{"id":38764,"date":"2023-11-12T15:54:27","date_gmt":"2023-11-12T20:54:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/?p=38764"},"modified":"2023-11-12T15:54:31","modified_gmt":"2023-11-12T20:54:31","slug":"florida-teacher-fired-for-using-gender-neutral-title-a-step-back-for-lgbtq-rights","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/2023\/11\/12\/florida-teacher-fired-for-using-gender-neutral-title-a-step-back-for-lgbtq-rights\/","title":{"rendered":"Florida Teacher Fired for Using Gender-Neutral Title: A Step Back for LGBTQ+ Rights?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In a recent incident that has sparked heated discussions, a Florida teacher, AV Vary, was dismissed for using the gender-neutral honorific &#8220;Mx.&#8221; instead of traditional titles like &#8220;Ms.&#8221; or &#8220;Mr.&#8221; in school communications. Vary, who identifies as nonbinary, taught science at Florida Virtual School. This dismissal comes amid a wave of legislation in Florida targeting LGBTQ+ topics in schools.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1110\" height=\"739\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1110px) 100vw, 1110px\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/230912-naples-florida-say-gay-sign-ac-510p-1d2591.webp?resize=1110%2C739&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-38765\"\/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Vary has since filed a complaint with the Florida Commission on Human Relations and the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, alleging discrimination based on gender identity. The legislation in question includes a law prohibiting employees from sharing pronouns or titles that do not align with their birth sex. Vary argues that their use of &#8220;Mx.&#8221; was a way to signal to marginalized students that they were safe people to talk to.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This incident has sparked a variety of reactions from the public. One reader asked, &#8220;Honest question. How is that pronounced? Is it like \u201cmix\u201d or no? I genuinely don\u2019t know.&#8221; This comment highlights the unfamiliarity and confusion that some people have with gender-neutral pronouns and honorifics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Others have expressed concern over the implications of this case. &#8220;Vary&#8217;s justification is to the point and succinct, but it may not be a winning argument in this climate in Florida. After the agency rules on his argument, expect that to proceed to the federal courts,&#8221; one reader commented, hinting at the potential legal battles that could arise from this incident.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Some readers drew parallels with past changes in language use. &#8220;I can remember when people were getting used to &#8220;Ms.&#8221; People didn&#8217;t get fired for using the term,&#8221; and &#8220;Anyone old enough to remember when Ms came about? There was a lot of debate over that too,&#8221; they noted, suggesting that societal acceptance of new terms can take time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The case has also raised concerns about the teaching climate in Florida, with one reader stating, &#8220;Florida is struggling for qualified teachers at the moment.&#8221; Another reader pointed out the potential drain on government resources if the case proceeds to court and the message it sends to other teachers about the climate in Florida.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The public&#8217;s stance on the news is varied, with some expressing confusion over the use of gender-neutral honorifics, others drawing parallels with past debates over language changes, and some expressing concern over the potential legal implications and the teaching climate in Florida.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>What Do You Think?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">We invite our readers to share their views on this issue. Do you think Vary&#8217;s dismissal was justified? What are your thoughts on the use of gender-neutral honorifics in schools? Let us know in the comments below.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In a recent incident that has sparked heated discussions, a Florida teacher, AV Vary, was dismissed for using the gender-neutral honorific &#8220;Mx.&#8221; instead of traditional titles like &#8220;Ms.&#8221; or &#8220;Mr.&#8221;&hellip; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":38765,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"0","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","inline_featured_image":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"wpai_generated_summary":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"dois","default_image_id":71799,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false},"categories":[14],"tags":[6708],"class_list":["post-38764","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-florida-teacher-fired-for-using-gender-neutral-title-a-step-back-for-lgbtq-rights"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38764","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38764"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38764\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":38766,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38764\/revisions\/38766"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/38765"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38764"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38764"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38764"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}