News @lemmy.world Salamendacious @lemmy.world 1y ago

Nonbinary Teacher in Florida Fired for Using Mx. Title

www.advocate.com Nonbinary Teacher in Florida Fired for Using Mx. Title

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.
- Serious question, though: how does one pronounce Mx.?
  
  Mx is pronounced like "Mex", but a touch quicker.
  
  I use it and pronounce it like “Mix”
  
  Thank you
  
  the term you're looking for is "schwa" or ə
  
  it's the neutral vowel sound that marks an unstressed syllable.
  
  I always pronounced it with a soft x like ‘Mish’
- I usually hear it as "mix".
  
  Same.
- 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.
- I keep reading it as Mixter.
  
  That exactly without the ter
  
  Mixter and Mixus, much like theydies and gentlethem.
- Doesn't MX also stand for motocross? Like XC for crosscountry?
  
  Motocross Frizzle kinda suits Ms. Frizzle
- It's mex as in tex mex, duh
  
  🌮
- Mix, like a mix of genders.
Nothing says "small government" quite like being fired from your job because of your name.
- Small government for rich, white ~~land~~ business owners.
  
  Big brother for everyone else.
  
  🌏🧑‍🚀🔫🧑‍🚀
  
  Small gov’t has always meant a consolidation of power, so things are easy to control.
Seems like a first amendment violation to me, but then again I’m not a Bible thumping fascist
- Also 14th and 19th, plus the Civil Rights Act. A non-corrupt SCOTUS would toss the Florida law immediately, but absent a couple minutes under Warren we have never had one of those.
- Seems like a first amendment violation to me
  
  Never fear, those "conservatives" who are such responsible stewards of taxpayer dollars will gladly waste them to defend any forthcoming lawsuits.
  
  My blood boils every time they do this. If they just took the money they would have spent and set it on fire it would do less damage.
- Freedom of speech does not mean freedom from consequences
  
  It’s literally freedom from persecution from the government which is exactly what happened here. Stop parroting shit you’ve heard without understanding what it means
  
  I see you made a new account just to be a bigot. Pretty pathetic, really. Enjoy your imminent ban
They were told the other acceptable courtesy titles were Mrs., Ms., or Miss. Using "teacher" was also out of the question.

After being denied Teacher, Professor, or Dr. as the title (the last because they did not have a PhD even though evidently others in the school go by Dr. without a PhD without discipline). And note that "Mr." was apparently not an option?

The school's hands weren't tied. They appear enthusiastic.
I don’t understand trans people because I have never met one because they are the smallest group of people they could find to harass/hate. Which is insanity to me. I can’t overstate how unafraid I am for my children of a dude in a dress reading them “three billy goats gruff “Why the fuck make up monsters when churches exist!?
- Because you create fear of those monsters that don't exist by blowing up the image of those monsters to divert the monsters that exist within your own belief system.
  
  "Trans people are the problem with pedophilia." You do that to those you have indoctrinated, young people with no mind of their own, and people who statistically fall into a category of superstition and believing in figments of their imagination, Big Foot, Aliens, God and you fuel that fire with hate with things like, "the atheists want our voices to go unheard so we should kill your friendly woke white woman that supports your friendly neighborhood poorly mistreated and culturally shit on Blackman/woman. You fuel that with hate until the minority becomes the target in your political and religious agenda to spread, "love in the name of Jesus Christ, or whatever religion is popular." Because if the enemy is justified by your power and money and beliefs then the mass takes to ignoring the issues within your own system of power and money.
  
  So you tell your party or system, "be afraid because if we don't target them first. They will target you, your guns, your wealth, your god, everything you believe. Everything you have to abuse the power you have now." You do it because it keeps you in power.
  
  Fuck cons and fuck republicans and if you are reading this and going, "uh why I never...." Then you are a port of the problem. As yourself when is the last time someone who supported the color of the rainbow truly targeted you or your children. The answer is that person is more likely to be killed by you or your affiliates and so the answer is probably never. Now as yourself the last time someone who supports the confederate flag ran over a group of protestors. Fuck you too if you believe trans people, black people, or anyone that doesn't believe in your saving God and political party is the problem because a woman should have a right to an abortion and you think your voice is going unheard when there is no law that says if you keep your kid you are against the law. Fuck you if you just support in killing as many people as possible but your answer is, "we should support our own first." But you will complain about your taxes that supports a fuck ton of military power in the country but you don't want to use it to protect others but are fine with fueling the weapons we have to protect our own and more.
  
  Fuck you if you if any of this pisses you off because you just can't face the fact that your politics and God don't love. They hate. Fuck you and the white ass elephant you road in on and refuse to acknowledge in the room.
  
