Group continues lawsuit against pronoun usage in Olentangy schools

(The Center Square) – Twenty-two state attorneys general, including Ohio's Dave Yost, joined a conservative national nonprofit suing the Olentangy Local School District over bullying and harassment policies.

Parents Defending Education lost its initial federal lawsuit and its appeal that claimed the policies that prohibited students from failing to use another student’s preferred pronoun violated the First Amendment. It now wants the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to rehear the case.

In a 2-1 decision last month, the appeals court ruled the district did not compel speech in a way that violates a student’s First Amendment rights. That ruling followed a similar ruling from a U.S. District Court.

The Olentangy Local School District, in a northern Columbus suburb, is the state’s fourth-largest school district, behind only Columbus, Cincinnati and Cleveland districts. According to the district website, it’s been one of the fastest-growing districts in the state over the past 20 years.

“The First Amendment forbids the district from compelling students to use speech that conveys a message with which they disagree, namely that biology does not determine gender,” Parents Defending Education said in its court filing. “The District Court, like the district itself, chose to accept, adopt, and then enforce this viewpoint – thereby rejecting and prohibiting any student from expressing a contrary viewpoint. That is not permitted.”

The attorneys general agreed in an amicus brief filed Wednesday.

“This policy clearly is ideologically driven and forces students who don’t share in these beliefs to surrender their First Amendment rights at the door,” West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey said. “The First Amendment does not allow school officials to coerce students into expressing messages inconsistent with the students’ values.”

Along with Ohio and West Virginia, the brief was signed by attorneys general from Alabama, Alaska, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah and Virginia.