Ohio School District Heads to Court Over Pronoun Policy

The 6th US Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati will hear arguments Wednesday in a legal dispute that pits a suburban Ohio school district's policy requiring use of students' preferred pronouns against the free speech rights of classmates who believe there are only two genders. The lawsuit brought by Parents Defending Education, a national Christian organization, against the Olentangy Local School District in 2023 has captured broad national attention from groups ranging from the American Civil Liberties Union to the conservative Manhattan Institute, reports the AP. Ohio's solicitor general has asked to participate in oral arguments on behalf of 22 states that have interests in the case.

A lower court rejected the group's arguments that the policies violated students' First Amendment and Fourteenth Amendment rights, and a three-judge panel of the 6th Circuit affirmed that decision in July. The full court will reconsider that decision in a rare en banc hearing on Wednesday. More:

• The policies involved: The lawsuit takes issue with district policies that prohibit the use of gender-related language that other students might deem insulting, dehumanizing, unwanted, or offensive and call for the use of peers' "preferred pronouns." A separate policy prohibits students from engaging in "discriminatory language" during times when they're under the school's authority. An electronic devices policy—which applies both on and off school time—prohibits the same.

• The parents group: Parents Defending Education, founded in 2021 amid the culture wars over schools' teachings on race, diversity, and sexuality, argues that the policies compel students and parents who belong to their group to "affirm an idea that gender is fluid" in contradiction of their religious beliefs. It further challenges the school's electronic devices policy for applying outside school hours and off school property. The ACLU has sided with the parents group on this point, arguing the district's policies are overbroad.
• The school district: Olentangy Local School District, outside of Columbus, maintains that the policies protect students against abuse and harassment and asserts that Parents Defending Education represents "Christian, cisgender" students "seeking dispensation under the free speech clause of the First Amendment to harass other students based on their gender identity." "They've not been systematically oppressed," the district's lawyers told the lower court. "They're members of the majority who want to—under the guise of the First Amendment—openly voice their opposition to [a] historically maligned minority group, transgendered people."

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