Judge Tosses Challenge to Education Law

Judge Tosses Challenge to Education Law

By Jim Saunders, The News Service of Florida

TALLAHASSEE — For the second time in less than five months, a federal judge has rejected a lawsuit seeking to block a controversial Florida law that restricts classroom instruction on gender identity and sexual orientation.

U.S. District Judge Allen Winsor on Wednesday issued a 21-page decision dismissing a revised lawsuit filed by students, parents and teachers, who argued the law is unconstitutional. Winsor ruled that the plaintiffs had not “alleged sufficient facts” to show they had legal standing to challenge the law.

“Plaintiffs have shown a strident disagreement with the new law, and they have alleged facts to show its very existence causes them deep hurt and disappointment,” Winsor wrote. “But to invoke a federal court’s jurisdiction, they must allege more. Their failure to do so requires dismissal.”

Winsor on Sept. 29 dismissed an earlier version of the case on similar grounds but left open the possibility that the plaintiffs’ attorneys could re-file the lawsuit. The revised version, filed in October, argued that the plaintiffs have suffered “concrete harms” from the 2022 law (HB 1557).

“They have been denied equal educational opportunities they would like to receive, in the curriculum and beyond, and they have been subjected to a discriminatory educational environment that treats LGBTQ people and issues as something to be shunned and avoided, on pain of discipline and liability,” the revised lawsuit said. “This type of overtly discriminatory treatment has no place in a free democratic society and should not be permitted to stand.”

The law, which spurred fierce debate in the Legislature and has drawn national attention, prevents instruction on gender identity and sexual orientation in kindergarten through third grade and requires that such instruction be “age-appropriate … in accordance with state academic standards” in older grades.

Republican lawmakers titled the measure the “Parental Rights in Education” bill. Opponents labeled it the “Don’t Say Gay” bill.

The revised lawsuit alleged that the measure violated constitutional due-process, equal-protection and First Amendment rights, along with a federal law known as Title IX, which bars sex-based discrimination in education programs.

Plaintiffs in the revised case were two students in Miami-Dade County and Manatee County schools, two lesbian couples with children in Miami-Dade County schools, a woman with children in Orange County schools and two teachers in Broward County and Pasco County schools. The defendants were the State Board of Education, the Florida Department of Education and the school boards in Broward, Manatee, Miami-Dade, Orange and Pasco counties.

In an attempt to show standing, the revised version sought to link the law with harm.

As examples, it cited a decision by the Miami-Dade County School Board to reject a resolution designating October as LGBTQ History Month; said one of the student plaintiffs, identified by the initials M.A., could not find a teacher willing to sponsor the Gay-Straight Alliance at a Manatee County school; and said Broward County schools removed LGBTQ-related books after receiving complaints from the conservative group Moms for Liberty.

But in Wednesday’s ruling, Winsor said such arguments were insufficient.

For instance, he wrote that the Miami-Dade School Board’s decision to reject the resolution about LGBTQ History Month “does not create a particularized injury; it shows at most a generalized grievance shared by all who would have preferred the opposite outcome.”

“Regardless, there is a redressability problem because there are insufficient facts to show a nonspeculative likelihood that the school board would adopt such a resolution if the court enjoined it from enforcing the challenged law,” wrote Winsor, who was appointed to the federal bench by former President Donald Trump after serving as a state appellate judge.

Meanwhile, addressing the lack of a sponsor for the Gay-Straight Alliance at the Manatee County school, he wrote that the plaintiffs have “an obvious traceability problem: the law plainly does not preclude a teacher’s service as an extracurricular club advisor.”

“Redressability is a problem too. Plaintiffs have not alleged facts to show it likely that an injunction against the Manatee County School Board (or any other defendant) would yield a willing sponsor,” he wrote.

The law also has drawn a separate constitutional challenge in federal court in Orlando. U.S. District Judge Wendy Berger on Oct. 20 dismissed that case but, like Winsor, gave the plaintiffs an opportunity to file a revised version. The revised lawsuit remains pending.

7 Responses to "Judge Tosses Challenge to Education Law"

  1. Ahh yes the dont say gay law. Let’s all take a painfull reminising moment of Leon/Tallahasse’s old girl Loraine Ausley skipping thru the halls of Florida’s State Capitol singing the words gay gay gay…gay gay gay…I cant remember the words to the rest of her little happy @55 song.
    Now lets all take a happy joyfull moment to rejoice that the rest of the Senate District elected Cory Simon. Had it been left to just your twisted Tally/Leon neighbors Loraine would be sitting in that Senate Seat forcing all of Tally/Leon citizens to learn the rest of the words to her gay gay gay song.

  2. So, the plaintiffs are claiming they are harmed because the law is preventing them from harming other children and families. Misery loves company?

    Thank you, Governor DeSantis and the Republican legislature for passing the law protecting our children and families from abuse.

    Thank you, Judge Winsor and Judge Berger for upholding the law and dismissing these cases.

  3. We need a whole lot more of Romans 1 being preached from the pulpits to fight back against the satanic rainbow jihad demons and the USSA’s degenerate culture pushing this bile.

  4. Title IX applies to different treatment given to either sex under the same circumstances…not to those pretending they are something they are not

  5. LGBTQ should not be in the Public School Classrooms nor should the LGBTQ receive Tax Dollars from any form of Government.

  6. It isn’t enough that the homosexual community can dress how they please, marry who they please, refer to their sexual dysphoria as “mis-gendered” and do what ever immoral act they desire in their homes. No happiness there. The want you to openly embrace their conduct as normal and your children should be brought up believing it. They will never be happy because of mental illness.

    The Bible is really clear what fate awaits the child molester, or “those that cause them (children) to stumble”. To all you HGTV+ and -, live your life how you want but stop trying cram your lifestyle on us Normal People.

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