New Hampshire enacted HB1205 barring transgender girls from girls' school sports in grades 5-12

On July 19, 2024, New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu signed House Bill 1205, "relative to women's school sports," into law as Chapter 228. The New Hampshire General Court had passed the measure during the 2024 session.

HB1205 requires all interscholastic and club athletic teams for grades 5 through 12 at New Hampshire public schools to be expressly designated as "males, men, or boys," "females, women, or girls," or "coed or mixed," and provides that teams designated for females "shall not be open to students of the male sex." Eligibility is determined by the student's biological sex as listed on an official birth certificate issued at or near the time of birth; a student whose certificate does not establish this must provide other evidence of birth sex at the family's own expense. Because the standard fixes eligibility to birth-certificate sex rather than gender identity, it excludes transgender girls from girls' teams as a category, regardless of any subsequent gender-marker change. The law excludes kindergarten through fourth grade and does not reach collegiate athletics.

The statute creates private rights of action for students deprived of an athletic opportunity, for those who face retaliation for reporting a violation, and for schools harmed by a violation, with a two-year filing window and the possibility of damages and attorney fees. It took effect August 18, 2024.

Updates

2024-09-10 — Federal court blocked enforcement [4]

A federal judge on the U.S. District Court for the District of New Hampshire granted a preliminary injunction blocking enforcement of HB1205 against the two students who sued, ruling the law "on its face, discriminates against transgender girls" and calling it "not even a close call."

2026-07-10 — Plaintiffs dropped their lawsuit [5]

The two original plaintiffs, Iris Turmelle and Parker Tirrell, voluntarily dismissed their case after personal circumstances made the law's application to them moot -- Turmelle moved out of state and Tirrell had already quit her soccer team amid harassment from opposing players and spectators. Their attorney said new families have expressed interest in filing a fresh challenge.