Bow, NH — 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 today 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 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. They decorated the wristbands with two “XX” symbols to reference the female chromosome structure and express their support for biological female athletes.
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. Foote was banned until September 23, while Fellers was banned for the entire fall term. 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 lawsuit seeks to prevent the unconstitutional application of several school policies, including those requiring “mutual respect, civility, and orderly conduct” and prohibiting actions that “injure, threaten, harass, or intimidate” or “impede, delay, disrupt, or otherwise interfere with any school activity or function.”
The plaintiffs ask the court to enjoin the school from using these policies 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.
“Over fifty years ago, in the Tinker case, the Supreme Court held that all Americans have the right to silently protest the Vietnam War by wearing a black armband to school,” noted Institute for Free Speech Senior Attorney Del Kolde. “Today, the political debate is different, and the wristbands are pink, instead of black, but the First Amendment protects our clients no less today than it did fifty years ago. Applying these policies to ban pink wristbands as a silent show of support for women’s sports is unconstitutional viewpoint discrimination.”
“Parents don’t shed their First Amendment rights at the entrance to a school’s soccer field. We wore pink wristbands to silently support our daughters and their right to fair competition. Instead of fostering open dialogue, school officials responded with threats and bans that have a direct impact on our lives and our children’s lives,” commented Kyle Fellers. “And this fight isn’t just about sports—it’s about protecting our fundamental right to free speech.”
“The idea that I would be censored and threatened with removal from a public event for standing by my convictions is not just a personal affront—it is an infringement on the very rights I swore to defend,” explained Andy Foote. “I spent 31 years in the United States Army, including three combat tours, and the school district in the town I was born in—the one my family has seven generations of history in—took away those rights. I sometimes wonder if I should have been here, fighting for our rights, rather than overseas.”
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. Without swift court intervention, the parents will endure continued censorship and disruptions to their lives, and risk missing their daughters’ games and other important school activities.
To read the full complaint in Fellers, et al. v. Kelley, et al., click here. For the case page on our website, click here.
About the Institute for Free Speech
The Institute for Free Speech promotes and defends the political speech rights to freely speak, assemble, publish, and petition the government guaranteed by the First Amendment.
