Transgender teen refiles lawsuit against Florida law that bans her from girls’ sports
The family of a transgender teenager in Broward County has refiled a lawsuit aimed at Florida’s law banning anyone born male from participating in girls’ sports.
The student, referred to simply as D.N. in the lawsuit, is a 16-year-old sophomore at Monarch High School in Coconut Creek. Identifying as a girl from a very young age, she took testosterone blockers and now takes estrogen to develop as a female, the lawsuit says.
But her participation on Monarch’s female volleyball team was illegal under Florida law.
Her family’s lawsuit was dismissed in November. But the amended lawsuit filed Thursday revives the legal battle, in one of Florida’s - and America’s - biggest culture war topics.
Enacted in 2021, Florida’s Fairness in Women’s Sports Act prohibits anyone born biologically male from participating on a female sports team in public secondary schools, colleges or universities.
The lawsuit contains new details about the impact of the law’s enforcement on the family. The student’s mother, Jessica Norton, who is an employee of Monarch High School, and four other employees at the high school were reassigned while the Broward school district investigates.
“Jessica and her family have experienced extreme distress as a result,” the lawsuit says. “Photos of her family were published online and D.N.’s gender identity is now the topic of online community forums. Jessica is fearful that her family will be targeted for further harassment in what can only be described as a hostile and emotionally charged political environment. Most of all, Jessica is afraid of how this targeted retaliation will continue to impact her daughter.”
The transgender teen endured a “forced outing,” the lawsuit says, and has not attended school in person since Nov. 27.
“She fears she will not be safe at school,” the lawsuit says. “While she plans to continue school online for the rest of her current school year, D.N. would like to return to her current school and resume her academic and student leadership pursuits. However, she fears that the stigma resulting from the enforcement of [the new law] has taken away that option for her.”
Norton also says in the lawsuit that she was escorted off campus by police, and ordered not to return.
“While Jessica was eventually told she could drop off and pick up her daughter, she must obtain pre-clearance from the [school police] before she can attend a parent-teacher conference,” the complaint says.
The newly filed lawsuit says that Senate Bill 1028, which contains the text of the new law, “is part of a pattern and practice in recent history of anti-LGBTQ legislators targeting transgender girls, a vulnerable minority class, with laws designed to erase their identity, remove their rights, and deny them the ability to live with dignity in Florida.”
The family is suing the Broward County School Board, Superintendent Peter Licata, the Florida High School Athletic Association, the state Board of Education and Education Commissioner Manny Diaz.
Schools spokesman John Sullivan said that “while we can’t comment on pending litigation, the Broward County Public Schools remains committed to following all state laws. The District assures the community of its dedication to the welfare of all its students and staff.”
Two years ago, when the Florida Legislature passed the law, several Broward County Public School Board members were vocally opposed to it.
Florida’s law - one of many in the country - is “the result of a concerted effort by activists and legislators who do not believe gender identity is real and have coordinated passing restrictions on transgender people, and transgender girls in particular based on their animus for transgender people,” the lawsuit says.
The lawsuit asks federal Judge Roy K. Altman to declare the law a violation of the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, whose Equal Protection Clause assures that no state shall “deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.” The suit also asks the judge to stop its enforcement, and award “nominal damages” and costs to the family.
“It is not an option for her to be on the boys’ team because she is not a boy,” the lawsuit says. “She would be subjected to an invasion of privacy if she had to be on the boys’ team and use the boys’ locker room.”
The lawsuit says there are less drastic alternatives that would allow students’ cases to be considered individually, based on things like whether the person went through puberty as a male.
Judge Altman in November had dismissed the family’s lawsuit, agreeing with lawyers for state Education Commissioner Diaz and the Board of Education that it did not illegally violate her civil rights.
He gave the teen’s lawyers until Jan. 21 to amend the original lawsuit.
In the original lawsuit, lawyers for the student argued that the Florida law violates the student’s rights under federal Title IX, which prohibits sex discrimination by recipients of federal education funding, as well as under the Fourteenth Amendment.
In his ruling in November, the judge said that the law’s “sex-based classifications are substantially related to the State’s important interest in promoting women’s athletics.”
Upon the removal of the five Monarch employees, state officials promised “serious consequences” for those involved. In mid-December, Monarch High was censured by state officials for violating state law.
“Monarch High School permitted a biological male to participate on the girls volleyball team during the 2022- 23 and 2023-24 Girls Volleyball seasons, violating FHSA Bylaw 8.6.2 and Florida Statute 1006.205(3)(c),” a Dec. 12 letter from the Florida High School Athletic Association read, following by a roster of games the teams played.
For each of the 33 games, the school was fined $500, for a total of $16,500.
Though referred to as a male, the student had her birth certificate legally changed to indicate she is female. Under Florida’s gender-sports law, though, only the original birth certificate is considered.
