was wrong." He noted that the ban prevented him from attending half of his daughter's soccer games during her senior year. The incident arose during a game between Bow High School and Plymouth Regional High School, where the girls' team included a transgender player. The wristbands, emblazoned with "XX," symbolized female chromosomes and articulated opposition to allowing biological males to compete in girls' sports.

School officials, accompanied by a police officer, confronted the fathers about the wristbands, leading to heightened tensions that resulted in no-trespass orders for Fellers and another father, Anthony "Andy" Foote. The fathers maintained that their intent was not to harass but to express their views peacefully. Initially, the plaintiffs faced a setback when their request for a preliminary injunction was denied in April 2025. However, the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals later found that the plaintiffs were likely to succeed in their claim of viewpoint discrimination, prompting further proceedings.

The Common Sense Test

The appeals court determined that there was no evidence the silent protest caused any disruption at the game and noted that the school officials' descriptions of the wristbands as exclusionary or hateful suggested that the punishment was based on disagreement with the fathers' views rather than any actual disruption. The resolution reached on Thursday is a stipulated judgment, which denies wrongdoing except as established in the judgment, affirming the unconstitutionality of the district's wristband ban. This judgment binds the district and its Board of Education, remaining effective even if policies are revised in the future.

The Institute for Free Speech, which represented the plaintiffs, emphasized the importance of this ruling for the protection of free speech rights in educational settings. The settlement comes just in time for a Bow girls' varsity soccer playoff game, underscoring the ongoing relevance of this issue in the context of athletic competition and gender identity.