Who is Casey Scott? Pansexual Trafalgar Middle School teacher fired for talk on sexual orientation
Florida teacher, Casey Scott claims she was fired for discussing her pansexual status with middle school students whom she then asked to draw pictures representing their own sexual orientations. Scott, a first-year art teacher at Trafalgar Middle School, in Lee County district, said her students were curious about her sexual orientation, so she decided to indulge them. "A lot of the kids came up to me, like ‘Oh, well I’m non-binary’ and a couple kids said ‘Oh, well I’m bi.’ One kid said they’re gay,” Scott told WBBH. “A discussion happened in class and because of that, now I’m fired," she said.
Pansexual refers to someone who is attracted to all categories of people regardless of their sex, gender identity or sexual orientation. Scott is married to a man and she claims some students asked her if they could create art expressing their sexuality. “Really ashamed, I guess, disappointed,” Scott said, “because I feel like it’s all my fault and I was just being myself.”
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The teacher hung the pictures and LGBTQ+ flags on her classroom door and that’s when school personnel contacted her. “They said it would be in the best interest if I got rid of them now,” she said. She snapped pictures showing how she got rid of them by placing them in a recycle bin.“I went over to the recycling bin. I grabbed all their flags and all the kids were staring at me. And I crumbled their flags in front of them,” she explained.
Scott, who was working on a probationary basis and not part of the teachers union, was eventually told not to return to campus and that her contract was being terminated. The local teacher’s union president, Kevin Daly, said it was within the school district’s legal rights to fire her since she was a new teacher still in the probationary period for new hires.
Scott’s firing came days before Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis signed into law a controversial bill that forbids discussions about gender identity and sexual orientation in primary schools’ classrooms. The bill, referred to by opponents as the "don't say gay" bill, has stirred national controversy. Formally called the "Parental Rights in Education" bill, the Florida measure bars classroom instruction on sexual orientation or gender identity for children in kindergarten through third grade, or from about ages 5-9, in public schools. It also prohibits such teaching that "is not age-appropriate or developmentally appropriate" for students in other grades.
Some students took to social media to express their disappointment. However, according to the Lee School District, some parents said they were concerned about the conversation that happened in class and the art assignment that followed.
