A federal appeals court narrowly sided with the state of Florida, ruling that a state law doesn’t violate a transgender public school teacher’s First Amendment rights by preventing her from telling students her preferred pronouns.
The 2-1 opinion by a panel of the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals shot down a preliminary injunction granted last year, in which a lower court judge said that Hillsborough County high school teacher Katie Wood’s right to free speech was infringed.
But appellate Judge Kevin Newsom wrote in the court’s 14-page opinion released on July 2 that the speech in which Wood identified herself to students in the classroom was “in her capacity as a government employee, not as a private citizen.”
Wood is a transgender woman who teaches algebra at Lennard High School in Ruskin. She filed suit in December 2023 with two other Florida educators, arguing that a then-new state law (HB 1069) violated the Civil Rights Act, the First Amendment and the Fourteenth Amendment’s equal protection clause. The law prevents teachers from providing their preferred pronouns if different from their assigned sex at birth.
The case is part of a broader legal battle over how far states can go in regulating classroom speech related to gender identity. As similar laws face challenges across the country, this latest ruling underscores the growing tension between public employees’ speech rights and state efforts to restrict LGBTQ+ expression in schools.
At the same time, Stasi Kamoutsas – the state’s incoming education commissioner – called it a “HUGE legal victory” in a social media post, saying that “(u)nder the leadership of @GovRonDeSantis, leftist ideology has no place in our public education system.”
Judge Walker: ‘Florida has a First Amendment problem’
U.S. District Judge Mark Walker in Tallahassee ruled in April 2024 that Florida education officials couldn’t enforce the law against Wood, saying in an order that the “state of Florida has a First Amendment problem.”
The Obama-appointed judge further explained that Wood’s message of personal identity was independent from her role as a teacher.
The opinion of Newsom and Judge Andrew Brasher, both appointed by President Donald Trump, said Walker’s preliminary injunction “misapplied the law, and thus abused (his) discretion.” The court vacated the injunction and sent the case back to Walker.
Obama-appointed Judge Adalberto Jordan agreed with Walker in a 24-page dissent, arguing that Wood demonstrated a “substantial likelihood of success” when claiming that the Florida law “violates her First Amendment rights by prohibiting her from using her preferred personal title and pronouns in classroom.”
“Florida, however, has recently come to believe that the First Amendment does not prevent it from dictating what can and cannot be said,” Jordan wrote.
Judge Jordan: First Amendment claim is possible
Jordan’s dissent argued that the appellate court should decide the merits of cases in which the “plaintiff cannot possibly succeed on her claim.” In this case, Jordan said it is “not clear that Ms. Wood’s First Amendment claim will fail.”
Jordan added that preferred personal titles and pronouns of a teacher are “significant markers of individual identity” and exist outside of the school or government.
Jonah Dickstein, a Tampa appellate attorney who practices First Amendment law, said the decision is a clear example of a “divergence in views of the judges.” Dickstein said the next step would be for the case to return to Walker for the ongoing litigation to continue.
This case is one of multiple ‘anti-pronoun’ lawsuits against Florida education officials. Their attorneys said in another lawsuit’s request to dismiss mid-June that being referred to by preferred pronouns was not protected by the First Amendment.
In a case against a Pinellas County transgender teacher, the state also said its interest in having its laws followed outweighed the teacher’s desire to be called by preferred pronouns.
This reporting content is supported by a partnership with Freedom Forum and Journalism Funding Partners. USA Today Network-Florida First Amendment reporter Stephany Matat is based in Tallahassee, Fla. She can be reached at SMatat@gannett.com. On X: @stephanymatat.
This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Divided appeals court backs Florida ban on preferred pronouns in school classrooms
Reporting by Stephany Matat, USA TODAY NETWORK – Florida / Tallahassee Democrat
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