Why this NH mom is fighting a battle against anti-trans ideology in the state

A staunch advocate of reproductive freedom, Michelle Cilley Foisy is doing everything in her power to help change hearts and minds in New Hampshire. 

A mother of six, Foisy has testified against several anti-trans laws that have been brought before the Statehouse, and also spoken out in favor of the right to abortion care. 

And that was all before the anti-trans laws began to directly affect her family.

“(Last year), a mom that I met in town actually didn’t feel comfortable going up to the Statehouse to testify for her trans daughter,” the Temple resident said. “And I offered to go .”

Not long after Foisy stood up for other children in New Hampshire, her now 17-year-old revealed that they’d been having persistent suicidal thoughts. 

The teen, who uses they/them pronouns, disclosed to Foisy that they had been dealing with gender dysphoria—a feeling of distress that occurs when a person’s sense of gender is not aligned with sex they were assigned at birth. 

Foisy’s teen continues to navigate their gender identity and the  mental health challenges that can arise from gender dysphoria. Meanwhile, back-to-back laws attacking trans people in the state are making staying mentally, emotionally, and physically healthy more difficult for the child, Foisy  said. 

The once-soccer enthusiast decided to stop playing the sport last fall, after feeling out-of-place on their  boys’ team at school. 

“They love soccer, and they went through a time where they would wear a Messi jersey every day,” said Foisy. She added that simply being a teen trying to figure out who you are can be hard enough—but putting yourself out in the world to be discriminated against or to become the center of political debate must feel overwhelming.

“I think that the reason that they stay in their room is because of all of the anti-trans laws,” she said.

Mental health struggles and the process of navigating their gender identity—her teen started hormone replacement therapy this year—really impacted Foisy’s teen’s desire to participate in sports, she said, and once they dropped out of the boys’ soccer team, her teen never tried out for the girls’ team.

And under a New Hampshire law, they would no longer be able to do so. 

In July, outgoing Republican Gov. Chris Sununu signed HB 1205 into law, which  bans transgender girls in grades 5-12 from participating in public school sports. Sununu signed two more anti-trans laws on the same day: HB 619 takes the decision to explore gender-affirming surgeries away from parents of minors, and HB 1312 lets parents opt-out of LGBTQ+ topics in school.

‘Just about participation:’ Why trans kids play on girls’ teams

Republicans backing the sports ban, which passed along party lines, say that the bill ensures fairness and integrity in women’s sports. 

“Biological females deserve to play sports on a level playing field. We have biological females that work hard at school in the sport that they love and compete in and win,” said Louise Rep. Andrus, R-Salisbury, sponsor of the bill. “But maybe, along comes a biological male that competes and wins. Where is the fairness?”

Andrus, however, cited no evidence to back her claim. 

In fact, research shows that trans women who are undergoing hormone replacement therapy have no clear biological advantage over non-trans (also called “cisgender”) women. 

“They’re becoming more feminine,” Foisy explained. “They’re not building this body so that they can then play sports with other girls and be on the field with them and be better than them.”

One study published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine this year indicated that trans women who had been undergoing hormone replacement therapy for over a year performed worse than cisgender women on parameters such as body strength and lung function. The study found no difference in bone density—linked to muscle strength—and hemoglobin profiles of trans athletes and cisgender women.  

Trans athletes are not switching to girls’ teams because they want to have a competitive advantage over other kids, Foisy explained. They just want to feel comfortable with their own identities, and share camaraderie with their teammates. 

“It’s really just about participation,” said Deni Hatch, board president of 603 Equality, a grassroots LGBTQ+ advocacy group in New Hampshire. “It’s about allowing all kids to enjoy being in sports and building up those social relationships.”

Hatch said that this negative perception of young trans athletes using unfair advantage in sports  is further ostracizing young kids from their peers, and perpetuating trans-misogyny—an attitude expressed through cultural hate and strict state policies towards people on the feminine end of the gender spectrum. The recent anti-trans laws passed in New Hampshire only serve to worsen children’s mental health—while offering the Republican politicians who are pushing them a way to build up fears around differences and become heroes of a false narrative.

“And so what we see in this bill is just blanket trans-misogyny that’s being pushed by politicians here in the state,” Hatch said, highlighting a recent incident where two parents from Bow were banned from school property after  protesting a trans athlete at a high school soccer game. “And it’s not going to be helpful for anyone except for those who want to discriminate against the trans or trans identifying community.”

School districts need to balance a fear of litigation

The school sports ban just denies people equal protection before the law, Foisy said. 

And the courts agree with her. 

Earlier this month, a federal judge temporarily stopped the enforcement of HB 1205 in New Hampshire, citing a violation of Title IX that prevents sex-based discrimination in any school or educational program. 

The state was sued on behalf of two teenage trans athletes—Parker Tirrell from Plymouth Regional High School, and Iris Turmelle from Pembroke Academy. Both students were barred from playing soccer on their school teams under the new law. Just two days after the law was passed, Tirrell was prevented from joining her teammates during soccer practice. 

Tirrell and Turmelle’s lawyer, Chris Erchull, scheduled an emergency hearing to challenge the law, and won them a 10-day temporary restraining order. 

“That’s like an emergency form of relief that courts are very reluctant to give, and they only last for a short period of time,” said Erchull, a senior staff attorney at GLBTQ Legal Advocates & Defenders (GLAD). 

Right now, there is a preliminary injunction against HB 1205, meaning that until the lawsuit is decided in court, a legal order prevents the state and school districts from enforcing HB 1205 on Tirrell and Turmelle.

For any other trans athletes in the state, school districts will have to make a decision about whether or not they are going to uphold students’ rights under Title IX, Erchull explained. 

“School districts don’t want to be sued,” Erchull said. “…and of course the flip side of that is that they could be brought into court either way. I mean, as we’ve shown with our lawsuit, we’ve brought two school districts into court.”

For now, Foisy urges Granite Staters to vote wisely on Nov. 5. Everything is at stake for trans kids in the state, and Foisy wishes more people were sympathetic to that. 

“It’s been heartbreaking, honestly, just to watch these kids feel like they aren’t normal kids,” she said. “They aren’t able to just be who they are. They’re very oppressed and just judged, and it’s really horrible to watch.”

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