Title: Appeals court sides with parent group in fight over Ohio school district's pronoun policy. Link To: Article 🔗 [Link: msn.com/en-us/politics/government/appeals-court-sides-with-parent-group-in-fight-over-ohio-school-district-s-pronoun-policy/ar-AA1PYhdk/] Author: JULIE CARR SMYTH
Date: 07 November 2025
A divided federal appeals court in Ohio ruled against the suburban Olentangy Local School District in a case pitting its gender pronoun policies against students who believe there are only two genders.
The court held that the district "has fallen far short" of showing that allowing such speech would "materially and substantially disrupt" school activities or infringe the legal "rights of others" in the school community.
Parents Defending Education had argued that policies requiring the use of peers' "preferred pronouns" violated students' First and Fourteenth Amendment rights while the district said the rules were meant to prevent bullying and discrimination.
"Our society continues to debate whether biological pronouns are appropriate or offensive, just as it continues to debate many other issues surrounding transgender rights," Circuit Judge Eric Murphy wrote. "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."
Circuit Judge Jane Stranch, writing in dissent, said that while "it may be a new phenomenon for many to use new pronouns or to avoid using pronouns, it is certainly possible," adding that shifting social norms around pronouns "have not suddenly rendered people unable to speak."
Thursday's ruling reversed a July 2024 decision that had favored the district and sent the case back to order a preliminary injunction against enforcing the pronoun policies.
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