A Workforce With Gender-Fluid Staff

Legal Brief

CAN YOU DISMISS a gender-fluid educator who sends a note home with students asking them to use the title Mx. rather than traditional courtesy titles when addressing the teacher? Maybe.

Some characterize what happened to a 5th-grade teacher in Tallahassee, Fla., in fall 2017 as “getting fired” after parents expressed outrage at a note titled “About Mx. Bressack” sent home with students asking them to use Mx. instead of Mr., Mrs. or Ms. According to the letter, Chloe Bressack asked students to use they, them or their instead of he, his, she or hers.

The teacher’s letter generated a firestorm of criticism and complaints from parents, with some parents even pulling their kids out of the classroom. The district argued in news reports that Mx. Bressack was transferred from the 5th-grade class to an adult education classroom by mutual decision, noting this was a complex issue for all involved.