Ridiculous (and apparently psychotically stubborn) Pooner Toby Tobin (Yes, it's Toe Bee Toe Bin!) is back in court, still trying to get around FL's no fake pronouns law.
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Trans man buys Scottish land to be called ‘Lord’ not ‘Miss’
Simon Johnson
Mon, August 18, 2025 at 1:08 PM UTC
A
transgender man bought a small plot of land in Scotland in an attempt to be called “Lord” rather than “Miss”.
Toby Tobin, an American teacher who was born female but identifies as a man, claims to have been forced to resign after
school authorities in Florida prevented them from using male pronouns.
Laws introduced in the US state in 2023 prohibited school staff from adopting
pronouns that did not match their biological sex.
In an attempt to circumvent the ban, the fifth-grade maths and science teacher bought a small plot of Scottish land to secure the title of Lord Toby Tobin.
The four square foot “souvenir plot” on an estate in Fife was sold through a website offering buyers the chance to become a “Lord, Lady or Laird”.
However, the attempt to use the title was rejected and the 30-year-old has launched a lawsuit against the Pinellas County School District claiming
gender discrimination.
The teacher said: “After a conversation with the district they said I would have to use only female-specific pronouns and a title.
“In response to this I thought, ‘Okay, I can’t be Mr Tobin, why don’t I go purchase some land in Scotland and I could become a Lord?’. So I did make some attempts to combat this in the most gentle way that I could at the time.”
Several companies sell souvenir plots in remote parts of Scotland giving owners
the chance to become a Lord or Lady. However, purchasers are warned that you “cannot buy a noble title” and it is for enjoyment purposes only.
Tobin also became an ordained minister and a Count of the Principality of Sealand, an offshore platform in the North Sea, in an attempt to avoid using a female pronoun.
“After proposing that I be Lord Tobin my administration said ‘No’, but I did not give up. I
became a minister through the Universal Life Church so I now am Minister Toby Tobin as well as Lord Toby Tobin,” the teacher said.
“Count Tobin was also not deemed appropriate for the classroom so I started to realise that if it wasn’t Mrs, it wasn’t going to be it – so I was essentially constructively discharged.”
Tobin’s lawsuit, filed in the US District Court in Florida, stated: “Plaintiff attempted to work with the school district by voluntarily obtaining honorifics such as ‘Lord’ by purchasing a tract of land in Scotland.
“Plaintiff also obtained the title of ‘Minister’ from the Universal Life Church and ‘Count’ from the Principality of Sealand.
“Defendant did not allow Plaintiff to use any titles or pronouns other ones that corresponded to the incorrect gender. Defendants’ directives undermined Plaintiff’s identity, dignity, and ability to perform his job in a manner consistent with his personal and professional integrity.”
Lawyers representing school authorities have filed a motion to dismiss the case, arguing Tobin’s
pronoun preference is not protected and the state’s interest in upholding the law outweighs his request.
The 2023 law stated that a person’s sex is an “immutable biological trait and that it is false to ascribe to a person a pronoun that does not correspond to such person’s sex.”
School employees were prohibited from asking students to call them by pronouns not based on their sex at birth and students were not required to use them.
A spokesman for the Pinellas County School District said they did not comment on ongoing legal cases.