This story was originally produced by the Concord Monitor. NHPR is republishing it in partnership with the Granite State News Collaborative.
The Kearsarge Regional School District’s insurer will pay more than $30,000 to settle a lawsuit filed after the school board chair barred an activist from calling a transgender student a “tall boy” during a meeting last August.
Beth Scaer of Nashua, a vocal opponent of allowing transgender students to participate in sports corresponding with their gender identity, sued the school district in May for violating her First Amendment rights.
The settlement, which the Concord Monitor obtained through a public records request, directs the school district’s insurer, Primex, to pay lawyers for Scaer $33,000 and to pay her the symbolic amount of $17.91, a nod to the year when the Bill of Rights was ratified. That money will come exclusively from the insurer rather than from the district’s operating budget, according to Superintendent John Fortney.
The settlement also requires the district to eliminate a school board practice of barring “derogatory comments,” which board chair Alison Mastin cited when she prevented Scaer from describing the physical appearance of the student, who was present at the meeting.
The settlement was finalized on Sept. 9.
“I’m just very pleased,” Scaer said in an interview on Friday. “It’s important the school board has agreed to important changes that will protect every citizen’s right to speak at public meetings. This settlement ensures that what happened to me won’t happen to others.”
The meeting Scaer attended came just before the start of last school year, months after the passage of a new state law barring transgender girls from participating on girls’ sports teams but prior to President Donald Trump’s executive order in February, which altered federal Title IX guidance about transgender students’ participation.
Kearsarge was one of three school districts in the state at the time with a transgender girl who had publicly expressed interest in continuing to play on a girls’ sports team. Initially, the school board voted that summer to direct its superintendent to follow the new state law. At the following board meeting, many members of the community used the public comment period to express support for the student and call on the board to reverse its decision.
After more than a dozen people — including the student herself — spoke, it was Scaer’s turn. Several seconds into her comment, Scaer described the student, who wished to play on the girls’ soccer team, as a “tall boy.” Mastin cut her off, citing the board’s “no derogatory comments” policy, according to meeting minutes.
Scaer later said in an interview that the description was necessary in order to contrast the student’s height with that of the other two transgender girls who had publicly come forward. Like many who share her views on the issue, she has argued that allowing transgender girls to play on girls’ sports teams creates a safety issue.
The terms of the settlement will require the school board to allow members of the public to make comments like the one Scaer made.
“You’ve got to let both sides talk,” Mastin said in an interview on Monday. “Now we know, and we will let people say what they need to say.”
Determining when public comments go over the line can be a challenge, she said.
“It’s really hard as a school board chair to run a meeting because you’re trying to keep decorum, but at the same time, you’re trying to protect people in the room while simultaneously you’re protecting people’s First Amendment rights,” she added. “It will always be a challenge no matter what.”
Mastin declined to comment on the specifics of the incident last year.
Following Trump’s executive order, the district no longer permits transgender girls to play on girls’ sports teams.
The agreement comes in the midst of debate spurred by the aftermath of Charlie Kirk’s assassination about the bounds of free speech and the appropriate repercussions for speech that others may find abhorrent.
Mastin clarified that the rule barring derogatory comments had previously been a practice rather than a policy. The district still has a policy that bars “defamatory statements,” which will not change as a result of the settlement, she said.
Mastin said the distinction between a “derogatory comment” and a “defamatory statement” should best be left to lawyers to determine.
Scaer is a well-known activist on transgender issues. She and her husband, Stephen Scaer, have also sued the city of Nashua for refusing to let them fly a “Detransitioner Awareness Flag” on a city flagpole. Previously, the city also removed a “Save Women’s Sports” flag that the couple had raised, according to their lawsuit.
Their request for a preliminary injunction in that case was denied in March. The couple has since filed an appeal with a federal appeals court.
When asked whether she believes it is possible for people to be transgender, Scaer declined to answer.
“I don’t think that’s relevant to this conversation,” she said.
Scaer was represented in the lawsuit by the Institute for Free Speech, a Washington, D.C.-based organization. The amount she will receive, $17.91 refers to the year 1791, when the Bill of Rights was ratified.
“That’s the year we got the First Amendment,” she said. “So this is a great victory for the First Amendment.”
