A Florida teacher who was allegedly fired for using the gender-neutral term “Mx.” instead of “Ms.” or “Mr.” has filed a lawsuit against the state education department for discrimination.
The teacher, A.V. Schwandes, taught at Florida Virtual School, an online public high school, until October this year. Schwandes, who goes by “they/them” pronouns, began using “Mx.” in “their” email signature, which Townhall previously reported. The teacher told NBC that she previously went by “Mrs.”
The teacher was reportedly instructed to drop the gender-neutral pronouns to comply with the state’s Parental Rights in Education law, which was nicknamed “Don’t Say Gay” by left-wing advocates. Schwandes was suspended and eventually fired for not reverting “their” pronouns back to “Mrs.” (via NBC):
In a lawsuit filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Florida, Schwandes and two other Florida teachers, both transgender women, allege that the part of the law that bars them from using pronouns and titles consistent with their gender identities discriminates against them on the basis of sex and violates Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment and Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972.
“I lost my job, and maybe my career, because Florida lawmakers don’t want maturing young adults to know that I exist,” Schwandes said in a statement Wednesday. “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. 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.”
In an interview in November, Schwandes claimed: “There’s all this worry that teachers are going to indoctrinate students into some secret society,” adding that, “I’m telling you, we do not have time. If there is any extra time, we’re following up on students’ lives, making sure they’re OK, making sure their needs are met.”
A total of three teachers are behind the lawsuit, according to several outlets. They are represented by two civil rights groups, the Southern Poverty Law Center and Altshuler Berzon, a San Francisco-based private law firm.
“Educators serve their students and communities best when working in safe spaces where they are respected, valued, and allowed to be themselves,” the plaintiffs’ attorneys said in a joint statement Wednesday. “Stigmatizing trans and nonbinary people not only undermines educators but also harms and isolates all students. Teaching at a public school shouldn’t mean denying or contradicting core beliefs or, most importantly, losing oneself entirely. These unlawful statutes have distracted and harmed teachers who want to teach.”
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