In a legal clash unfolding in the sunshine state, three educators are taking a stand against a Florida law barring transgender and nonbinary teachers from using their preferred pronouns. The lawsuit, filed in Tallahassee, contends that the state legislation is not only an affront to constitutional rights but a deliberate effort to stigmatize and vilify transgender and nonbinary individuals, stripping them of the equal protection promised by the U.S. Constitution.
The controversial law, enacted in July, dictates that school staff cannot instruct students to address them using preferred titles or pronouns that deviate from their assigned birth sex. This legal stance finds echoes in several other states that have similarly restricted the use of preferred pronouns within educational settings.
Among the plaintiffs, AV Schwandes, identifying as non-binary, alleges termination from a virtual teaching position in October for persistently using the honorific “Mx.” at work. The other litigants, transgender women, claim they’ve been compelled to endure being consistently misgendered.
The teachers’ legal representatives from the Southern Poverty Law Center, a civil rights organization, argue in the lawsuit that Florida intentionally propagates a state-sanctioned, misleading narrative, painting transgender and nonbinary identities as inherently perilous, especially to children.
Notably, the Florida Attorney General’s Office remains silent, refraining from immediate comment on the legal challenge.
This legal skirmish represents the latest in a series of disputes challenging laws introduced by Florida and other Republican-led states aimed at restricting discourse on gender identity and sexual orientation within educational institutions. Dubbed “don’t say gay” laws by critics, these measures face allegations of being both unlawful and detrimental to the LGBTQ+ community.
In a bid to control discussions on gender identity and sexual orientation, Florida education officials voted in April to prohibit classroom instruction on these topics across all public school grades, extending the ban initially imposed up to the third grade by state lawmakers in 2022.
While a federal judge dismissed a challenge to this law in August, an ongoing appeal has been temporarily halted as the state and suing students and parents engage in settlement negotiations.
Recent legal developments also include civil rights groups filing a lawsuit to block a comparable Iowa law affecting kindergarten through sixth grade, underscoring the broader national debate surrounding LGBTQ+ rights in educational settings.
