Brickbat: Red Card Penalty

A federal judge in New Hampshire ruled against a group of parents who wanted to wear pink wristbands with "XX" (symbolizing female chromosomes) at Bow High School soccer games to protest a transgender girl playing on an opposing girls' team, denying their request to override the school district's ban on such displays. The parents sued after receiving no-trespass orders for wearing the armbands at a September 2024 game. They claimed the order violated their First Amendment rights and the wristbands were a "passive statement" supporting women's sports. But U.S. District Judge Steven McAuliffe sided with the school, saying the wristbands could be seen as harassment targeting the transgender student, as they were only worn at the game in which she was playing. The ruling allows parents to attend games but bans the wristbands.

Comments

[Adans smith]

Delusions must be maintained at all costs.

[Fist of Etiquette]

I would assume rainbow wristbands are kosher, though.

[mad.casual]

Double breast cancer survivors can go fuck themselves.

[Vernon Depner]

Yes, of course they are harassment targeting the boy on the girls' team, which is exactly why they SHOULD be allowed. The boy needs to be told by the community to get the fuck off the girls' team.

[See.More]

Yes, of course they are harassment targeting the boy on the girls' team . . .

Disagree.

They weren't chanting his name. They weren't engaging him directly. And, unless someone was explicitly yapping about it and he hears, second-hand, about the protest against his involvement, he wouldn't even be aware at all that that some parents were wearing pink armbands with "XX" on them. So, in my opinion, I have a very hard time classifying the parents' protest as harassment.

The boy needs to be told by the community to get the fuck off the girls' team.

Agree.

[Roberta]

Really no solution to problems like this short of abolishing government schools. Whatever expression is allowed at school events is justifiedly seen as its endorsement.

[Mickey Rat]

An actual threat to free speech.

[Speaking for normal people]

I am not Libertarian but this rulling is totally wrong by all Libertarians standards.
1) Must we now say that it is not what you did (wearing a wristband ) but the thought that is criminal ??? I might disagree with their verdict on trans people but show sympapthy for them by wearing a wristband also. And that would be illegal !!!
2) Is every trans person normal and accepted simply because they are trans "Several lines of evidence indicate the prevalence of mental health disorders in Transgender (TG) individuals is higher than that of cisgender individuals or the general population. "
Int Rev Psychiatry
. 2022 May-Jun;34(3-4):292-359. doi: 10.1080/09540261.2022.2093629. Epub 2022 Jul 27.
Mental health in transgender individuals: a systematic review

3) The people that rule on this and enforce it and comment on it, do not have daughters actually affected. It is pure despicable hypocrisy. Reminds me of REason's running from the ACLU story

ACLU Leader Resigns in Protest After Transwomen Scare Her Daughters in Restroom
https://lawandcrime.com/important/aclu-leader-resigns-in-protest-after-daughters-scared-by-transwomen-in-restroom/

This kind of reporting is bring REASON down !!!

[Longtobefree]

Have you no editors?
"as they were only worn at the game in which she was playing."

should be

as they were only worn at the game in which he was playing.

[MollyGodiva]

The school is correct that this is targeted harassment of a student. The school is wrong to ban the arm bands.

[Idaho-Bob]

Explain how wearing wristbands is targeted harassment?

Explain how a dude in the girls' locker room isn't sexual harassment?

[Get To Da Chippah]

It's targeted at a policy of which a particular student takes advantage. What would be the point of wearing these wristbands at events in which there are no transgender players?

[See.More]

The school is correct that this is targeted harassment of a student.

Were the parents' chanting the name of the student in question?

Were the parents engaging the student in question directly?

Would the student in question have any way of knowing that some parents of the opposing team were wearing pink armbands in protest unless he was told?

[Davy C]

I would say that it take more than an armband with "XX" on it to harass someone.

Harassment that survives First Amendment scrutiny is, for example, conduct "so severe or pervasive that it limits or denies a person’s ability to participate in or benefit from the recipient’s education program or activity". Parents wearing an armband is not so severe or pervasive that it denies the student from participating in or benefiting from the soccer match. (Especially since the student in question was from an opposing school.)

[Its_Not_Inevitable]

Now do the players rights to compete only against females in female only sports.

[Davy C]

I don't think such a right exists. It is, however, a good idea to limit female-only sports to females only, because the alternative is nonsense.

[mad.casual]

So, if you had given up on free expression and civility and were thinking about picking a fight with another Dad at a sporting event, the Dad putting his son on the girls' soccer team sounds like a good start.

Save the fight with the Dad pushing his daughter to win state in wrestling until after you've got a couple fights under your belt.

[Davy C]

At my high school the only dad pushing his daughters into wrestling was the wrestling coach. (No trans involved; they were openly girls on what was otherwise a boy's team.)

[SodPen]

The danger in this whole line of ruling is that "could be" is doing most of the heavy lifting. Most anything you can think of, in any context, "could be" something else. John Wick taught us that a pencil "could be" a weapon, and since weapons aren't allowed in schools... see where this is going? A wristband isn't harassment, it's a statement, and statements must be allowed to be made, even if someone else doesn't necessarily like or agree with the statement. Any sentence you can possibly fathom to construct will, when made, offend someone... and that's okay.

[AT]

the wristbands could be seen as harassment targeting the transgender student

One might argue to the contrary that the very participation of transgender students in the event itself could be seen as harassment targeting all the normal people.

They're all just trolling the normies. Every. Single. Last. One of them.

[Longtobefree]

Memory lane:
Remember how second amendment supporters were laughed at when they said the first amendment was next?

(This feels so good!)

TOLD YA SO!!!

[Incunabulum]

Soon, even existing will be harassment.

[Vernon Depner]

Obviously, if you're white.