Florida School District Unlawfully Fires Intersex Public School Teacher

ST. AUGUSTINE – A Florida school district unlawfully violated the rights of an intersex middle school teacher who was fired because he was perceived to be transgender due to the incongruence between his male gender identity and female sex assigned at birth, according to a new filing submitted to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC).

Shepard Scalf, an intersex man and a certified teacher, was hired for the 2025-2026 school year at Patriot Oaks Academy in the St. Johns County School District to teach Language Arts to 6th and 7th graders after previously working at another school district in Florida. As part of his hiring process, Mr. Scalf submitted paperwork that disclosed he had been assigned female at birth. He was born with an intersex variation with XY chromosomes, and he lives as and presents as a man in accordance with his gender identity.

Mr. Scalf was doing well in his new role and was developing excellent relationships with his fellow teachers and staff as well as his students. However, three weeks into the school year, on August 28, 2025, Patriot Oaks Principal Drew Chiodo scheduled an emergency meeting with Mr. Scalf without explanation for the following day.

During the meeting, Principal Chiodo assured Mr. Scalf that he appreciated him both “as a person” and “as an employee,” that Mr. Scalf had “met every expectation,” and that his performance was “nothing less than exemplary”—but Principal Chiodo was nonetheless directed to read a letter from the superintendent of the school district informing Mr. Scalf that he must either submit his resignation or be fired. Mr. Scalf was provided no legitimate reason for his termination and had not received any prior warnings or disciplinary actions.

“Receiving this ultimatum was confusing and overwhelming. Everything had been going so well—I couldn’t understand why this was happening,” said Shepard Scalf. “The 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—it was about who I am."

Following Mr. Scalf’s resignation, he received communications providing evidence that his termination followed complaints about his gender identity. Yet his gender identity, sex assigned at birth, and intersex status were never discussed in his classroom. In fact, the school provided a placard for his classroom that stated “Mr. Scalf.” But based on the new-hire paperwork he provided, the district knew that he was assigned female at birth.

Intersex is an umbrella term for a broad range of innate differences in physical sex traits or reproductive anatomy that do not fit typical binary expectations associated with male or female bodies. This includes conditions like Swyer’s Syndrome, in which people with XY chromosomes may be born with external anatomy that appears stereotypically female and are therefore assigned female at birth. Intersex people are diverse, coming from all socioeconomic backgrounds, races, ethnicities, genders and orientations, faiths, and political ideologies. (For more, please refer to this media guide and these frequently asked questions from interACT: Advocates for Intersex Youth.)

“Like any other worker, an intersex employee’s talents and contributions should be what counts—not others’ biased beliefs about who ‘counts’ as male or female,” said Sylvan Fraser Anthony, Legal & Policy Director at interACT. “Intersex 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.”

Today’s filing to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, submitted on Mr. Scalf’s behalf by the American Civil Liberties Union, the American Civil Liberties Union of Florida, and the law firm of Chanfrau & Chanfrau P.L., charges the school district with firing Mr. Scalf on the basis of his sex and the presumption that he is transgender. In a landmark 2020 ruling, the Supreme Court of the United States found that employment discrimination on the basis of actual or perceived sexual orientation or gender identity is a violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which broadly prohibits sex discrimination in employment.

“Six years ago, the Supreme Court held in Bostock v. Clayton County that employers cannot fire someone for being gay or transgender because doing so is discrimination because of sex,” said Shana Knizhnik, Senior Staff Attorney with the ACLU’s LGBTQ & HIV Project. “The same reasoning protects intersex people, who have long faced discrimination because their bodies and lives do not conform to narrow expectations about what a man or a woman is supposed to be. Mr. Scalf was an exemplary teacher, but despite his performance and qualifications, he was forced out of his job because he did not fit those expectations. As politicians and institutions increasingly seek to police sex and gender, intersex people are too often caught in the crossfire alongside transgender people—but federal civil rights law protects everyone from this kind of discrimination.”

“Florida’s hostility towards LGBTQIA+ people is clear, especially in our public school system,” said Samantha Past, Staff Attorney with the ACLU of Florida. “At a time when Florida’s public schools are increasingly targeted by disruptive state policies and in the midst of a teacher shortage crisis, St. Johns County School District chose to unlawfully oust a qualified and respected educator. Everyone deserves the opportunity to work and contribute to their community without fear of being targeted because of who they are. Mr. Scalf is no exception.”

The EEOC Charge can be read below.