A Florida teacher was reportedly fired for using the gender-neutral term “Mx.” instead of “Ms.” or “Mr.” in emails and other communications, according to NBC News.
The teacher, who goes by AV Vary, was a high school science teacher at Florida Virtual School, which is online, until Oct. 24. Reportedly, Vary filed a complaint with the Florida Commission on Human Relations and the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission stating that the school discriminated against “them” on the basis of their gender identity.
“Getting fired for this, it’s absolute garbage,” Vary told the outlet.
In an emailed statement, Florida Virtual School said that “FLVS is obligated to follow Florida laws and regulations pertaining to public education. This includes laws … pertaining to the use of Personal Titles and Pronouns within Florida’s public school system.”
Reportedly, Vary began going by “gender-neutral” pronouns at the start of the school year to “signal to my marginalized students that I was still a safe place, I was still a safe adult to talk to” after Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed the Parental Rights in Education Act into law. Critics have nicknamed the legislation the “Don’t Say Gay” law (via NBC News):
Vary said they began using “Mx.” at the start of the school year to send a welcoming message to students amid a slew of state legislation that targeted LGBTQ people and topics in schools.
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Students previously addressed Vary with the honorifics “Mrs.” and “Professor,” Vary said.
“When this legislation came out, it was important to me to signal to my marginalized students that I was still a safe place, I was still a safe adult to talk to,” Vary said. “Because I wasn’t allowed to talk to them about that, but I needed them to know that if they needed someone to confide in, that I was a safe person to talk to.”
Vary said they knew using “Mx.” could potentially lead to legal issues because of the new law, but that they wanted to show their students they were an ally. Vary said they also realized this year that they are nonbinary and that they have never felt like they fit into traditional gender norms.
“When I switched to ‘Mx.,’ my existing students knew because of the way my email signature was and the way my homepage displayed my title and the way I signed my text messages,” said Vary, who taught virtually. “I didn’t announce that I was changing. I didn’t talk about being nonbinary. I just changed it, and no one said anything. I think we don’t give young people enough credit for their adaptability. They all just switched, and it was OK.”
Vary said that the school principal, KJ Anderson, informed “them” that they had to change their courtesy title to align with their biological sex. Vary did not make the change and was suspended in September. A month later, Vary was terminated.
In the interview, Vary claimed that teachers “do not have time” to indoctrinate students.
“There’s all this worry that teachers are going to indoctrinate students into some secret society,” Vary said. “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.”
Earlier this year, when DeSantis expanded the Parental Rights in Education law, he said “we never did this through all of human history until like, what, two weeks ago?” in regards to gender-neutral pronouns.
“Now this is something, they’re having third graders declare pronouns. We’re not doing the pronoun Olympics in Florida. It’s not happening here,” he emphasized.