Three Florida teachers are suing state officials over HB 1069, a law that forbids them from using pronouns that do n’t match the sex they were assigned at birth.
The legislation says that any individual or company of K- 12 public schools the n’t show students about their “preferred specific title or pronouns” if they do not meet the sex they were assigned at birth. If they do, they could be suspended, investigated, fined, suspended, fired, have their training certificates revoked, and been placed on a record preventing them from having their certificates reinstated.
One of the plaintiffs — identified as Ms. Wood, a transgender mathematics professor at Lennard High School — officially changed her title and sex on her authorities- issued identity documents. But, after HB 1069 became law, her director told her she was no longer speak to herself as” Miss”, yet though she had done so for years before. Instead, the director said she had to start referring to herself as” Teacher”, an awkward subject that makes her feel stigmatized.
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Most students still call her” Ms. Wood”, while others call her” Teacher Wood”. She feels stress and distraction, knowing that she could shed her teaching certificate because her individuals also recommend to her as” Miss”. If a pupil misgenders her, she’s forbidden by law from correcting them.
Another claimant — a intersex science and physics professor named Mx. Schwandes — was fired from virtually teaching in October 2023 because she refused to stop using they/them pronouns and use” Ms., Mrs., and Miss” instead of” Mx”.
” Through]HB 1069] subsection 3, Florida has stigmatized Plaintiffs, threatened their mental wellbeing, upended the respect that is owed to them as teachers and that is needed for a healthy workplace and functioning classroom, and put their industries and individuals ‘ wellbeing on the line”, the lawsuit says.
The lawsuit even says that HB 1069 unjustly discriminates against the teachers based on gender in contravention of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the U. S. Constitution, Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, and the 2020 U. S. Supreme Court decision Bostock v. Clayton County, which ruled that anti- LGBTQ+ bias is a form of sex- based discrimination forbidden by national laws.
The defendant’s professionals point out that Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis ( R ) and his administration have said that HB 1069 is necessary to “protect children” from “indoctrination” and “woke gender ideology”, but neither legislators nor any provisions in the law explain how it advances those goals.
” Through all these laws, Florida consciously sends the state- sanctioned, iniquitous, and misleading message that transgender and nonbinary people and their identities are inherently risky, specially to children”, the lawsuit states. ” Florida’s purpose behind these rules is to denigrate and vilify transgender and nonbinary people and consign them from public existence altogether”.
The plaintiffs are seeking an injunction to stop the law’s protection as well as income for punitive damages, up paid, court fees, and additional comfort.
