Ohio students can be punished for “misgendering” their classmates, a federal appeals court has ruled.

The ruling results from a lawsuit filed by Parents Defending Education, a national grassroots parent-led organization “working to reclaim our schools from activists imposing harmful agendas.”

In February 2023, a parent-member of the organization emailed the Olentangy Local School District, inquiring whether their “devoutly Christian child who believes in two biological genders” would “be forced to use the pronouns that a transgender child identifies with or be subject to reprimand from the district.”

The District responded that a “student purposefully referring to another student by using gendered language they know is contrary to the other student’s identity would be an example of discrimination under” the District’s policies.

As a result, Parents Defending Education brought a lawsuit against Olentangy Local School District Board of Education for three of its policies that “prohibit the intentional use of pronouns inconsistent with a student’s gender identity.”

The lawsuit contends that the District’s speech codes violate the First Amendment because they compel speech, discriminate based on viewpoint, prohibit speech based on content without evidence of a substantial disruption, and are overbroad.

However, a three-judge panel on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit recently upheld a lower district court’s ruling against Parents Defending Education.

The 2-1 opinion was authored by Judge Jane Stranch, a nominee of former President Barack Obama; she was joined by Judge Stephanie Davis, a nominee of President Joe Biden.

Senior Judge Alice Batchelder, a nominee of former President George H.W. Bush, authored a piercing dissent.

Judge Batchelder summarizes Parents Defending Education’s position, writing,

The plaintiffs’ position – based on their scientific (biology, physiology, and genetics) and religious beliefs – is that biological gender is immutable, people are either male or female, and there is no such thing as “gender transition”; that is a made-up thing, imaginary or make believe, and a public school cannot force their children to pretend it is a real thing.

As the judge points out however, “The governmental authority (the District) has taken a clear position (viewpoint) in which all of its captive subjects (students) must affirm the existence of gender transition (either through words or silence), regardless of their own view.”

This attempt by the District to force students to acquiesce to such speech codes that mandate pronoun use is blatantly unconstitutional.

Judge Batchelder writes,

In this light, it is also compelled speech – the students’ only options begin from the District’s viewpoint that gender transition is a real thing; from there the students must conform their own expression around that viewpoint. …

The First Amendment forbids the District from compelling students to use speech that conveys a message with which they disagree, namely that biology does not determine gender.

The only disappointing aspect of Judge Batchelder’s dissent is that it is not the majority opinion of the court – her carefully and correctly argued opinion deserves to be so.

As Alliance Defending Freedom Senior Counsel and Vice President of Appellate Advocacy John Bursch said about the lawsuit, “School policies that compel the use of pronouns inconsistent with sex force students and educators to speak contrary to their deeply held beliefs,” adding,

Olentangy Local School District has joined a troubling trend of school districts adopting gender-identity policies that force their staff and students to convey a message on a fundamental issue of human nature that directly conflicts with their faith.

The First Amendment guarantees every student and educator the right to speak in a manner consistent with their religious beliefs.

No student should be forced to violate their religious beliefs and the fundamental reality of biology and be mandated by their school to use anyone’s “preferred pronouns” – a wholly new invention that is anti-scientific, entirely contrived and false.

It remains to be seen whether Parents Defending Education will appeal the court’s ruling to the entire bench of Sixth Circuit judges, or even perhaps to the U.S. Supreme Court.

The case is Parents Defending Education v. Olentangy Local School District Board of Education.

At Focus on the Family, we want to help parents feel confident and equipped to handle issues affecting public – and private and online – schooling. Our new FREE downloadable resource, Equipping Parents for Back-to-School, helps you be aware of what’s going on in your child’s classroom and offers guidance for how to advocate for your child in the school year ahead.

Focus on the Family exists to help families, and that includes help navigating the issues of homosexuality and transgenderism. Focus offers a free, one-time counseling consultation with a licensed or pastoral counselor. To request a counseling consultation, call 1-855-771-HELP (4357) or fill out our Counseling Consultation Request Form.

Related articles and resources:

Equipping Parents for Back-to-School

‘Equipping Parents For Back-To-School’ – Updated Resource Empowers Parents

Counseling Consultation & Referrals

Transgender Resources

Photo from Getty Images.