April 10 (UPI) — A federal judge has temporarily blocked Florida from enforcing its 2023 law — which restricts how pronouns can be used — against a transgender teacher who sued the state.
While Tuesday’s ruling does not block statewide enforcement of the law, it does allow transgender teacher Katie Wood to use she/her pronouns because she had expressed her personal pronouns before the 2023 law took effect.
“Once again, the state of Florida has a First Amendment problem,” Judge Mark Walker wrote in his decision.
“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. 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,” Walker wrote. “The answer is a thunderous ‘no.'”
“The state of Florida has not justified this grave restraint, and so the United States Constitution does not tolerate it,” Walker added. “Ours is a union of individuals, celebrating ourselves and singing ourselves and being ourselves without apology.”
Wood and nonbinary teacher AV Schwandes filed their lawsuit against state officials and the Florida Department of Education last year to challenge HB 1069 which states “an employee or contractor of a public K-12 educational institution may not provide to a student his or preferred personal title or pronouns if such preferred personal title or pronouns do not correspond to his or her sex.”
Schwandes, who taught science at an online public high school in Florida, was fired after using the title “Mx.,” in email signatures to students.
“I lost my job, and maybe my career, because Florida lawmakers don’t want maturing young adults to know that I exist,” Schwandes said in December.
The law states that violations are punishable by termination, suspension or revocation of a teaching certificate.
“Florida is proud to lead the way in standing up for our children,” Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis said last year as he signed an expansion to HB1069. “As the world goes mad, Florida represents a refuge of sanity and a citadel of normalcy.”
While Wood was granted a preliminary injunction, Schwandes’ request was denied because they had not shown evidence that state officials were “chilling” Schwandes’ speech.
Wood and Schwandes argued HB 1069 violates Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, Title IX and the First and Fourteenth Amendments of the U.S. Constitution.
Walker denied preliminary injunctions based on their claims that the law violates federal employment discrimination protections under Title VII.
“The record before this court does not indicate that Ms. Wood was transferred, demoted or passed over for training or promotion. Further, Ms. Wood has not asserted that the prestige or responsibility of her position as an educator has been diminished,” Walker added.
The Florida Department of Education had not responded to Tuesday’s ruling. Walker is expected to issue a decision on the state’s motion to dismiss the case.
