On Monday, the deputy general counsel of Florida’s Orange County Public Schools system sent an email to principals announcing new policies for the upcoming academic year. The email announced that the school district which encompasses Orlando and serves more than 200,000 students would be required to target transgender teachers, staff, and students for discriminatory treatment. Transgender teachers may no longer use their preferred pronouns or titles in class; they must instead use the pronoun and title that corresponds to their “biological sex,” as assigned at birth. Transgender teachers, staff, and students may no longer use the bathroom that aligns with their gender identity at school. Transgender “visitors”—including parents, guardians, and students from other districts or states will face criminal prosecution if they use the bathroom that fits their gender identity on school premises. The guidance arrives amid a severe teacher shortage in the school district, with hundreds of vacancies left unfilled. It flows directly from two laws (H.B. 1069 and H.B. 1521) passed by Florida’s Republican-controlled Legislature, and signed by GOP Gov. Ron DeSantis, that mandate discrimination against transgender people throughout the state. Taken together, this slate of legislation appears designed to drive transgender teachers and staff out of the state’s public school system altogether, subjecting them to constant threat of discipline for simply existing as a trans person.
Home Happening Out Television Network DeSantis’ Board Of Education Begins Erasure Of Trans Identities In School
