Transgender Florida teachers cannot refer to women’s pronouns and themselves, according to the federal court of appeals.
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Three judge panels of Court of Appeals for the 11th CircuitIn a 2-1 decision issued Wednesday, Florida’s expanded “gay” law said Hillsboro County teacher Katie Wood could legally prohibit prefixes such as Ms. and female pronouns at work.
The ruling overturned a 2024 decision by US District Judge Mark Walker, saying Florida law violated Wood’s first amendment rights. A provisional injunction has been issued Block her enforcement while her case is being heard. Walker said it is clear that Wood’s gender identity as a woman is “an identity that remains faithful to Wood both inside and outside the classroom.”
However, the majority of the appeal bench disagreed.
“Wood’s lawsuit challenges only the application of the law to her speech “in the classroom” with her own admission,” said U.S. Circuit Judge Kevin Newsmu. In other words, state law controls her behavior as a state employee and does not violate her rights as a civilian citizen.
“When a public school teacher talks to a student within the four walls of the classroom, whether it’s verbally or written, she definitely acts.” [her] Civil servant. ” Interacting with students during class is literally a “official dut” for the teacher.[y]the opinion is read.
Newsom was appointed to his seat in 2017 by President Donald Trump. Another Trump appointee, Andrew Brasher, joined the newspaper in a majority opinion.
However, US Circuit Judge Adalbert Jordan, appointing former President Barack Obama, opposed.
“Mr. Wood has largely demonstrated that her preferences for personal titles and pronouns constitutes a personal speech on public concerns rather than government speech,” he writes.
He also argued that Florida officials “recently have come to believe that the First Amendment does not prevent them from determining what it cannot be said and what it cannot be said. Not surprising, the attempts of linguistic orthodox have not been successful so far.”
In 2022, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed Florida’s infamous “gay” law. The 2024 legal settlement revealed that several discussions on the topic were permitted. Also, in 2023, the state expanded its law to limit the use of pronouns in public schools.
Source: Advocate.com – www.advocate.com
