Transgender teacher in Florida sues school district, claims pronoun discrimination

TAMPA, Fla. — 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.”

The department granted Tobin the right to pursue a civil lawsuit. Though now living with his family outside Florida and working without such limitations, Tobin said he felt compelled to fight the law.

—Tampa Bay Times

Pa. Gov. Josh Shapiro said President Donald Trump called him to offer ‘warm regards’ nearly a week after arson attack

HARRISBURG, Pa. — Nearly a week after an arsonist set fire to the Pennsylvania governor’s mansion in Harrisburg while Gov. Josh Shapiro and his family were inside, President Donald Trump called Shapiro to share his “warm regards,” Shapiro said Monday.

Shapiro — whose family and extended family had been sleeping in the governor’s residence following a Passover celebration when a 38-year-old man broke into a wing of the 29,000-square-foot home and started several fires — said Trump called him on Saturday to wish him and his family well following the harrowing experience.

“We spoke for quite a bit of time,” Shapiro said at a news conference in Pittsburgh on Monday, where he advocated for more funding for first responders. “I appreciated his call very much, and we agreed to stay in touch.”

During the call, Shapiro said he and Trump also discussed the proposed sale of Pittsburgh-based U.S. Steel to Japanese company Nippon Steel, Shapiro added.

—The Philadelphia Inquirer

Colorado’s first-in-the-nation sperm donor rules just took effect. Now lawmakers may roll some back

DENVER — Three months after Colorado’s first-of-its-kind sperm donor regulations went into effect, state lawmakers are weighing whether to unwind some of those requirements amid concerns that the new rules have chilled donations for would-be parents who need them.

But the proposal, House Bill 1259, is opposed by the former legislator who sponsored the regulatory law back in 2022, as well as by a coalition of people conceived with donated sperm and eggs. They have accused the bill’s supporters of seeking to deregulate a multibillion-dollar industry that, they contend, needs tight oversight.

The bill — which also would explicitly enshrine protections for in vitro fertilization, or IVF, in state law — comes at a time of upheaval and broad anxiety about the state of reproductive health care in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2022 decision overturning national abortion protections. It has pit advocates — and one large industry player — who want to make fertility treatment as accessible as possible against a community of people who say they’re living reminders of why regulation is vital.

Rep. Meg Froelich, an Englewood Democrat sponsoring the bill with Rep. Kyle Brown, said they “are tremendously sympathetic to donor-conceived people and their challenges and what they’re asking, what they wanted in that bill.”

—The Denver Post

German Catholic canon law expert predicts 'difficult' conclave

COLOGNE, Germany — One of Germany’s top canon lawyers, Thomas Schüller, says he expects a "difficult" conclave following the death of Pope Francis. The meeting to elect a new pope will probably be a lengthy one, the expert from the University of Münster told dpa. "I believe it will be a longer, more complex conclave, because the group of electors is heterogeneous," he said.

Many of the cardinals appointed by Francis in recent years, who come from all parts of the world, cannot be classified as belonging to particular factions or tendencies. "It will be exciting to see whether the reform-oriented group will prevail and agree on a candidate," Schüller said.

"And, how should we view the free agents? Those from Mongolia, Timor or wherever the pope has appointed cardinals who are not at all familiar with Roman customs, but hopefully have the inner freedom to choose the one they consider best?"

Schüller said the main achievement of the late pope was to break down the Catholic Church’s fixation on Europe – and to lead the Church to the margins. "This can also be seen in the fact that all peoples and nations are now represented in the College of Cardinals."

—dpa