Woke School Board Sued Over Punishing Parent For Calling Trans Athlete A ‘Tall Boy’

School boards have become increasingly extreme in their defense of transgender activism, despite overwhelming majorities of Americans rejecting that ideology. In the latest example, a new federal lawsuit has been filed by the Institute for Free Speech in support of a concerned parent who spoke out in favor of biology.

New Hampshire parent Beth Scaer spoke out against male athletes in girls' high school sports at her local school board meeting in 2024, only to have the board almost immediately cut her off. Then it threatened to have the police remove her for violating a policy against "derogatory comments." What outrageous, offensive vocal crime warranted such aggressive action? 

Calling a male athlete playing on the girls' soccer team a "tall boy."

Welcome to the world of transgender activism, where acknowledging a scientific reality is considered a "derogatory comment."

Concerned New Hampshire parent Beth Scaer, who was cut off by her local school board for calling a male athlete a tall boy. Visuals by Mugsy / Institute for Free Speech

School Boards Defend Transgender Athletes Over Girls

Scaer thankfully, refused to take the school board’s actions lying down. This week, the Institute for Free Speech and local counsel Roy S. McCandless filed a federal lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Hampshire against the Kearsarge Regional School Board. 

The suit, per an Institute for Free Speech press release, alleges that its enforcement of the unwritten rule against "derogatory comments" is being weaponzied to silence and censor parents on controversial topics.

When Scaer spoke up at the August 2024 meeting, Board Chair Alison Mastin stopped her within seconds and threatened police action if she continued speaking, because she correctly referred to a transgender athlete as a boy. Other speakers who spoke out in favor of allowing the male athlete to compete were allowed to speak for their full three minutes, or display signs showing support.

The lawsuit says that the policy is, unsurprisingly, selectively enforced, along with being "unreasonable, vague, and overbroad."

"School boards cannot invent speech rules on the fly to silence citizens expressing views they dislike," said Nathan Ristuccia, an attorney at the Institute for Free Speech. "This unwritten rule about ‘derogatory’ comments gives the board unchecked power to determine which speech is acceptable and which isn’t—precisely what the First Amendment prohibits."

"Everyone deserves an equal opportunity to address their elected officials without fear of censorship," Scaer said. "This case is about ensuring that all citizens—regardless of their viewpoint—can participate in public meetings and comment on issues that are important to the community."

Scaer's comments were regarding New Hampshire's Fairness in Women's Sports Act, a law to protect girls from male athletes. Kearsarge, demonstrating its extremism, has openly defied the law by allowing the male athlete to play on the girls' soccer team. 

Ristuccia provided an exclusive comment to OutKick, explaining why this suit and the message it sends is vitally important.

"When government officials silence citizens based on vague rules and justify censorship by claiming it's ‘derogatory’ for a speaker to refer to a biologically male athlete as a ‘tall boy,’ they do not just violate the First Amendment," said Ristuccia. "They undermine our nation’s founding principle of republican governance. 

"What we witnessed at the Kearsarge Regional School Board meeting was unconstitutional viewpoint discrimination. Tyrannical officials permitted speech supporting the side they favored in a hotly debated matter of public concern while censoring opposing perspectives. 

"Free and equal public debate on contentious issues is exactly what the First Amendment was designed to protect."

This case demonstrates how easy it is for rogue administrators to use their own absurdist views, taken unquestioningly from an activist handbook, to enforce censorship against ideas they don't like. Even if those ideas are a direct reflection of reality. Hopefully this lawsuit, and many others like it, are able to hold them accountable for it.