Florida teacher says she was fired after discussing pansexual identity with middle school students
The school district said the teacher deviated from the state's mandated curriculum
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}A former Florida art teacher said Tuesday that she was terminated after having a discussion on sexual identity and revealing she was pansexual to middle school students.
"I'm really ashamed … because I feel like it was all my fault. And I was just being myself," Casey Scott, a former middle school teacher at Trafalgar Middle School which is located in the Lee County School District, told a local NBC affiliate. "A discussion happened in class and because of that, now I’m fired."
Members and supporters of the LGBTQ community attend the "Say Gay Anyway" rally in Miami Beach, Florida on March 13, 2022.
She told the station that "a lot of kids" came up to her revealing they identified as non-binary, bi-sexual, and gay. Scott said she revealed her sexual identity to her students only after she was asked.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Fox News Digital contacted Scott but has yet to receive a response.
"I'm pansexual," she said. Pansexual is defined as an orientation that describes someone who is not limited in sexual choice to biological sex or gender identity.
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{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Former Florida teacher Casey Scott speaks with NBC local station about termination.
Scott hung up LGBTQ+ flags created by her students on her classroom door. The school, she said, asked her to take them down.
"They said it would be in the best interest if I got rid of them," Scott stated.
The Lee School District told Fox News Digital in a statement, "The District exercised its right to terminate the teacher’s probationary contract because she did not follow the state-mandated curriculum."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Members and supporters of the LGBTQ community attend the "Say Gay Anyway" rally in Miami Beach, Florida on March 13, 2022. (CHANDAN KHANNA/AFP via Getty Images)
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Critics say Florida has become a battleground state for anti-LGBTQ+ legislation after Gov. Ron DeSantis, R., signed the "Parental Rights in Education" bill into law. The bill that critics dubbed "Don't Say Gay" bill states, "classroom instruction by school personnel or third parties on sexual orientation or gender identity may not occur in kindergarten through grade 3 or in a manner that is not age-appropriate or developmentally appropriate for students in accordance with state standards."
When DeSantis signed the bill into law, the governor said, "Parents have every right to be informed about services offered to their child at school, and should be protected from schools using classroom instruction to sexualize their kids as young as 5 years old."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}This article has been updated to include a statement from the Lee County School District.