Nonbinary Teacher in Florida Fired for Using Mx. Title

Salamendacious@lemmy.world to News@lemmy.world – 530 points –
Nonbinary Teacher in Florida Fired for Using Mx. Title
advocate.com

The virtual school says its hands are tied due to Florida's "don't say gay" law. However, the teacher has lodged a complaint against it.

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“I was told that professor was not okay, Dr. was not okay for me because I didn’t have a Ph.D., but there are lots of people at FLVS who do use Dr., which, coincidentally, is also in violation of the same law I got disciplined for,” Vary said. They were told the other acceptable courtesy titles were Mrs., Ms., or Miss. Using "teacher" was also out of the question.“

“We’re going to refuse every attempt at compromise, and force you to choose between abandoning your principles or your career. Why? Because we’re bastards. Fuck you.”

Serious question, though: how does one pronounce Mx.?

Teacher should 100% be an option

Or get rid of these titles altogether, they don't serve much of a purpose and I stopped using them a long time ago.

What if some people prefer to use them them? That seems counterproductive if you respect how people want to be referred.

No why would we force or encourage other people to NOT use their preferred titles. If there are no practical downsides, just let people do what they want.

The thread shows there are downsides.

I’ve skimmed the thread and I don’t see any compelling reasons. Could you cite some?

I am 100% supportive of trans rights, but using precious political will, energy and attention to pressure non trans people to stop using gendered titles is a hugely divisive distraction.

That the thread exists shows that there are downsides (to expand upon what I meant). I would say my perspective is that if you remove the barriers we have imposed upon ourselves, there is less to divide. Removal of gendered labelling for bathrooms, and making Mr/Ms/Miss/Mrs (which is inherently biased against women) obsolete would allow for names to take precedence instead of your 'status'.

The existence of the thread is not an argument. Thats just intellectually dishonest. You wouldn’t tolerate such lazy argumentation from someone who says that they want to impose gendered titles, and the existence of a thread discussing it is “proof” enough.

You’ve now provided a different argument: you claim it removes divisions. Except this is very divisive. Just leave people alone: let people use their gendered titles, and let others not use them!

How so? Someone was fired over their usage of Mx. How is removing gendered titles divisive?

You think that the answer to not allowing someone to use their preferred title is to not allow someone to use their preferred title?

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I don't know, feels kinda weird if my kids were calling their teacher by their first name. I don't have a powerful argument to back this up I admit. Guess it really doesn't matter so it is just a preference on my part.

'Teacher' is what I am referred to as, or 'profe', depending on the school/student/background.

The idea to me is to show humility and respect to someone wiser than yourself. However, I think the ultimate show of respect would be to simply listen and to iterate that you have listened rather than giving someone a potential ego trip.

There's also something to be said about knowing their name. In grade school I knew my teachers last names at least because I called them Mr/Ms whatever. In university they were just "Professor" and I forgot most of their names.

For sure. Here we never brought up the teacher's first name unless another kid asked midclass.

I learned one teacher's name in gradeschool that way and tried it - just doing it made me uncomfortable so I didn't do it again lol.

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Serious question, though: how does one pronounce Mx.?

Mx is pronounced like "Mex", but a touch quicker.

the term you're looking for is "schwa" or ə

it's the neutral vowel sound that marks an unstressed syllable.

We’re going to refuse every attempt at compromise, and force you to choose between abandoning your principles or your career.

Remembers me of something we've already heard, at least in EU, a couple of years ago.

Huh. What? Maybe it’s stuck in my subconscious. I don’t remember it.

Doesn't MX also stand for motocross? Like XC for crosscountry?

Motocross Frizzle kinda suits Ms. Frizzle

I wonder how much pain and misery she put her better half through. Someone just wants to live their life without being shrunk down or going to Venus every weekend.

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