The federal government is seeking to dismiss a lawsuit filed by two transgender high school athletes in New Hampshire, arguing that President Donald Trump’s executive order does not discriminate against them.

In a court document filed Friday in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Hampshire, federal attorneys defended Trump’s executive order, titled “Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports,” which was signed on February 5.

The order threatens to strip federal funding from educational institutions that allow transgender girls to compete on female sports teams. Trump himself is named as one of the defendants in the suit.

Attorneys for the federal government say the order “does not discriminate based on sex,” and argue that the lack of additional protections for “transgender status” is “rationally related to ensuring women and girls the equal opportunity to participate and excel in competitive sports.”

Iris Turmelle from Pembroke and Parker Tirrell from Plymouth initially filed the federal lawsuit to challenge a New Hampshire law passed in July that bars transgender students from playing on sports teams that align with their gender identity.

In February, the list of defendants expanded to include the U.S. Department of Justice, U.S. Attorney General Pamela Bondi and Trump.

This is the first lawsuit in the nation challenging Trump’s executive order that bans transgender athletes from participating in women’s sports. The outcome of the case could set a precedent with nationwide implications.

The federal government argues that the “attempt to drag” the issue into the lawsuit is not based on any immediate harm to the students, but rather on a broad objection to policies established by the President.

Chris Erchull, senior staff attorney at GLAD Law, said the federal government is trying to make an example out of as many school districts as possible that support transgender students by threatening to cut their funding.

“They said that transgender people are not entitled to equal protection laws under the United States Constitution,” said Erchull. “I’m eager to have the opportunity to argue before the court that the federal government is wrong on both of those positions. I think it’s a really great opportunity for us to develop our case further in that respect.”

The judge in the case issued a preliminary injunction that allowed Turmelle and Tirrell to continue playing.

“Without the protection of the court, our plaintiffs and our school districts are vulnerable to federal investigations and threats to their funding,” said Erchull. “That’s the harm that Parker and Iris are likely to experience if we don’t challenge this executive order.”

An organization called Female Athletes United, which states it seeks to “defend women’s sports,” has filed a motion to intervene in the lawsuit.

In the court filing, lawyers for the federal government took no position on the group’s request to join the lawsuit.

Erchull noted that it’s unusual for the federal government not to oppose a motion to intervene, even when it agrees with the intervening party’s position.

“If I were to speculate, I might suggest that they might want to have extra help litigating the, because the federal government is spread very thin with all the litigation that they’re doing right now or there might be some politically cynical reason that they want non transgender girls to be a party in the case, ” said Erchull.

Sruthi Gopalakrishnan can be reached at sgopalakrishnan@cmonitor.com