Appeals Court Backs Fla. Law Barring Transgender Teacher's Use of Her Pronouns

Federal Appeals Court Endorses Florida Ban on Teachers' Preferred Pronouns in Public Schools

A federal appeals court has ruled against a Florida teacher who challenged a state law forbidding transgender teachers from using their preferred pronouns during their official duties in the classroom. The case involves Katie Wood, a math teacher in Hillsborough County who is transgender. She sued the state after a 2023 law passed saying that employees of public schools may not identify to their students with pronouns not consistent with their b…

Florida Teachers Have No First Amendment Right to Indicate Their Preferred Pronouns and Honorifics in Class

Excerpts from the 9,400-word Wood v. Fla. Dep't of Ed., decided today by Eleventh Circuit Judge Kevin Newsom, joined by Judge Andrew Brasher: Katie Wood is a transgender woman who teaches at a public high school in Florida. Two years ago, the state enacted Fla. Stat. § 1000.071(3), which, as applied to Wood, prohibits her from using the honorific "Ms." and the gendered pronouns "she," "her," and "hers" in exchanges with students during class tim…

US appeals court endorses state ban on teachers’ use of preferred pronouns

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit building in Atlanta. (Photo by John McCosh/Georgia Recorder)A federal appeals court has ruled against a Florida teacher who challenged a state law forbidding transgender teachers from using their preferred pronouns during their official duties in the classroom. The case involves Katie Wood, a math teacher in Hillsborough County who is transgender. She sued the state after a 2023 law passed sayin…

Appeals Court Backs Fla. Law Barring Transgender Teacher's Use of Her Pronouns

A federal court upheld Florida’s ban on K-12 teachers using pronouns that differ from their sex assigned at birth when speaking to students.

Ruling Backs Teacher Pronoun Restrictions

TALLAHASSEE — A divided federal appeals court Wednesday backed a 2023 Florida law that requires teachers to use pronouns that align with their sex assigned at birth, rejecting arguments that the law violated First Amendment rights of a transgender teacher…