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 letting a trans girl play on a girls' volleyball team - despite it being against state law.

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

Bosses at Monarch High School in Pompano Beach had raised 'allegations of improper student participation in sports.'

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

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

'We are committed to providing all our students with a safe and inclusive learning environment.'

A family friend of the trans athlete told CBS Miami the student hadn't yet 'come out' as transgender yet, with officials saying they've mishandled the student's privacy.

'It's horrendous first on just a human level that the school would out somebody on an issue like this that's obviously incredibly sensitive.

'It's just dumbfounding, and the Broward County Schools should be ashamed of themselves,' said Scott Galvin, Executive Director of Safe Schools South Florida.

The student, according to sources, transitioned several years ago. The school district superintendent and the regional superintendent of schools chose to reassign the Monarch High officials.

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

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

Supporters of the sports bills say they are needed to preserve fairness, asserting that biologically born women and girls would be at a disadvantage against transgender athletes who were born as male but have since transitioned to female. 

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

'We are going to go based off biology, not based off ideology when we are doing sports,' he said.

The Human Rights Campaign, an advocacy group, said it would challenge the Florida law in court as having been based on a 'false, discriminatory premise' that threatened the wellbeing of transgender children.

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

The Florida legislation passed over the objection of Democrats and civil rights advocates who call the banning of transgender girls and women from sports unnecessary and discriminatory and accuse Republicans of portraying them as a provocation to energize the right wing of their party. 

The law says a transgender student athlete can´t participate without first showing a birth certificate saying she was a girl when she was born. 

It's not clear whether all females must show their birth certificates, or only those whose gender is questioned.

The proposal allows another student to sue if a school allows a transgender girl or woman to play on a team intended for biological females.

The final wording of the 'Fairness in Women´s Sports Act' stripped away some of its most contentious elements, including a requirement that transgender athletes in high schools and colleges undergo testosterone or genetic testing and submit to having their genitalia examined.

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

The law would not bar athletes born as 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 have to 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 plainly discriminatory and will be challenged in court as unconstitutional.

'This is yet another hate-driven attack from the governor and Republican legislators, and it's insulting that they've staged this morning's photo-op on the first day of Pride Month,' said state Senator Shevrin Jones after the bill's signing. 'At the end of the day, transgender kids are just kids.'

The ban was tucked into the last minute of the legislative session into a measure allowing public universities and colleges to sponsor charter schools - a point the governor did not mention during the bill signing. It was the transgender athletes provision that was front and center in Tuesday's rhetoric.

'This bill is very simply about making sure that women can safely compete, have opportunities and physically be able to excel in a sport that they trained for, prepared for and work for,' said state Senator Kelli Stargel, a Republican who championed the bill.

'This is nothing about anybody being discriminated against,' she said. 'It's solely so that women have an opportunity to compete in women's sports.'