After a Florida law blocked transgender and nonbinary teachers from using the pronouns and titles that best express themselves, the Southern Poverty Law Center and its partners filed a lawsuit on behalf of three teachers challenging the anti-LGBTQ+ statute.

The lawsuit describes how the ban, also known as Subsection 3, unlawfully discriminates on the basis of sex and restrains the teachers’ speech, in violation of the U.S. Constitution and civil rights statutes. Under the statute, teachers violating the ban may be fired and lose their teaching certification. Many teachers have already left the profession – and the state – in response to discriminatory laws Florida passed to push LGBTQ+ people out of public life and erase their existence.

The lawsuit was filed on behalf of educators Katie Wood, Jane Doe and AV Schwandes. They are seeking an injunction preventing enforcement of Subsection 3. Schwandes is also demanding damages from their employer, who fired them for violating Subsection 3.