Mother of trans student athlete sues Florida school district alleging retaliation

A Florida school employee -- who is also the mother of a transgender student athlete faced a months-long investigation for allegedly violating Florida’s transgender sports ban. Now, she is the plaintiff in a lawsuit brought against the Broward County School Board and Florida State Department of Education.

“For the past eight months, my family has lived in a constant state of limbo and uncertainty — this abusive investigation has added unimaginable stress to our lives. At every step of the process, I have been disregarded by the District both as a parent and dedicated employee,” Jessica Norton, an employee at Monarch High School in Coconut Creek, said in a statement to ABC News.

In 2021, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed the "Fairness in Women's Sports Act," prohibiting transgender girls from playing on girl's sports teams.

In his statement following the signing, he stated that the legislation is "necessary to promote equality of athletic opportunities, and the majority of Americans support this action."

DeSantis continued, "Women have fought for decades to have equal opportunities in athletics, and we have to prevent those opportunities from being eroded as is happening in other states. It’s common sense."

Norton's transgender daughter was playing on the girl's middle school soccer team and had played in volleyball leagues when the legislation was passed. Her family subsequently filed a separate, earlier, lawsuit to challenge the sports restrictions.

Norton's daughter, at the recommendation of her endocrinologist, began hormone blockers when she was 11 to pause the developmental impacts of testosterone and prevent her from going through male puberty. The student later began taking estrogen for feminizing hormone therapy "and will continue to do so for the rest of her life. This will allow her to live as the girl/woman that she is," the family's complaint against the trans sports law read.

According to the complaint, filed by the Human Rights Campaign Foundation and the law firm of Arnold & Porter, an “anonymous tip” was brought to a Broward School Board member in November 2023 indicating that a transgender student -- Norton's daughter -- was playing sports at Monarch High School. The Florida Athletic Commission fined the school $16,500 because of Norton's daughter's sports participation.

Norton received a 10-day suspension from her job at the high school as punishment, though other board members called for her termination.

In Norton's newly filed lawsuit, she alleges that school officials violated her rights under Title IX of the Education Amendments Act of 1972 and the First Amendment by initiating an investigation and disciplining her in retaliation for her initial lawsuit that challenges SB 1028, "a form of core political speech."

According to the complaint, several administrators were aware of Norton’s daughter's identity and that she continued to play volleyball at Monarch High School.

Norton argued in the complaint that no one in the district told Norton that her daughter could not play sports and that she had no responsibility for maintaining athletics policy.

Several school board members are also accused in the complaint of making alleged falsehoods about Norton's direct involvement in her coaching and gender change in school records.

“I had to sit through an interview where the special investigative unit detectives insisted on referring to my daughter as my son, using he/him pronouns – refusing to use her legal gender – and refusing to use her legal name," said Norton. "I had to read materials in the investigation in which the same detectives referred to my daughter as ‘it.’ District leadership tried to ruin my life, but instead they destroyed the life of an innocent 16-year-old girl.”

ABC News has reached out to Broward County Schools, the Florida Department of Education and several school board members for comment.