The U.S. 6th District Court has ruled an Ohio school district does not have a right to punish students for not using the “preferred” pronouns of students, including transgendered students. The majority wrote, “Our society continues to debate whether biological pronouns are appropriate or offensive — just as it continues to debate many other issues surrounding transgender rights.”
‘[T]he mere use of biological pronouns does not entail ‘aggressive, disruptive action’
The U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled this past week that an Ohio school district cannot punish students who refer to their transgender peers by biological pronouns.
The Columbus Dispatch reports the court determined by a party-line 10-7 vote in Defending Education v. Olentangy Local School District Board of Education that the defendant “did not demonstrate that the use of the pronouns to refer to transgender and nonbinary students would ‘materially and substantially disrupt school activities or infringe on the legal rights of others in the school community.’”