The United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit has held that the Olentangy Local School District Board of Education in Ohio cannot compel students to use classmates’ “preferred pronouns.”
According to Courthouse News Service, the court found that students who refer to all classmates by the pronouns associated with their true sex whether they are “transgender” or not do not substantially interfere with the learning environment and thus cannot be punished under the district’s policy.
In 2023, a parent asked Olentangy whether its anti-harassment policy would permit disciplining students who refuse to use others’ preferred pronouns. When the district confirmed that students who use pronouns “contrary to the other student’s identity” could be disciplined, conservative advocacy group Parents Defending Education (PDE) filed suit, alleging a First Amendment violation.
Also according to Courthouse News Service, District Judge Algenon Marbley (a Clinton appointee) denied PDE’s motion for a preliminary injunction. A three-judge panel of the Sixth Circuit Court upheld that denial in July 2024, siding with the school district. The full court then agreed to rehear the case.
In the majority decision published Nov. 6, Judge Eric Murphy (a Trump appointee) stated that, “Unlike, say, a political diatribe about transgender rights in math class, the mere use of biological pronouns does not entail ‘aggressive, disruptive action.’ Nor does the school district suggest that such speech has ever disrupted any school activity in the past.”
The decision further noted, “despite admitting that there has never been a disruption caused by a student’s referring to another student using a non-preferred pronoun, the District insists it can force students to always use preferred pronouns instead of biological ones.”
The district court originally supporting the school policy had argued that compelling students to speak particular pronouns was permissible in order to promote speech that “evinces […] respect for the individual” and to “maintain a safe and civil learning environment.”
But the majority rejected that justification as insufficient under the First Amendment. It emphasized that schools bear the burden of demonstrating disruptiveness, since mere “discomfort” doesn’t suffice.
The court remanded its decision with instructions that a “limited, tailored injunction” be issued prohibiting the district from punishing students for the commonplace use of non-preferred pronouns.
The ruling reinforces that speech in public schools, including speech on controversial topics like “gender identity,” remains protected unless it causes a substantial disruption. For school districts within the Sixth Circuit’s jurisdiction (Ohio, Michigan, Kentucky, and Tennessee), policies that attempt to penalize students for referring to classmates by the pronouns associated with their true sex will now face heightened constitutional risk.
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