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A Florida teacher has been put on leave after requesting to use the gender-neutral title Mx at work. The teacher at Alachua County Public Schools has been placed on administrative leave after requesting that students and staff address them with the title Mx. Mx is a gender-neutral title pronounced as ‘mix’ which some trans, non-binary, gender non-confirming and cis people use as an alternative to gendered honourifics like Miss, Ms, Mrs or Mr. Mx does not indicate a person’s gender. The state’s attorney general James Uthmeier accused the teacher of violating Florida House Bill 1069, which was signed into law by governor Ron DeSantis in July 2023. The bill enshrines “sex as an immutable biological trait” and prohibits K-12 employees from using preferred personal titles or pronouns that don’t alight with birth-assigned sex. Florida officials said the teacher’s use of “Mx” violated state law. The district confirmed that the educator has been placed on leave pending review, but did not released further details. @pinknews A Florida teacher at Alachua County Public Schools has been placed on administrative leave after requesting students and staff address them with the gender-neutral title “Mx.”The state’s Attorney General James Uthmeier accused the teacher of violating Florida House Bill 1069, which was signed into law by Governor Ron DeSantis in July 2023, which enshrines “sex as an immutable biological trait”. This law prohibits K-12 employees from using preferred personal titles or pronouns that don’t align with birth-assigned sex.Florida officials said the teacher’s use of “Mx.” violated state law. The district confirmed that the educator has been placed on leave pending review, but did not release further details. Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier took to X writing “A female teacher at Talbot Elementary in Gainesville is forcing students and faculty to address her with the prefix ‘Mx.’ instead of ‘Ms.’ or ‘Mrs.’ This violates Florida law and Alachua County School District policy and must stop immediately.” #Florida #USPolitics #Mx #education #lgbtqia ♬ Minimal for news / news suspense(1169746) – Hiraoka Kotaro Uthmeier took to X writing of the case: “A female teacher at Talbot Elementary in Gainesville is forcing students and faculty to address her with the prefix ‘Mx.’ Instead of ‘Ms.’ Or ‘Mrs’. This violates Florida law and Alachua County School District policy and must stop immediately.” In August, a Florida judge struck down parts of House Bill 1069. Part of the law sets out a process for parents to complain about books and material with which they disagreed, forcing educators to remove them from their libraries “within five school days… until the objection is resolved”. A female teacher at Talbot Elementary in Gainesville is forcing students and faculty to address her with the prefix "Mx." instead of “Ms.” or “Mrs."This violates Florida law and Alachua County School District policy and must stop immediately. pic.twitter.com/RzJBAPu8ax— Attorney General James Uthmeier (@AGJamesUthmeier) October 22, 2025 The wording of the legislation broadly singled out books with “pornographic” content or those which “describe sexual conduct”. Titles pulled from shelves included The Color Purple, On the Road, Looking for Alaska, The Handmaid’s Tale and Slaughterhouse-Five, also known as The Children’s Crusade: A Duty-Dance with Death. Following legal action by publishers, the Authors Guild, and parents from Escambia County against the removal of dozens of books from school libraries, District Court Judge Carlos Mendoza struck down large parts of the legislation. “None of these books are obscene,” he said in his ruling. “The restrictions placed on these books are thus unreasonable.” The prohibition of material that “describes sexual conduct” was “over-broad and unconstitutional”, he added, because the law “mandates the removal of books that contain even a single reference to the prohibited subject matter, regardless of the holistic value of the book individually or as part of a larger collection”. In addition, the law gave “parents licence to object to materials under a I-know-it-when-I-see-it approach”. Share your thoughts! Let us know in the comments below, and remember to keep the conversation respectful.
