A divided federal appeals court in Ohio ruled Thursday against the state’s fourth-largest school district in a case that pits its gender-identifying pronoun policy against the rights of students who identify with only two genders.
The full 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that the suburban Olentangy Local School District cannot ban students from using sex-related language that others find offensive, in favor of education parents who argued the policy is unconstitutional.
A national membership organization first sued Olentangy in 2023, alleging that the district’s policy requiring the use of “preferred pronouns” by peers violated students’ rights under the First and Fourteenth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution. The district said the rules were intended to prevent bullying and discrimination.
The lawsuit received widespread national attention, with several conservative political groups, the American Civil Liberties Union, and Christian, Jewish, Muslim, and Hindu rights organizations opposing the policy, and leading LGBTQ+ rights and school groups largely coming to its defense.
The court found that the district “grossly failed” the standard that allowing such speech would “substantially and substantially disrupt” school operations or violate the statutory “rights of others” in the school community.
“Our society continues to debate whether biological pronouns are appropriate or offensive — just as many other issues surrounding transgender rights continue to be debated,” District Judge Eric Murphy wrote for the majority. “The school district cannot distort this debate by forcing one side to change the way it conveys its message or by forcing it to express a different opinion.”
District Judge Jane Stranch threw out the dissent, which was written without using gendered, third-person pronouns at all.
While “the use or avoidance of new pronouns may be a new phenomenon for many, it is certainly possible,” Stranch wrote, adding that “societal customs regarding pronouns have changed throughout American history, and these changing customs suddenly prevented people from speaking.”
It is unclear what the impact of the decision might be. One Ohio teachers union told the court that Olentangy’s policy is largely similar to those used by districts around the state.
6th Circuit Three-Judge Panel 2024 in July ruled against the organization, ruling that the school district had sufficiently demonstrated that the language it sought to ban would disrupt classroom instruction. The previous decision also said the policy did not force students and families represented by the parent group to use certain pronouns for LGBTQ+ students or stifle alternative viewpoints.
Thursday’s ruling overturned that decision and sent the case back to U.S. District Judge Algenon Marbley in Columbus for a preliminary injunction against Olentangy enforcing the pronoun policy.
The case was at issue over overlapping district policies that prohibit the use of gender-related language that other students may find offensive, dehumanizing, unwanted or offensive and encourage the use of “preferred pronouns” by peers.
The district’s electronic device policy, which applies both at school and outside of school, prohibits the transmission of “disruptive” material or material that, among other categories, could be considered harassing or demeaning to other students because of their gender identity or sexual orientation.
A separate anti-discrimination policy prohibits students from saying or writing “discriminatory language” when they are under the direction of the school. The policy prohibits derogatory comments, jokes or slurs based on a variety of factors, including gender identity.
The district’s code of conduct repeats many of the same themes a third time.