Florida judge: School must temporarily allow transgender teacher to use preferred pronouns

DeSantis rejects 'pronoun olympics'

Saying Florida will "let the kids be kids," Gov. Ron DeSantis on Wednesday signed a bill that expands a controversial 2022 law restricting instruction on sexual orientation and gender identity in schools.

A Florida judge temporarily blocked a pronoun law from being enforced against one nonbinary and two transgender teachers this week.

"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.’"

Two trans 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.

Walker granted Katie Wood, one of the trans 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."

The three plaintiffs' lawyers said in a statement the ruling "sends a strong, positive message to trans and nonbinary educators that their title and their identity are not mutually exclusive."

At the time, Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis expanded a 2022 educational law that prohibited LGBTQ+ curriculum to include a ban on teachers and students using their preferred pronouns that do not align with their sex, saying the Sunshine State will not be doing "the pronoun Olympics."

DeSantis added teachers and students in Florida will "never be forced to declare pronouns in school or be forced to use pronouns not based on biological sex."