Appeals court sides with parent group in fight over Ohio school district's pronoun policy

Source: AP

Updated 11:32 PM EST, November 6, 2025


COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — A divided federal appeals court in Ohio ruled against the state’s fourth largest school district on Thursday in a case that pitted its gender pronoun policies against the rights of students who believe there are only two genders.

The full Sixth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the suburban Olentangy Local School District cannot prohibit students from using gender-related language deemed offensive by others, siding with Parents Defending Education, which had argued the policies were unconstitutional.

The national membership organization first filed suit against Olentangy in 2023, saying the district’s policies requiring the use of peers’ “preferred pronouns” were a violation of students’ rights under the First and Fourteenth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution. The district argued the rules were aimed to prevent bullying and discrimination.

The lawsuit had captured broad national attention, with a number of conservative policy groups, the American Civil Liberties Union and Christian, Jewish, Muslim and Hindu rights organizations lining up against the policy and leading LGBTQ+ rights and schools groups lining up generally in defense of it.

Read more: https://apnews.com/article/ohio-school-district-gender-pronouns-lawsuit-64fc26c0705d5472a7c97d832fe06731