Florida sports board drops menstruation questions for high school athletes after scathing criticism

MIAMI — The Florida High School Athletic Association on Thursday walked back a controversial proposal to require female high school athletes to disclose information regarding their menstrual history, following scathing criticism from students, parents, physicians, advocacy organizations and some lawmakers.

The FHSAA Board of Directors voted 14-2 during an emergency meeting to instead require students to submit just one page to schools to indicate if they are healthy enough to compete, or only able to participate partially, with their doctor signing off. Board members Chris Patricca and Charlie Ward cast the two dissenting votes. The menstrual questions will be removed from the form.

The one-page physical evaluation form, recommended by the association’s Executive Director Craig Damon earlier this week, omits specific details about a player’s menstrual cycle. Damon’s recommendation was announced on the same day that 30 Florida legislators called on the FHSAA to rescind its proposal that would include information about student athletes’ menstrual periods.

The FHSAA governs all high school sports in Florida, both at public and private schools. Its 16-member board is made up of 14 men and 2 women. Florida’s education commissioner, handpicked by Gov. Ron DeSantis, sits on the board and appoints three members. The other 12 are elected from schools and include school athletic directors.

Member Doug Dodd, a father of three daughters, said he had “a real problem” with mandating the menstrual questions, and as a school board member in Citrus County, he said he didn’t believe the information needed to be shared with schools.

Patricca, a school board member in Lee County, said she did not support the removal of the questions, arguing student athletes are “safer and better protected” by their inclusion. However, she agreed the information should be kept between the student, family and medical provider.

‘Gross overreach’ by board

The board listened to emails from more than 150 people during the public comment period, the overwhelming majority of them deriding the board for its initial proposal. The majority urged the board to adopt the recommendation to omit questions related to a student’s menstruation. Most speakers said the information should be kept between the parents, student and medical professional — and not the schools.

Some likened the initial proposal to a “gross overreach” intended to embarrass, degrade and dissuade females from participating in sports. Multiple people suggested if the menstruation question is required, information about male students’ ejaculation also be collected. Several of the emails threatened lawsuits.

This is “a gross and an extremely sexist invasion of privacy,” wrote one parent from Miami-Dade, about the board’s initial proposal to mandate the menstrual questions.

“Hey, what in the world are you thinking? ... Get this off your agenda and issue a press release to say you’re sorry,” wrote another parent who has a daughter who plays high school sports.

Thursday’s decision comes less than one month after the association announced it would consider a revised physical evaluation form that would require high school student athletes to reveal their menstruation history, a move some opponents said would harm students, particularly those in the LGTBQ+ community. Doctors also were outraged, noting that requiring students to submit this information on a paper form — sometimes stashed in boxes in school athletic offices that were open to anyone —would violate medical privacy laws.

Doctors who specialize in female gynecological issues also say irregularities in a girl’s menstrual flow does not affect the girl’s ability to play sports.

The mandate, which was to be considered by the board Feb. 26-27 in Gainesville, would have required female students to answer questions regarding their menstrual cycle, such as if they’ve had a menstrual cycle, and if so, at what age they had their first menstrual period, their most recent menstrual period and “how many periods (the student has) had in the past 12 months.”

The questions have appeared in the state’s athletics participation form for more than two decades, but have been optional.

The proposed mandate, however, “created concerns and questions from parents, school district administrators, school board members and coaches regarding the health privacy of student-athletes,” the meeting’s agenda item read. The association understands “it is vital to protect the privacy” of all student-athletes, it also recognizes the “important role medical history plays in a pre-participation physical examination.”

The updated one-page proposal, according to the meeting agenda, provides an update to the examination form that protects student-athlete’s privacy “while including pertinent medical information a health care provider at a member school would need access to.”