Florida’s state athletic board fined a high school and put it on probation Tuesday after a transgender student played on the girls volleyball team, a violation of a controversial law enacted by Gov. Ron DeSantis and the Legislature.
The Florida High School Athletic Association fined Monarch High $16,500, ordered the principal and athletic director to attend rules seminars and placed the suburban Fort Lauderdale school on probation for 11 months, meaning further violations could lead to increased punishments. The association also barred the girl from participating in boys sports for 11 months.
The 2021 law, which supporters named “The Fairness in Women’s Sports Act,” bars transgender girls and women from playing on public school teams intended for student athletes identified as girls at birth.
The student, a 10th grader who played in 33 matches over the last two seasons, was removed from the team last month after the Broward County School District was notified by an anonymous tipster about her participation. Her removal led hundreds of Monarch students to walk out of class two weeks ago in protest.
It’s really not a bigoted position; it’s about protecting women.
I should say, for some people I’m sure it’s about bigotry. But personally I think it’s an important feminist issue, since biological women could be playing alongside people that have gone through male puberty. That has the potential to be unreasonably dangerous as well as unfair to those who’ve been through female puberty, on average.
Remember this is about demographic averages, and it remains true that some/many biological women could annihilate some/many biological men in many physical endeavours. It’s that bimodal distribution again. Not anymore bigoted than, unfortunately, reality is.
