Florida Students Need Parents' Permission to Change Name in Trans Crackdown

Students in one Florida school district will need parental permission to go by anything other than their legal name, sparking an outcry from opponents who say it will target transgender students.

Orange County Public Schools shared a memo on its website that says parents will have to fill out a form if they want their child to go by a name that is not the one on their records.

It comes as Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who opinion polls show is trailing former president Donald Trump in the race for the Republican presidential nomination, has focussed on transgender issues.

Earlier this year, the Republican signed bills that ban gender-affirming care for minors, mandate people to use certain bathrooms and restrict discussions of personal pronouns in schools.

The memo, written by the school district's deputy general counsel, John Palmerini, notes that the Florida Board of Education on July 19 adopted a change to the Florida Administrative Code that states each school board must adopt a policy for education records that includes "provisions for parents to specify the use of any deviation from their child's legal name in school."

"As an example, if the student is named Robert, but likes to be called the nickname Rob, the form must be filled out authorizing teachers and other personnel to call Robert the nickname Rob," the memo said.

According to the memo, parents may fill out a form "allowing the usage of a transgender name."

"As an example, if the student's legal name is Robert, but the student identifies as a transgender girl and uses the name Roberta, the parent may authorize a teacher or other personnel to call the student Roberta," the memo said.

But it also said that while teachers and other personnel would use the name requested by the parent, they "may elect not to utilize the pronoun 'she/her' when referring to Roberta" as a result of a recently enacted law.

That law, House Bill 1069, prohibits school employees or students from being required to refer to people by pronouns that don't correspond to the person's sex.

The memo sparked a backlash after it was posted on X, formerly Twitter, by Alejandra Caraballo, a clinical instructor at the Harvard Law School Cyberlaw Clinic and an LGBTQ+ rights advocate.

"In an attempt to crack down on trans students, Orange County Public Schools in Florida will now require signed parental permission slips for kids to go by any name not on their record," Caraballo wrote in the post. "James will need a signed permission slip to go by Jimmy."

In response, journalist Chris Geidner wrote: "What stupidity these people are engaging in to advance their irrational hatred."

Brooklyn Cybele wrote: "They are absolutely never going to require permission for anyone except trans kids, and we all know it."

"Parental-rights extremism in action," another person, known only as Jessica, wrote. "The most obvious targets have been children in the LGBTQ+ community, of color, etc. But every child's rights are under fire. No child will be spared this systemic removal of the rights to self-expression, autonomy, and privacy."

Caraballo and Orange County Public Schools have been contacted for comment via email.