A silent protest in support of girls’ sports led Bow officials to threaten arrests and ban dissenters from school grounds.
Now, three parents and a grandfather are fighting back against the officials who trampled on their First Amendment rights—and the policies those officials weaponized to do it.
Attorneys from the Institute for Free Speech and local counsel Richard J. Lehmann filed a federal lawsuit on behalf of Kyle Fellers, Anthony “Andy” Foote, Nicole Foote, and Eldon Rash against school administrators, including Superintendent of Schools Marcy Kelley, Principal Matt Fisk, and Athletic Director Mike Desilets, as well as Bow Police Lieutenant Phil Lamy and soccer referee Steve Rossetti.
The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Hampshire, alleges that the defendants violated the plaintiffs’ First Amendment rights by banning them from school grounds and events for wearing pink “XX” wristbands as a form of silent protest during the Bow High School girls’ soccer game on September 17. The plaintiffs wore the wristbands to protest the policy that allowed a biological male to play on the opposing girls’ soccer team.
School officials, along with a police officer, confronted the parents during the game, demanding that they remove the wristbands or leave. When the plaintiffs refused, citing their First Amendment rights, they were threatened with arrest for trespassing. The referee then stopped the game and said that Bow High School would forfeit if the plaintiffs did not remove their wristbands.
Following the incident, Fellers and Andy Foote received “No Trespass Orders” banning them from school grounds and events. These orders prevented the parents from attending their children’s games and school events, as well as from performing routine activities like picking up their children from after-school practices, significantly disrupting family life.
The plaintiffs ask the court to enjoin the school from unconstitutionally using school policies as a pretense to restrict non-disruptive expression of political or social views at extracurricular events, such as silently wearing wristbands or displaying signs in the parking lot in support of protecting women’s sports for biologically female athletes.
The suit also seeks to allow the plaintiffs to attend their children’s school events, including the ongoing soccer season and silently express their views on political and social issues, including protecting women’s sports.
To read the full press release regarding the filing of the case, Fellers, et al. v. Kelley, et al., click here. To read the complaint, click here.
