Florida changes term ‘gender’ to ‘sex’ in high school athletics, protecting girls’ sports

The Florida Board of Education has replaced the word “gender” with “sex” in high school athletics to protect girls’ sports.

Removing the term “gender” in the Florida High School Sports Athletic Association (FHSAA) bylaws, which the board did May 28, is the latest volley in Florida’s fight against the Biden administration’s  of Title IX, which requires that “gender identity” be included in the broader definition of sex discrimination.

Manny Diaz Jr., Florida’s commissioner of education, has instructed all institutions under his purview to refrain from complying with such “harmful federal regulations.” 

“By broadening the definition of sex to include sexual orientation and gender identity, the Biden administration is taking sports and educational opportunities away from girls,” Diaz said. “This shift poses a threat to decades of progress made in ensuring equal opportunities for women and girls in education and athletics under Title IX.” 

The updated bylaws are consistent with the FHSAA’s previous actions regarding gender identity. Last December, the FHSAA fined Monarch High School in southeast Florida $16,500, and put it on probation, for allowing a biological male to play on the girls’ volleyball team. 

The high school’s actions violated the state’s Fairness in Women’s Sports Act, which prohibits biological males from playing on a girls’ school sports team. 

The state board meeting in which the bylaw changes were approved included complaints from Miami-Dade County public school teachers, who claimed the move undermined students from being “their true, authentic selves” and was “just another way to push the culture wars.” 

Florida’s battle with the Biden administration over Title IX began in late April, when state Attorney General Ashley Moody filed a lawsuit to block Biden’s changes, arguing that Title IX was intended to apply only to binary sex. 

Multiple states have filed similar lawsuits to block Biden’s Title IX expansion, or have issued executive orders prohibiting compliance with it. 

Under Gov. Ron DeSantis, Florida has continuously pushed back against policies that promote gender fluidity. Earlier this year, the state Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles changed a rule in order to ensure driver’s licenses would show only the biological sex of an individual, rather than an alternate gender identity.