Deep Reads
Her trans daughter made the volleyball team. Then an armed officer showed up.

Jessica Norton tried to keep raising her youngest child as a boy. But that child, identified in this story by her middle name, Elizabeth, insisted nearly from the time she could talk that she was a girl. (Cindy Karp for The Washington Post)

By Casey Parks
September 28, 2024 at 6:00 a.m.

COCONUT CREEK, Fla. —
Jessica Norton eased her minivan out of the driveway, and she told herself she’d done what any mother would. Her daughter Elizabeth had wanted to play high school volleyball, and Norton had let her. Norton had written female on the permission slips. She’d run practice drills in the yard, and she’d driven this minivan to matches all across their suburban Florida county.

A bumper sticker on the back said “mom.” A rainbow pin tacked inside read “safe with me.” Norton and Elizabeth had spent hours laughing and singing in this extended cab chariot. But this time, Norton had decided to leave her daughter at home. … “Good luck!” the teenager called. “Don’t get fired!”

Until recently, Norton had worked at the high school Elizabeth attended. But last fall, an armed officer with the Broward County Public Schools Police had told Norton she was under investigation for allowing Elizabeth to play girls sports. District leaders banned Norton from the building. They discussed the investigation on the local news, and soon, everyone in Coconut Creek seemed to know Elizabeth is transgender. (Norton asked The Washington Post to use the child’s middle name to protect her privacy.)

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Casey Parks
Casey Parks is a reporter on The Washington Post's America team.