Two transgender teachers and one nonbinary teacher filed a lawsuit in December over the state’s Parental Rights in Education Act — which opponents have called the “Don’t Say Gay” bill — that restricts teachers and educators from using pronouns that don’t align with their biological sex.
A Florida judge temporarily blocked the law from being enforced against one nonbinary and two transgender teachers this week, according to Fox News.
“Once again, the State of Florida has a First Amendment problem,” Chief U.S. District Judge Mark Walker wrote in the temporary injunction. “Of late, it has happened so frequently, some might say you can set your clock by it.”
“This time, the State of Florida declares that it has the absolute authority to redefine your identity if you choose to teach in a public school,” the opinion, released Tuesday, continued. “So, the question before this Court is whether the First Amendment permits the State to dictate, without limitation, how public-school teachers refer to themselves when communicating to students. The answer is a thunderous ‘no.’”
Walker granted Katie Wood, one of the transgender teachers, a temporary injunction, arguing in the legal opinion that the law violates the First Amendment. The injunction does not reverse the law for everyone completely. Only Wood will be allowed an exception to the rule, since students called the teacher “Ms.” prior to the 2023 law. After the law went into effect, students called Wood “Teacher Wood,” instead of “Mr.,” which Wood claimed was stigmatizing.
“Katie Wood is a transgender woman who is known at school — indeed, in every aspect of her life — as ‘Ms. Wood.’ She uses she/her pronouns to refer to herself and would prefer that others do as well,” Walker wrote. “AV Schwandes is nonbinary and is known as ‘Mx. Schwandes.’ Mx. Schwandes uses they/them pronouns to refer to themself and would prefer that others do as well.”
However, the judge did not conclude the other two teachers “demonstrated a likelihood of success” in their allegations that the law violated their rights.
“In short, Mx. Schwandes has not come forward with any evidence showing that they intend to engage in speech in the foreseeable future that would violate” the law, Walker wrote.
Woods argued in the lawsuit that the law is discriminatory on the basis of sex and violates the equal protection clause, Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and Title IX of the education amendments of 1972.
“I am hopeful that this ruling will encourage those who feel powerless to stand up for themselves,” Wood said in a statement. “Where there is pain, there is power. And anything can happen when good people stand up together.”
Click this link for the original source of this article.
Author: Sara Carter Staff
This content is courtesy of, and owned and copyrighted by, https://saraacarter.com and its author. This content is made available by use of the public RSS feed offered by the host site and is used for educational purposes only. If you are the author or represent the host site and would like this content removed now and in the future, please contact USSANews.com using the email address in the Contact page found in the website menu.