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FL judge rules school has to temporarily allow transgender teacher to use preferred pronouns

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Two trans teachers and one nonbinary teacher filed a lawsuit in December over the state’s Parental Rights in Education Act — which opponents have called the “Don’t Say Gay” bill — that restricts teachers and educators from using pronouns that don’t align with their biological sex.

A Florida judge temporarily blocked the law from being enforced against one nonbinary and two transgender teachers this week, according to Fox News.

“Once again, the State of Florida has a First Amendment problem,” Chief U.S. District Judge Mark Walker wrote in the temporary injunction. “Of late, it has happened so frequently, some might say you can set your clock by it.”

“This time, the State of Florida declares that it has the absolute authority to redefine your identity if you choose to teach in a public school,” the opinion, released Tuesday, continued. “So, the question before this Court is whether the First Amendment permits the State to dictate, without limitation, how public-school teachers refer to themselves when communicating to students. The answer is a thunderous ‘no.’”

Walker granted Katie Wood, one of the trans teachers, a temporary injunction, arguing in the legal opinion that the law violates the First Amendment. The injunction does not reverse the law for everyone completely. Only Wood will be allowed an exception to the rule, since students called the teacher “Ms.” prior to the 2023 law. After the law went into effect, students called Wood “Teacher Wood,” instead of “Mr.,” which Wood claimed was stigmatizing.

“Katie Wood is a transgender woman who is known at school — indeed, in every aspect of her life — as ‘Ms. Wood.’ She uses she/her pronouns to refer to herself and would prefer that others do as well,” Walker wrote. “AV Schwandes is nonbinary and is known as ‘Mx. Schwandes.’ Mx. Schwandes uses they/them pronouns to refer to themself and would prefer that others do as well.”

However, the judge did not conclude the other two teachers “demonstrated a likelihood of success” in their allegations that the law violated their rights.

“In short, Mx. Schwandes has not come forward with any evidence showing that they intend to engage in speech in the foreseeable future that would violate” the law, Walker wrote.

Woods argued in the lawsuit that the law is discriminatory on the basis of sex and violates the equal protection clause, Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and Title IX of the education amendments of 1972.

“I am hopeful that this ruling will encourage those who feel powerless to stand up for themselves,” Wood said in a statement. “Where there is pain, there is power. And anything can happen when good people stand up together.”

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NY Elementary School Found Teaching ‘Gender Identity’ Course to Kindergartners

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An elementary school in the suburbs of New York City has been teaching a “gender curriculum” to kindergarten children in an effort to promote “inclusion” in the school. Hillside Elementary School, part of the Hastings-on-Hudson Union Free District, uses photos of children to introduce “different identities.”

The New York Post reports that the course includes showing kindergarten students photos of other children which are used to “introduce vocabulary to describe characters of different identities,” including teaching them about the terms “cisgender, transgender, and non-binary,” according to a message to parents regarding the curriculum.

“Our gender curriculum focuses on Hillside’s core value of respect and aims to center discussions on gender identity. The students will learn and discuss that there is a lot you can’t tell about a person by simply looking at them,” the kindergarten level course description reads.

“The students will look at pictures of children and talk about what they notice and what they think they know about the children just from the pictures. Using their observations, we will then take the opportunity to introduce vocabulary to describe characters of different identities,” the school writes.

The “identity” being taught to children includes discussing “gender and the pronouns that you use,” and that “as we learn and grow, the words we use to describe our gender identity can grow too,” as described by the school.

Fox News Digital reached out to the school about the curriculum, to which the Hastings-on-Hudson Union Free District communications team said that the lessons have been in place for several years and are rooted in “Hillside’s core values of respect and fostering dignity for all students.”

“One 30-minute gender lesson is taught in each class one time per year. The classes are led by a certified educator, following a specific set of lessons designed to help students value the full diversity of their classmates,” Superintendent William S. McKersie said in a message to faculty and parents.

“The lessons have been created in alignment with the NYS Culturally Responsive-Sustaining Education Framework,” he wrote. The school noted that the lessons do not address sex education or sexuality. The school district said that while they usually have the courses posted publicly online, the gender lesson description has been taken off the website since going viral.

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