A group of Bow parents say the Pride Flag displayed at Bow High School’s music room is an example of the school’s district’s viewpoint discrimination.

The federal lawsuit filed by Anthony Foote, Kyle Fellers and Nicole Foote, and Eldon Rash, a family member of Fellers, accuses the district of violating parents’ free speech rights after they wore pink armbands at a girls’ soccer game to protest transgender players.

Displaying the flag in the music room is the same type of political commentary the parents were trying to express during their recent sideline protest wearing pink armbands, which is a protected form of speech, their lawyers said.

“Displaying the Progress Pride flag amounts to passive sociopolitical commentary on the issue of transgender inclusion and women’s sex-based rights, similar to wearing a pink wristband with the letters XX, although from a different viewpoint,” wrote attorneys for the plaintiff.

Judge Steven McAuliffe will consider aspects of the case at a hearing scheduled for Nov. 21 and 22. McAuliffe denied the school district’s request for a jury trial and the district’s attempt to use facts from another case involving two transgender athletes, which centers on a new state law barring transgender girls from competing on girls’ sports teams from grades 5 through 12.

The school district had hoped to apply findings from the case, which is being heard by another federal judge, but McAuliffe disallowed it, stating that “Defendants have not shown that those findings are undisputed.”

One of the students involved as a plaintiff in that case is Parker Tirrell, a transgender athlete from Plymouth. She was playing in Bow on the day of the protest.

The Bow lawsuit centers around events that unfolded at a high school soccer game against Plymouth Regional High School on Sept. 17.

During the girls’ game, a small group of parents wore pink armbands featuring “XX,” a symbol referencing the sex chromosomes associated with biological females, to protest the participation of transgender girls on girls’ sports teams. The school issued no-trespass orders against the parents who wore pink armbands.

Attorneys from the Institute of Free Speech represent the plaintiffs.

“We believe that our clients had a First Amendment right to quietly and passively express their support for girls' sports, and against biological males participating in girls' sports, by wearing pink wristbands with the letters XX on them,” said Del Kolde, one of the attorneys, last month. “As we spelled out in our First Amended Complaint, the school district only excluded our clients' viewpoints. None of the parents expressing opposition to the wristbands were asked to leave.”

Lt. Phil Lamy of the Bow Police Department was initially named in the lawsuit alongside Superintendent of Schools Marcy Kelley, Principal Matt Fisk, Athletic Director Mike Desilets, and soccer referee Steve Rossetti but he has been dropped from the amended complaint.

Attorneys for the plaintiffs said body camera footage showed Lamy acted solely on school staff’s instructions while escorting Fellers from the scene.

At the hearing, the plaintiffs will argue first, followed by the defendants. After the hearing, the court will consult with both sides to establish a pretrial schedule and a date for a bench trial.

Sruthi Gopalakrishnan can be reached at sgopalakrishnan@cmonitor.com