Staff Reports
Good news for parents and free speech: a federal court has quietly closed the book on the Bow, New Hampshire wristband fight by entering a stipulated judgment that says parents can silently wear pink “XX” wristbands at Bow School District sporting events. The settlement also forces the district to pay $275,000 in attorneys’ fees and costs, a sharp rebuke to school officials who tried to police what people wore in the stands.
What the court ordered
The court’s order, entered by U.S. District Judge Steven J. McAuliffe, says the plaintiffs have a First Amendment right to wear the XX wristbands on the sidelines, in the stands, and in parking lots at Bow games. The settlement calls for $275,000 to cover legal fees and costs, with each plaintiff receiving a symbolic $17.91 in damages. This ends more than two years of litigation that began after parents and a grandparent were told to remove the wristbands and, in some cases, were threatened with no‑trespass orders and arrest.
Why the timing matters
This resolution came after the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit strengthened the parents’ case by finding the district likely engaged in unconstitutional viewpoint discrimination. In plain English: a school cannot single out a message it dislikes and silence it. That appellate push made it expensive and risky for Bow to keep fighting, and it should make other school districts think twice before creating “protest zones” or banning simple symbols that express a political view.
Policy and political fallout
Make no mistake: this was never just about wristbands. It’s about parental rights, free speech, and whether schools will treat people equally when debates around girls’ sports and transgender athletes heat up. With voters in several states recently approving measures limiting male participation in girls’ sports, the political winds are shifting. School boards that reflexively side with one view — and punish the other — will face legal and political consequences. If administrators want to keep order, they can do that without picking winners in public debates.
Bottom line: schools must learn a lesson
Bow’s settlement is a win for common sense and the First Amendment. Parents don’t give up their constitutional rights when they buy a ticket to a high‑school game. School officials should apologize, rewrite their spectator policies to be neutral, and stop pretending they can censor peaceful protest without consequences. And to any superintendent thinking about banning a wristband: maybe try listening first — or at least run it by a lawyer before you spend taxpayers’ money defending censorship.
