Ohio School District Sued Over Policy That Punishes Kids for “Misgendering” Peers

A Central Ohio school district is facing accusations that it runs afoul of students’ First Amendment rights by compelling students to affirm versions of gender theory via the use of “preferred pronouns” for transgender students in the district. Parents Defending Education (PDE), an organization that defends parents’ rights in education, is suing the Olentangy Local School District (OLSD) in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio.

PDE makes the case that both parents and students are being compelled by the school district to abandon their freedoms of speech and religion both on school property and off via the district’s Code of Conduct, which plaintiffs allege compels “them to mouth support for the District’s preferred viewpoints at all times of the day, whether at school or not.”

According to a statement from PDE: “District policies violate students’ First Amendment rights by chilling students’ speech rights, compelling students to affirm beliefs about sex and gender that are contrary to their own deeply held beliefs, and violating parents’ Fourteenth Amendment rights through the district’s efforts to restrict speech off school grounds and in families’ homes.”