The decision bars schools from punishing students who refuse to use a transgender child’s preferred pronouns.
The full U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit ruled on Nov. 6 that a school board in Ohio cannot punish students for refusing to use the preferred gender pronouns of transgender students.
The decision requires the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio to issue an injunction against the Olentangy Local School District, the fourth largest in the state, that would allow students to refer to transgender students by the pronouns matching their biological sex.
A group of parents of students in the district’s schools, represented by the conservative activist group Parents Defending Education, filed a lawsuit and motion for a preliminary injunction in 2023 against the district’s code of conduct that required preferred pronoun usage.
“Our society continues to debate whether biological pronouns are appropriate or offensive—just as it continues to debate many other issues surrounding transgender rights. The school district may not skew this debate by forcing one side to change the way it conveys its message or by compelling it to express a different view,” wrote Judge Eric Earl Murphy of the Sixth Circuit.
“The Supreme Court’s cases provide a clear answer,” he continued. “A school district may not restrict personal speech on matters of public concern unless the speech would ‘materially and substantially disrupt’ school activities or infringe the legal ‘rights of others’ in the school community.”
The decision was issued by an “en banc” court—a full panel of all judges hearing an appeal from a smaller, three-judge panel’s decision to deny the injunction in 2024. Ten judges, including the prominent jurist and Chief Judge Jeffrey Sutton, joined the majority, while seven judges dissented.
The court’s decision does not end the case, as the injunction to be issued will merely be preliminary. A full oral argument on the merits will have to occur at the District Court, although the injunction means that the policy cannot be enforced in the meantime. The decision may be stayed by the Supreme Court of the United States, although the Olentangy District School Board has not indicated whether it will seek an application for a stay.
The decision was anchored primarily on First Amendment grounds, where the court examined whether the parents would succeed on the merits of the case.
“Schools may not ban student speech just because the audience will suffer ‘discomfort and unpleasantness’ from hearing ideas they dislike,” wrote Judge Murphy, citing the Supreme Court’s ruling in Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District, a case concerning free speech in schools during the Vietnam War in 1968.
Parents Defending Education hailed the decision.
“The 6th [circuit] just ruled that yes, students do not shed their speech rights at the schoolhouse gate. And no, schools cannot force children to pick a side on gender identity & speak accordingly. We won today, but more Importantly, the First amendment triumphed,” Sasha Perry, vice president of Parents Defending Education, wrote on social media.
By Arjun Singh
