Lawsuit Reveals Transgender Girl Played on High School Girls’ Volleyball Team for Two Years, Prompting Administrative Shakeup

Accident – Death – Obituary News : The revelation that a transgender girl had been playing on the Monarch High girls’ volleyball team has caused shockwaves and led to an administrative shakeup. However, this battle had been ongoing for more than two years and was detailed in public court papers. The 16-year-old athlete and her parents filed a federal lawsuit in June 2021 challenging a state law that bans transgender girls from participating in girls’ sports teams.

In March, the student’s lawyers revealed in a court filing that despite the law, she was actively playing volleyball on a high school girls’ team. It was also disclosed that the gender on her birth certificate had been changed from male to female. However, a judge ruled against the student on November 6, but allowed her family to file an amended complaint. It wasn’t until November 20 that Broward Schools Superintendent Peter Licata learned about the athlete playing at the Coconut Creek school.

In response, Licata instructed the district’s Special Investigative Unit to review if any laws were broken and suspended or temporarily reassigned five Monarch officials, including Principal James Cecil. These actions prompted two days of student walkouts. The state Department of Education expressed outrage that a transgender girl had been allowed to play, citing a violation of the state law called the “Fairness in Women’s Sports Act.”

However, it was revealed that the department was informed about a transgender student playing on a Broward girls’ volleyball team in March as part of the lawsuit it was defending. The student is represented by the Human Rights Campaign, a Washington, D.C.-based group that fights for LGBTQ rights. Despite multiple attempts, neither the organization nor the student’s family commented on the matter.

The lawsuit argues that the state’s effort to dismiss the lawsuit “ignores both Plaintiff’s current participation on a high school girls’ sports team in Florida and controlling Supreme Court precedent that permits a plaintiff to bring a pre-enforcement challenge to legislation.” The state Department of Education did not take action against school officials in March when it was revealed that the student was playing volleyball.

It remains unclear who at the Broward school district knew about the student’s participation on the girls’ team. The district was named in the original lawsuit but was dismissed from it in February 2022, leaving Education Commissioner Manny Diaz and the State Board of Education as the sole defendants.

The student had completed one season on the Monarch volleyball team as a freshman when the lawsuit was filed in March. This year, she played a second season as a sophomore, and the team had a winning 13-7 season. It is unclear whether the team will have to forfeit any games in which the student played.

The lawsuit argues that the student should not have to live with the threat of her identity being revealed, given the risks to young people of having their gender identity involuntarily disclosed. The gender on the student’s birth certificate was changed by the state of Florida, and the lawsuit states that she belongs on the girls’ team because she is a girl.

The Health Department rules allowing the gender on birth certificates to be changed predate recent state laws criticized by the LGBTQ community as being anti-transgender. The federal court documents do not specify when the child’s gender was changed on the birth certificate. The student’s parents successfully petitioned the Broward County Circuit Court in March to change their child’s legal name, which was approved in July.

The lawsuit highlights that the student has identified as a girl since preschool and exhibited behaviors associated with being a girl from a young age. She was diagnosed with gender dysphoria at age 7 and began hormone blockers at age 11 under the recommendation of her endocrinologist.

The case continues to raise questions about the rights and inclusion of transgender athletes in school sports, as well as the role of state laws in determining eligibility..