Three teachers have filed a lawsuit to challenge a Florida statute that enforces requirements around the use of pronouns in schools, a move they call "anti-LGBTQ+."
Katie Wood, Jane Doe and AV Schwandes are requesting an injunction to prevent the state's enforcement of Florida Statute 1000.071(3), or Subsection 3, which says that school employees and contractors cannot provide their pronouns to students "if such preferred personal title or pronouns do not correspond to his or her sex."
Doe and Wood are also asking separately for an injunction preventing their employers from enforcing the statute, and Schwandes is asking for damages from their employer, who they allege fired them for violating the subsection.
“There is no American right more fundamental than freedom of expression and protection from the government that weaponizes their disagreements on that expression. Subsection 3 violates both of these,” Wood said in a press release.
She added that while she is a transgender teacher, she's a "human being first."
“As a human being living in America, I demand to be treated with fairness and equity at work," Wood continued. "Those who support and enforce this law are trying to take my voice away and bury my existence. But they will not. I can help hold Florida lawmakers accountable in a court of law. I will not be swept under the rug, I will not be silenced, and I will not budge for my Constitutional rights.”
Schwandes said they believe they lost their job because "Florida lawmakers don't want maturing young adults to know that I exist."
“As a high school teacher, I should not have to pretend to be someone I'm not simply because I don’t ascribe to someone else’s rigid ideas of gender,” Schwandes said. “Tolerance is a two-way street. Just as I respect the faith-based beliefs of others, my civil rights need to be respected because I am an American, and I do exist.”
All three plaintiffs are being represented by the Southern Poverty Law Center, Southern Legal Counsel and Altshuler Berzon, LLP.
The LGBTQ+ community has been at the center of many Florida bills in 2023. On Tuesday, a high school, along with a student-athlete, were punished by state officials when they claimed they violated the Fairness in Women’s Sports Act.
