Trans Teacher In FL Can Use Preferred Pronouns, Judge Says: Reports

HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY, FL — A transgender teacher in Hillsborough County can use her preferred pronouns in the classroom, a federal judge ruled Tuesday, according to multiple reports.

The decision goes against a 2023 expansion of Florida’s so-called “Don’t Say Gay” law that bans educators from using pronouns that don’t align with their sex assigned at birth.

Katie Wood, a teacher at Lennard High School in Ruskin, and AV Schwandes, a nonbinary teacher who was fired by Florida Virtual School, are part of a lawsuit against the Florida Department of Health over the law, CBS News said. Those in violation of the law could be suspended or have their teaching license revoked.

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Wood is “substantially likely” to succeed on her First Amendment claims in the suit, Chief United States District Judge Mark E. Walker said, according to WFLA.

“Once again, the State of Florida has a First Amendment problem,” Walker wrote. “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. 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.'”

His preliminary injunction only blocks Florida from enforcing the law against Wood, who teaches 10th-grade algebra, as the suit moves forward, the Guardian said.

Prior to the expansion of “Don’t Say Gay,” she was called “Ms. Wood” by students. After the law’s expansion, she was required to have students call her “Teacher Wood.”