Catherine Falls Commercial<\/p>\n
Sign up for\u00a0The Agenda<\/a>, Them\u2019s news and politics newsletter, delivered Thursdays.<\/p>\n Shepard Scalf, a Florida teacher who is intersex, is alleging in a new Equal Employment Opportunity Commission filing<\/a> that his school district fired him because they perceived him as transgender. Scalf was assigned female at birth but identifies as male, per the Monday filing.<\/p>\n In the filing, Scarf claims that, at the same time he was fired, he was told that his performance as a Language Arts teacher at Patriot Oaks Academy in the St. Johns County School District was \u201cexemplary,\u201d and that there was no \u201cmerits-based justification\u201d for his termination. Scalf taught sixth grade and had been newly hired for the 2025-2026 school year.<\/p>\n \u201cAt the same time, the district knew both that I have a male gender identity (they gave me a placard saying \u2018Mr. Scalf\u2019) and that I was assigned female at birth (based on my employment paperwork),\u201d Scarf wrote. \u201cI therefore believe this termination was based on the perception that I am transgender.\u201d<\/p>\n Just three weeks into the new school year, principal Drew Chiodo, allegedly called Scalf in for an \u201cemergency meeting\u201d held on August 29, 2025, per the filing. Scalf says he attended the meeting with a representative from the teacher\u2019s union; at the meeting, Chiodo allegedly read a letter from the superintendent, Dr. Brennan Asplen.<\/p>\n Per the filing, the letter from Asplen claimed that, due to Scalf being a first-year teacher, his employment was \u201cprobationary\u201d and could be dismissed without cause. The letter said he would be placed on temporary leave following a board meeting. Scalf says he was given the choice to accept the probationary release or voluntarily resign. Scalf resigned after being told by the union rep that a resignation would be better for his future career prospects than a termination, according to the EEOC filing.<\/p>\n \u201cReceiving this ultimatum was confusing and overwhelming. Everything had been going so well \u2014 I couldn\u2019t understand why this was happening,\u201d Scalf told the ACLU<\/a>. \u201cThe start of a school year is always brimming with promise and excitement, and I was looking forward to continuing my teaching career at Patriot Oaks until I was cornered into resigning. It became clear to me that being fired had nothing to do with my qualifications or teaching \u2014 it was about who I am.\u201d<\/p>\n After his resignation, Scalf says he received evidence that his termination was due to a parent complaining that he was transgender, per the filing.<\/p>\n The ACLU is arguing that St. Johns County School District violated Scalf\u2019s rights under Title VII, which was interpreted to include LGBTQ+ people through the 2020 Supreme Court case Bostock v. Clayton County<\/a>.<\/p>\n Intersex<\/a> is an umbrella term that refers to people who carry variations in their reproductive and sexual anatomy that differ from what is traditionally considered \u201cmale\u201d or \u201cfemale.\u201d For example, an intersex person could have one set of genitalia internally and another externally, while also having differing sets of chromosomes. Some people can have ambiguous genitalia and might not know they are intersex at birth. While the medical diagnosis has been in use since the early 1900s, intersex advocates pushed in the 1970s to have the status be recognized as an identity and a community, rather than strictly a medical classification.<\/p>\n \u201cLike any other worker, an intersex employee\u2019s talents and contributions should be what counts \u2014 not others\u2019 biased beliefs about who \u2018counts\u2019 as male or female,\u201d Sylvan Fraser Anthony, the legal & policy director at interACT, an intersex advocacy group, told the ACLU. \u201cIntersex employees like Mr. Scalf deserve to be valued and respected at work, and they are equally entitled to the protection of Title VII. Punishing someone because of a variation in their sex characteristics or perceived nonconformity with the sex they were assigned at birth is plainly impermissible, and employers must understand that these forms of sex discrimination will have consequences.\u201d<\/p>\n When contracted by Them, Christina H. Upchurch, executive director for community relations at St. Johns County School District, wrote, \u201cWe will not comment on pending litigation.\u201d<\/p>\n While LGBTQ+ workers have federal nondiscrimination protections \u2014 which the Trump administration seems loath to enforce<\/a> \u2014 state-level protections vary widely and, in the case of Florida, can even change drastically from county to county. In 2021, prior to the election of Ron DeSantis, the Florida Commission on Human Relations affirmed that LGBTQ+ people statewide<\/a> are protected from workplace discrimination. However, following DeSantis\u2019s election to the governorship, LGBTQ+ rights in the state have eroded to the point that nonprofit Equality Florida issued a travel advisory<\/a> for queer and trans people looking to visit.<\/p>\n Get the best of what\u2019s queer.\u00a0Sign up for\u00a0Them\u2019s weekly newsletter here.<\/a><\/p>\n