Posted on Nov 11, 2023
Florida teacher fired for using gender-neutral honorific ‘Mx.’
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A Florida teacher filed a complaint against their former employer after being fired for using the gender-neutral honorific “Mx.” instead of “Ms.” or “Mr.” in emails and other school communications.
The teacher, who uses the name AV Vary over their legal name, taught high school science at Florida Virtual School, an online public school, until Oct. 24. Vary filed a complaint Wednesday with the Florida Commission on Human Relations and the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission alleging the school discriminated against them based on their gender identity and violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
Vary said the pronouns they use and their birth-assigned sex have nothing to do with how they teach physics.
“They are so far from related,” Vary told NBC News on Friday. “Getting fired for this, it’s absolute garbage.”
Neither the Florida Virtual School nor the Florida Department of Education immediately returned requests for comment. The Florida Virtual School said in a statement to USA Today: “As a Florida public school, 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.”
The teacher, who uses the name AV Vary over their legal name, taught high school science at Florida Virtual School, an online public school, until Oct. 24. Vary filed a complaint Wednesday with the Florida Commission on Human Relations and the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission alleging the school discriminated against them based on their gender identity and violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
Vary said the pronouns they use and their birth-assigned sex have nothing to do with how they teach physics.
“They are so far from related,” Vary told NBC News on Friday. “Getting fired for this, it’s absolute garbage.”
Neither the Florida Virtual School nor the Florida Department of Education immediately returned requests for comment. The Florida Virtual School said in a statement to USA Today: “As a Florida public school, 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.”
Florida teacher fired for using gender-neutral honorific ‘Mx.’
Posted from nbcnews.com
State of Florida
Teaching
LGBTQ+
Gender
Discrimination
Posted 6 mo ago
Responses: 1
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PO1 William "Chip" Nagel
..."Florida statute requires teachers to use titles and pronouns corresponding to biological sex
More: Florida Board of Education votes on guidelines on bathrooms, pronouns
Documentation reviewed by USA TODAY showed that leadership at FLVS asked Vary to change their courtesy title from Mx. to Ms., Mrs., or Miss in accordance with Florida Statue 1000.071.
The statute states that every public K-12 educational institute must operate under the understanding that a person's sex is biological and unchangeable. As such, employees may not provide pronouns that do not align with their biological sex.
The law went into effect in July 2023 after Governor Ron DeSantis signed HB1069, which is considered an expansion of the 2022 "Don't Say Gay" bill. A lawsuit on behalf of Family Equality and Florida families challenging the 2022 bill went to an appeals court in March 2023 after a Florida judge dismissed the original suits for not showing direct harm from the bill.
Vary said that, before termination, they offered other gender-neutral suggestions for courtesy titles.
While Vary does not hold a PhD., "Dr." is a gender-neutral title that other teachers and administrators in Florida schools use. But Vary said FLVS wouldn't allow Vary to use it on the grounds that they did not hold a PhD. The school said Vary could go without a courtesy title, but they were not comfortable with that.
Vary also recommended "professor," "teacher" and "coach" as alternatives. The school did not permit those either.
"Clearly, to me FLVS is not simply concerned with following the law. There's something more to it," they said."...
..."Florida statute requires teachers to use titles and pronouns corresponding to biological sex
More: Florida Board of Education votes on guidelines on bathrooms, pronouns
Documentation reviewed by USA TODAY showed that leadership at FLVS asked Vary to change their courtesy title from Mx. to Ms., Mrs., or Miss in accordance with Florida Statue 1000.071.
The statute states that every public K-12 educational institute must operate under the understanding that a person's sex is biological and unchangeable. As such, employees may not provide pronouns that do not align with their biological sex.
The law went into effect in July 2023 after Governor Ron DeSantis signed HB1069, which is considered an expansion of the 2022 "Don't Say Gay" bill. A lawsuit on behalf of Family Equality and Florida families challenging the 2022 bill went to an appeals court in March 2023 after a Florida judge dismissed the original suits for not showing direct harm from the bill.
Vary said that, before termination, they offered other gender-neutral suggestions for courtesy titles.
While Vary does not hold a PhD., "Dr." is a gender-neutral title that other teachers and administrators in Florida schools use. But Vary said FLVS wouldn't allow Vary to use it on the grounds that they did not hold a PhD. The school said Vary could go without a courtesy title, but they were not comfortable with that.
Vary also recommended "professor," "teacher" and "coach" as alternatives. The school did not permit those either.
"Clearly, to me FLVS is not simply concerned with following the law. There's something more to it," they said."...
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