This piece originally appeared on Ohio Signal on 6/11/25 and appears here with permission.
Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals judges ruled Thursday that it is likely unconstitutional for an Ohio school to punish students who refuse to address classmates by their preferred pronouns.
Justices found that Olentangy Community Schools in the Columbus District failed to show that allowing students to address classmates by the wrong pronoun would “materially and significantly disrupt” the classroom, as the Vietnam War-era Supreme Court said precedent requires.
Forcing students to address others with pronouns they disagree with violates students’ free speech rights, judges said.
“Any ordinary person who learned of the School District’s anti-harassment policy would believe that the school district had engaged in this type of viewpoint discrimination,” the opinion states.
They found that the school failed to demonstrate that calling a transgender student by inappropriate pronouns amounted to bullying or harassment, which would justify the school’s intervention. However, the ruling is not final and sends the case back to lower courts so that schools can continue to do so in the future.
But the justices also said questions about transgender rights belonged in the “political arena,” not for courts or schools to take sides.
The conflict is largely hypothetical
In 2023, an unidentified parent who described their child as a “devout Christian” emailed the school stating that their child believed there were only two “biological sexes” “and that gender is determined by God at the moment of conception.” The parent asked whether a school policy requiring students to respect transgender students’ wishes regarding pronoun choices would apply. The school claimed so.
Accordingly, the lawsuit was brought by Parents Defending Education, a nonprofit legal organization based in the Washington, D.C., area that says works to fight “educational bias” and “take back our schools from activists promoting harmful agendas.” The plaintiff parents are identified as Parents A, B, C and D.
The allegations are largely hypothetical. No transgender student has ever been misgendered, so the “devout Christian” student was never disciplined.
The plaintiffs claim the school violated their children’s free speech rights by forcing them to exploit pronouns that conflict with their political views on transgender people.
The school and transgender rights advocates argue that students refer to transgender students with an undesirable pronoun.
A U.S. District Court judge sided with the school and denied the plaintiffs’ request to freeze the school’s policy until the lawsuit was concluded. A three-judge panel from the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals agreed. However, the plaintiffs filed and received an appeal “en banc” – meaning all judges on the appellate court that oversees Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee and Michigan will hear and vote on the case.
According to a to count from Demand for Justice.
An Olentangy School spokeswoman could not be reached for comment Thursday evening.
The case comes in the context of a broader legal fight against transgender rights
Thursday’s ruling is part of a broader Republican-led movement to roll back legal recognition of transgender people.
In Ohio, over the past few years, lawmakers have eliminated children’s access to puberty blockers and other commonly prescribed forms of care for transgender people. Other laws prevent transgender athletes from competing in women’s sports, what bathrooms they can exploitor Medicaid to cover health care costs for transgender people.
Also on Thursday, the U.S. Supreme Court allowed a Trump administration order to go into effect requiring passports to show the gender on a transgender person’s birth certificate, rather than their assumed gender identity, The New York Times reports. 🔥
ignite the action
- To register to vote or check your eligibility to vote in Ohio, click here.
- To find the contact information for your Ohio State Representative, click here.
- To find contact information for an Ohio State Senator, click here.
- If you are a juvenile LGBTQ+ person in crisis, please contact Trevor’s project: 866-4-U-Trevor.
- If you are a transgender adult in crisis, please contact: National Trans Lifeline: 877-565-8860
