Trans, nonbinary Florida teachers file lawsuit against anti-pronoun law
Three Florida educators have filed a federal lawsuit over a new state law that prevents transgender or nonbinary public K-12 teachers from using their pronouns.
Under a provision of the law, which took effect in July, teachers may not “provide to a student his or her preferred personal title or pronouns if such preferred personal title or pronouns do not correspond to his or her sex.” And it defines sex as based on someone’s reproductive organs at birth.
Those in violation could face revocation or suspension of their teaching certificate or other penalties.
“Plaintiffs are current and former Florida public-school teachers who simply wanted to teach math, science, and their other school subjects of expertise,” says the 61-page complaint, filed Wednesday. “But earlier this year, Florida enacted a new law that pushed one plaintiff out of their teaching career and threatens to do the same for the other plaintiffs — and for the other transgender and nonbinary teachers like them across Florida.”
The plaintiffs are Hillsborough County high school teacher Katie Wood, a Lee County teacher using the pseudonym “Jane Doe” and former Florida Virtual School teacher AV Schwandes, who was terminated for violating the law after using gender-neutral pronouns.
They’re being represented by the Southern Poverty Law Center, the Southern Legal Counsel and law firm Altshuler Berzon.
“Many teachers have already left the profession – and the state – in response to discriminatory laws Florida passed to push LGBTQ+ people out of public life and erase their existence,” the SPLC said in a press release.
Those sued include Florida Department of Education as well as members of its Education Practices Commission and State Board of Education. Also named are the Florida Virtual School Board of Trustees and the school boards for Lee and Hillsborough counties.
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The Florida Department of Education and Lee and Hillsborough counties declined to comment, citing the pending litigation.
A spokesperson for the Florida Virtual School said in a statement that it's obligated to follow education laws and regulations.
“There is no American right more fundamental than freedom of expression and protection from the government that weaponizes their disagreements on that expression,” Wood said in a statement. "As a human being living in America, I demand to be treated with fairness and equity at work. Those who support and enforce this law are trying to take my voice away and bury my existence."
The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Florida, is asking for the teacher pronoun provision to be blocked.
The teachers say it violates the Civil Rights Act, the First Amendment, the Fourteenth Amendment’s equal protection clause and federal Title IX law, "which protects people from discrimination based on sex in education programs or activities that receive federal financial assistance."
USA Today Network-Florida government accountability reporter Douglas Soule is based in Tallahassee, Fla. He can be reached at DSoule@gannett.com. Twitter: @DouglasSoule
This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Lawsuit: Florida trans, nonbinary teachers want anti-pronoun law gone
