Transgender teachers get a court date in challenge to FL’s misgendering law

A federal judge has tentatively scheduled a March 29 hearing date in a constitutional challenge to a new state law that forbids Florida public schools from respecting transgendered teachers’ use of their preferred names and pronouns.

The statute, signed into law by Gov. Ron DeSantis last May, was among a raft of bills expanding 2022’s Parental Rights in Education Act, also known as “Don’t Say Gay,” which harshly restricted mention of sexual orientation or gender identity in public schools.

The case is before U.S. District Chief Judge Mark Walker in Tallahassee. The Southern Poverty Law Center and Southern Legal Counsel are pursuing the action with the San Francisco law firm Altshuler Berzon on behalf of three transgender or nonbinary teachers, one who has already lost her job.

The law “threatens to do the same for the other plaintiffs — and for the other transgender and nonbinary teachers like them across Florida,” according to the 61-page complaint filed on Dec. 12.