Florida high school fined more than $16K for allowing transgender athlete to play girls’ volleyball
politico.comMonarch High School students walk out of the school building on Nov. 28 in support of a transgender student who plays on the girls’ volleyball team. | Joe Cavaretta/South Florida Sun-Sentinel via AP By Andrew Atterbury 12/12/2023 02:46 PM EST Updated: 12/12/2023 04:38 PM EST Link CopiedTALLAHASSEE, Florida — Florida officials leveled sanctions — including a fine — on a Broward County high school Tuesday for allowing a transgender female student who was born as a biological male to play on the girls’ volleyball team.Carried out by the Florida High School Athletic Association, the move is a substantial one for the state, marking what appears the be the first time a school has been penalized over the 2021 “Fairness in Women’s Sports Act” touted by Gov.
Ron DeSantis that bans transgender women and girls from competing in women’s and girls’ sports.The punishments come after Monarch High School in Coconut Creek was rocked by an athletics investigation over a transgender athlete that spurred student protests in solidarity and led to reassignments for local campus leaders, including the principal.“Thanks to (DeSantis), Florida passed legislation to protect girls’ sports and we will not tolerate any school that violates this law,” Education Commissioner Manny Diaz Jr.
wrote in a statement on social media. “We applaud the swift action taken by the FHSAA to ensure there are serious consequences for this illegal behavior.”Florida’s athletics association determined that Monarch violated state rules and the Fairness in Women’s Sports Act by allowing a transgender athlete on a girls’ volleyball team for games this fall and last year, according to a letter sent Tuesday that was first reported by the Daily Signal.As a result, the FHSAA declared the student ineligible to play sports until November 2024 while putting the school on athletic probation and levying a fine of $16,500.
