Overview
- The full Sixth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reversed a 2024 panel ruling and found Olentangy Local School District cannot punish students for gender-related language others deem offensive.
- The case was remanded to U.S. District Judge Algenon Marbley, who issued a preliminary injunction halting enforcement of the pronoun-related rules.
- Marbley’s order leaves the district’s broader antidiscrimination policy in place while blocking policies that required use of peers’ preferred pronouns and banned certain gender-related language.
- Judge Eric Murphy wrote for the majority that the district failed to show the speech would materially and substantially disrupt school functions or violate others’ legal rights.
- Judge Jane Stranch dissented using no gendered third-person pronouns, and the ruling’s reach remains uncertain as a teachers’ union said similar policies are common and national advocacy groups weighed in on both sides.