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Transgender teacher sues Pinellas schools, claims pronoun discrimination
https://www.tampabay.com/news/education/2025/04/21/transgender-teacher-sues-pinellas-schools-claims-pronoun-discrimination/A former Pinellas County schools transgender teacher claims he was forced to resign because of the school district’s implementation of Florida’s 2023 law restricting the use of preferred pronouns.
Toby Tobin last week filed a federal lawsuit alleging the district discriminated against him on the basis of sex, in violation of a recent Supreme Court ruling on federal Title VII guidelines. The suit follows other administrative efforts to find the district violated Tobin’s rights by refusing to call him Mr. Tobin after the law took effect.
Those steps included a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, which was referred to the U.S. Department of Justice Civil Rights Division. The department showed interest in the case, said Gabe Roberts, Tobin’s lawyer with the Scott Law Team. “However, after the election (of President Donald Trump), that interest went away.”
“I can either just stay quiet and just let it happen, or I can show my son there’s always another way, there’s always another option,” said Tobin, who worked as a fifth-grade math and science teacher at Cross Bayou Elementary for two years. “You don’t just give up.”
Toby Tobin last week filed a federal lawsuit alleging the district discriminated against him on the basis of sex, in violation of a recent Supreme Court ruling on federal Title VII guidelines. The suit follows other administrative efforts to find the district violated Tobin’s rights by refusing to call him Mr. Tobin after the law took effect.
Those steps included a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, which was referred to the U.S. Department of Justice Civil Rights Division. The department showed interest in the case, said Gabe Roberts, Tobin’s lawyer with the Scott Law Team. “However, after the election (of President Donald Trump), that interest went away.”
“I can either just stay quiet and just let it happen, or I can show my son there’s always another way, there’s always another option,” said Tobin, who worked as a fifth-grade math and science teacher at Cross Bayou Elementary for two years. “You don’t just give up.”
