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 birth sex, “an immutable biological trait.”
A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit ruled against Wood. The majority considered whether her speech or pronoun use while interacting with students inside the classroom is private speech or within the scope of employment.
“Given the statute’s relatively limited sweep and, even more so, the narrowness of Wood’s challenge, this is, we think, a straightforward case,” Judge Kevin Newsom wrote in a 14-page opinion. “When a public-school teacher addresses her students within the four walls of a classroom — whether orally or in writing — she is unquestionably acting ‘pursuant to [her] official duties.’”
Wood argued the law violated her First Amendment rights and that use of he/him pronouns would induce emotional harm, risk physical harm, and disrupt the classroom, while avoiding titles and pronouns would be “impractical, disruptive, and stigmatizing.”
District Judge Mark Walker in Tallahassee, appointed by former President Barack Obama, had ruled at trial that it was “substantially likely” the law violated Wood’s speech rights and issued a preliminary injunction.
The appeal court vacated that injunction.
The majority found that Wood was acting as teacher, rather than as a private citizen, when writing her pronouns on the whiteboard and syllabi, wearing a pin with her pronouns, and providing her pronouns verbally.
“We hold that the district court misapplied the law, and thus abused its discretion, in preliminarily enjoining [the law’s] enforcement against Wood. We therefore vacate the district court’s order and remand the case for proceedings consistent with this opinion,” Newsom wrote.
The 2023 law was among bills expanding the Parental Rights in Education Act, also known as “Don’t Say Gay,” from the year before. The bills aim to restrict mention of sexual orientation and gender identity in public schools.
“And because Wood can’t show a likelihood of success on her First Amendment claim, we needn’t address any of the remaining preliminary-injunction factors,” Newsom wrote.
Dissent
In a dissenting opinion, Judge Adalberto Jordan wrote that pronouns and personal titles for a teacher are, “like her name, significant markers of individual identity.”
“They exist outside of, and do not depend on, the school or the government for their existence. Stated differently, Ms. Wood would still have her own preferred personal title and pronouns, and would still use them to identify herself to others, even if she was not a public school teacher,” Jordan wrote.
It’s not clear that the First Amendment claim brought by Woods should fail, Jordan said.
“We should be wary of holding that everything that happens in a classroom constitutes government speech outside the ambit of the First Amendment,” Jordan wrote. “Those who wield the power of the government today and are on one side of the gender and culture wars will be the ones at risk of being compelled to speak against their beliefs, or silenced, when their opponents are in charge. Today’s opinion will then not look as attractive.”
Jordan doubted, as did the trial court, that high school students “would view her preferred personal title and pronouns as Florida’s endorsement of her being transgender.”
Jordan was appointed by Obama, and Newsom was appointed by President Donald Trump during his first term, as was Judge Andrew Brasher, who sided with Newsom.
–Jay Waagmeester, Florida Phoenix
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