Transgender employees cannot use the pronouns or bathrooms that match their gender identity due to a Florida law that was recently passed, the state's Orange County Public Schools announced in a memo it sent out this week, The Hill reported on Tuesday.
The memo, which illustrates the manifold controversial changes the state legislature has made to its education system, states that under the law, House Bill 1069, no one is permitted to be required to use a person's "preferred personal title or pronoun," and students are not to be asked for their pronouns.
Orange County Public Schools, which is one of the largest school districts in Florida, said in the memo that "the bill states that a transgender employee or contractor may not provide a personal title or pronoun to students which does not correspond to the employee's or contractor's biological sex at birth."
The memo also mentions another law, House Bill 1521, which deals with what bathroom an individual can use.
Orange County Public Schools stated that transgender students and employees will have single-stall bathrooms for their use — or they are permitted to go to the bathroom that corresponds to their assigned sex at birth.
However, transgender employees and students will have disciplinary actions taken against them if they use a bathroom that corresponds with their gender identity, the memo states.
In addition, parents can sign forms for a teacher to use a nickname for a student, but a teacher cannot talk about a child's pronouns or use a different name without permission.
For teachers worried about the legal ramifications, the school district recommends that they call on students by their last name, stating that "this would avoid any issues with pronouns or first names which do not match the biological sex of the child at birth."
Brian Freeman ✉
Brian Freeman, a Newsmax writer based in Israel, has more than three decades writing and editing about culture and politics for newspapers, online and television.
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