West Virginia joins other states to ask court to rehear challenge to Ohio school’s policy requiring students to use classmates’ preferred pronouns

West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey has joined a coalition of 22 attorneys general in asking the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit to rehear a challenge to an Ohio school district’s policies requiring students to use classmates’ preferred pronouns.

In a 2-1 decision last month, the court ruled the Olentangy Local School District did not compel speech in a way that violates students’ First Amendment rights, upholding a previous decision from a U.S. district court judge.

The policy requires students to address each other by whatever pronoun they demand, even when inconsistent with sex.

“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,” Attorney General Morrisey said, joining in the amicus brief that “The First Amendment does not allow school officials to coerce students into expressing messages inconsistent with the students’ values.”

“The First Amendment stringently limits a State’s authority to compel a private party to express a view with which the private party disagrees,” according to the brief.

The initial suit was filed last May by Parents Defending Education. Last year, the U.S. district court denied a preliminary injunction request filed by Parents Defending Education.

Attorney General Morrisey joined the South Carolina- and Ohio-led brief with Alabama, Alaska, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah and Virginia.

Read a copy of the amicus brief here.

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