U.S. District Court Judge Fred Slaughter has halted a University of California policy that would penalize students for calling transgendered students by their born names. This is called “dead naming,” calling them by the name of their “dead selves.” The policy equated “dead naming” to “sexual harassment.”
He also halted their policy of punishing students for not using other students’ preferred pronouns. The school called this action “harassment,” which effectively punishes dissenting belief from the gender fluid ideology. The judge ruled that “there is no categorical ‘harassment exception’ to the First Amendment.” He stated the students “have demonstrated a credible threat to enforcement.”
University of California students cannot be forced to use transgender peers’ preferred pronouns, judge rules– www.thecollegefix.com
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EXCERPT:
‘There is no categorical ‘harassment exception’ to the First Amendment’s free-speech clause’
University of California students who do not wish to call someone by their preferred pronouns may do so without fear of punishment thanks to a court ruling this week.
U.S. District Court Judge Fred Slaughter granted a preliminary injunction against a UC system policy that could punish students for “dead-naming” peers.
Citing precedent that “there is no categorical ‘harassment exception’ to the First Amendment’s free-speech clause,” Slaughter — a Biden appointee — ruled that the students “have demonstrated a credible threat of enforcement.”
The lawsuit, filed in June by Defending Education, targeted UC’s Sexual Harassment, Anti-Discrimination, Prevention and Education training that informs students that intentionally “calling someone their name used before transition, as opposed to their lived name, is called dead-naming, and may be a form of sexual harassment.”
The lawsuit also flagged an anti-discrimination policy that prohibits harassment that creates a “hostile environment,” citing protected categories of “gender, gender identity, gender expression, gender transition.” Under this policy, harassment may occur when someone’s preferred pronoun is not used.