Overview

• The 11th U.S. Circuit Court overturned Judge Walker’s 2024 injunction in a 2-1 decision, ruling that teachers’ in-class pronoun use constitutes government speech.
• Judges Kevin Newsom and Andrew Brasher held that Katie Wood spoke in her official capacity when identifying herself as “Ms.” with feminine pronouns before students.
• In dissent, Judge Adalberto Jordan warned that treating all classroom speech as government speech risks silencing viewpoints and could have broad First Amendment implications.
• Florida’s law bars teachers from using pronouns or titles that conflict with sex assigned at birth and exposes violators to certification loss and district fines.
• The decision revives enforcement of a 2023 statute that forms part of Gov. Ron DeSantis’s broader anti-transgender legislation and may be appealed en banc or to the Supreme Court.