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August 16, 2025 | Tallahassee, Fla. — A federal judge has ruled that Florida’s law barring transgender teachers from using pronouns that match their gender identity violates federal workplace protections. But the law remains in effect for now while appeals continue, keeping the issue unresolved in Florida classrooms.

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The decision has sparked questions locally because of the case of Melissa Calhoun, the former Satellite High School teacher whose contract was not renewed after she used a student’s preferred name in class. Many have confused her situation with the pronoun lawsuit, but they involve two different provisions of the same 2023 law.

• Calhoun’s case stemmed from House Bill 1069’s parental consent rule, which requires teachers to obtain written permission before using any name or pronoun for a student that differs from their legal records. She used a student’s longstanding nickname without written consent, triggering an investigation. In July, she settled with the Florida Department of Education, keeping her certification but receiving a reprimand, a $750 fine, and one year of probation. Brevard Public Schools also barred her from reapplying for positions.
• The case decided this week, by contrast, deals with a separate section of the same law that forbids teachers themselves from using pronouns or titles inconsistent with their sex assigned at birth. That provision is now under fire in federal court.

While Judge Mark Walker’s ruling does not change Calhoun’s outcome, legal experts say it could create a path for future challenges to the student consent rule if higher courts affirm that restrictions on gender-related speech amount to workplace discrimination.

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On August 14, U.S. District Judge Mark Walker sided with two transgender teachers: Katie Wood, an algebra teacher in Hillsborough County, and an anonymous teacher in Lee County. He found that forcing them to avoid their own pronouns violates Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits employers from discriminating on the basis of sex.

“The law forbids transgender teachers from using the pronouns and titles that align with their gender identity and requires them to either deceive their students or misgender themselves, risking discipline, suspension, or termination,” Walker wrote. He noted that cisgender teachers face no comparable restriction.

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Despite that conclusion, Walker stopped short of blocking the law’s enforcement or awarding damages. Instead, he put the case on hold while the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals considers a related case from Georgia, Lange v. Houston County, which could set binding precedent. Until then, Florida’s law stays in place.

This is not the first time the pronoun law has been in front of the courts. Last month, a divided panel of the 11th Circuit overturned Walker’s earlier injunction in favor of Wood. The majority said a teacher’s classroom speech counts as “government speech,” not private expression protected by the First Amendment.

Judge Adalberto Jordan dissented, warning that the ruling could “silence teachers across the board” and diminish constitutional protections in schools.

The fight over pronouns is just one piece of a broader set of restrictions passed by Gov. Ron DeSantis and state lawmakers in 2023. Alongside limits on pronouns, the package included the parental consent rule that cost Calhoun her job, new policies on bathroom use, and bans on gender-affirming care for minors.

Advocates say Walker’s ruling under Title VII could ultimately reshape how these laws are enforced. Critics of the law argue it forces teachers into an impossible position, while supporters insist it protects parental rights and classroom consistency.

For now, though, both the pronoun ban and the nickname consent rule remain on the books. The next move belongs to the 11th Circuit, and potentially the U.S. Supreme Court, which may be asked to decide how far states can go in controlling what teachers say in the classroom.

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