  I believe in aliens
- Time and time again the people that go hard against gay rights get caught in homosexual relationships. In this case there's quite a few "masculine" men who are attracted to transsexuals moreso in the case of the religious right who see the "temptation" of a transexual person as an act of the devil. They ignore the whole it's not temptation unless you're actually attracted to them part but they aren't exactly the smartest kids in class either.
  
  I had a conversation with my partner once while working as a medic on an ambulance. He told me being gay was a choice and that they were sinners going to hell. All I could answer with was “so your telling me that every day you have to tell yourself ‘no. I choose not a to suck a dick. Not today.’ Because personally I’ve never had to choose” He became so angry that I had zero doubt he has thought about sucking dick.
I had no idea Mx was a thing
- Well now you know so if you meet someone using Mx you won't knee jerk fire them.
- This was my first time hearing of it too.
- I had a brainfart and thought this had something to do with MX linux. Carry on...
- What the fuck it it anyway?
  
  Like Latinx (though apparently most Latin American people don't really like this from the last survey I saw). It's a genderless way to refer to someone. You replace the gendered letters with x (like the most common variable name in math is, I assume, where it comes from).
  
  "Mix", basically.
- It has to be the stupidest thing I've read all day
  
  I'm getting to that age where there's shit that's weird and I "don't get it". My reaction to "Mx" is a resounding "... alright".
  
  It doesn't effect, inconvenience, or cost me anything to say. I can think of no good reason not to address someone "Mx" if they ask me to.
Also Florida: "Why do we have such a teacher shortage?"
Mx. is a confusing title. How is it pronounced? "X" is an obnoxious letter choice to try to genericize gender.

But the article shows this teacher tried several other reasonable titles, like "professor" and "teacher" that were also denied. That's ridiculous, and clearly just targeting them.
- Please explain how you'd know how to pronounce Mrs as missus\mizzes without someone explaining it? It's no more confusing than that archaic bullshit.
  
  They're abbreviations for master and mistress. Of course those are archaic etymologies, but that's how they evolved into abbreviations.
  
  The strange thing is that Mx is an abbreviation that doesn't have a basis in a word as far as I know. It's literally conforming to those heteronormative traditions and adapting them with an "X" bandaid.
  
  Mr/Ms/Mrs all makes sense.
  
  Mr -> You are a male
  
  Ms -> You are a female
  
  Mrs -> You are a married female
  
  Mx -> You uhh feel like you are neither male or female or something. keyword being "feel". The 3 above all are objective characteristics. The latter is not.
  
  An adult should be able to teach kids without feeling the need to impose their own wacky views on them. Just use mr or ms. You are an adult, you can handle it.
- You not knowing how to pronounce something isn't reason enough for it not to exist.
  
  I'm not saying it is, but it should be enough to start a discussion on whether there's a better, more easily pronouncable term while we're in a discussion about titles.
  
  First time studying American English?
- To me a professor teaches at a college or university but teacher should 100% have been an option.
- I live in MA and have an X marker. I really like it? It’s a common variable, and I like the relationship.
  
  I usually say Mixter, but it’s English so it’s all made up.
- Better to get rid of the others than add one.
- Mx is pronounced like "Mex", but a touch quicker.
  
  Isn't that like, short for Mexican. Like in texmex restaurants.
  
  mix
I know it’s too late, but how about “Coach _____”?
- How about basic respect?
- How about sensei?
  
  Senpai
- I'm not trying to be negative but shouldn't coach be reserved for people who actually coach something? I think teacher should have been available.
Paging Bostock v. Clayton County
“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.
- Teacher should have been available.
Made up titles are fucking stupid.
- As opposed to naturally occurring titles?
  
  As opposed to commonly accepted titles. Not made up, flavor of the day nonsense. Your generation can put up with this shit after mine is gone. Good luck, you are most definitely going to need it.
  
  Ms/Mrs/Mr all reflect objective truths. Mx reflects how the person feels.
- All titles are "made up," and Mx. as an honorific has been around for almost fifty years. A better question would be why our two main honorifics for people are so pointlessly gendered.
  
  It has barely any history prior to 10 years ago. Just because some nobody said it once in the 1970's doesn't mean its been colloquially around for 50 years. The source of it "being around from the 1970's" is a dubious article written in 2015. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/men/the-filter/11597192/Whats-it-like-to-be-a-Mx.html
  
  There's words that develop organically and then there's words that people make up to validate the feelings of women who would have been emos like 10 years ago. Neopronouns and titles like this are stupid and no person outside the progressive bubble will ever use them.
- Here's an idea- let's not care if it's fucking stupid and call people what they want to be called?
  
  Call me big master pimpin'. I will request you be fired if you do not
  
  I want to be addressed as "your highness", can you do that for me? Would be pretty bigoted if you don't, just saying
  
  Here's a better idea why don't the few conform with the masses rather than the other way around. That's some bullshit I'll never do.

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