Florida high school reassigns principal, assistant principal and sports coaches after they let trans athlete compete on girls’ volleyball team: Student’s friends blast officials claiming she hadn’t ‘come out’ yet

A Florida high school principal and three other officials have been reassigned after allowing a trans girl to play on a girls volleyball team — despite doing so violating state law.

Principal James Cecil, assistant principal Kenneth May, athletic director Dione Hester and volleyball coach Jessica Norton were all shifted from their teaching roles.

Bosses at Monarch High School in Pompano Beach had made “allegations of inappropriate student participation in sports.”

It comes after Ron DeSantis signed a bill banning transgender women from playing on public school teams intended for student athletes born as girls in 2021.

“While we cannot comment further, we will continue to monitor state law and take appropriate action based on the outcome of the investigation,” Broward County School District spokesman John Sullivan said.

‘We want to provide all our students with a safe and inclusive learning environment.’

A family friend of the trans athlete said this CBS Miami the student had not yet “come out” as transgender, with officials saying they had mishandled the student’s privacy.

‘On a human level alone, it is appalling that the school would exclude someone from a subject like this, which is clearly incredibly sensitive.

“It’s just mind-boggling, and Broward County Schools should be ashamed of themselves,” said Scott Galvin, executive director of Safe Schools South Florida.

According to sources, the student switched several years ago. The school district superintendent and regional superintendent of schools opted to reinstate Monarch High officials.

Since 2023, 20 states have passed legislation protecting the rights of female athletes from what supporters say is an unfair competitive advantage over biologically male athletes.

But the Biden administration is seeking to change Title IX, the law that protects women’s sports, to allow athletes to compete on men’s or women’s teams, consistent with their gender identity.

Supporters of the sports laws say they are needed to maintain fairness, claiming that biologically born women and girls would be at a disadvantage compared to transgender athletes who were born male but have since transitioned to female.

DeSantis signed the bill, flanked by several teenage female athletes. He said the law was necessary to ensure fairness for women participating in sports across the state.

“We are going to base ourselves on biology and not on ideology when we play sports,” he said.

The Human Rights Campaign, an advocacy group, said it would challenge the Florida law in court because it was based on a “false, discriminatory premise” that threatened the well-being of transgender children.

‘Transgender children are children; transgender girls are girls. Like all children, they deserve the opportunity to play sports with their friends and be part of a team,” Alphonso David, president of the Human Rights Campaign, said in a statement.

The Florida legislation overrode objections from Democrats and civil rights activists who call the ban on transgender girls and women from sports unnecessary and discriminatory and accuse Republicans of portraying it as a provocation to energize their party’s right wing .

The law says a transgender student-athlete cannot compete without first showing a birth certificate stating she was a girl when she was born.

It is not clear whether all women must show their birth certificate, or only those whose gender is in question.

The proposal would allow another student to sue if a school allows a transgender girl or woman to play on a team designated for biological women.

The final wording of the Fairness in Women’s Sports Act removed some of its most controversial elements, including the requirement that transgender high school and college athletes undergo testosterone or genetic testing and submit to examination of their genitals.

But the legislation signed by the governor advances an underlying principle that supporters argue: Biological differences between men and women make it unfair for athletes identified as boys at birth to compete on girls’ and women’s teams.

The bill would not ban athletes born female from playing on boys’ or men’s teams.

Human Rights Campaign President Alphonso David said the new law would not only harm transgender girls.

“All Floridians will face the consequences of this anti-transgender legislation – including economic harm, expensive taxpayer-funded legal battles, and a tarnished reputation.”

Democrats and LGBTQ advocates said the law is clearly discriminatory and will be challenged in court as unconstitutional.

“This is yet another hate-driven attack from the Governor and Republican lawmakers, and it is insulting that they organized this morning’s photo-op on the first day of Pride Month,” Senator Shevrin Jones said after signing the bill . ‘At the end of the day, transgender children are just children.’

The ban was wrapped up in the final minute of the legislative session in a measure that allowed public universities and colleges to sponsor charter schools — a point the governor did not mention during the bill’s signing. It was transgender athletes who were at the center of Tuesday’s rhetoric.

“This bill is, quite simply, about ensuring that women can safely compete, have opportunities and excel physically in a sport that they have trained for, prepared for and work for,” said Senator Kelli Stargel, a Republican who sponsored the bill. pleaded. .

“This is not about anyone being discriminated against,” she said. “It is solely so that women are given the opportunity to compete in women’s sports.”