by WorldTribune Staff / 247 Real News November 7, 2025
Citing concerns over free speech, the U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals on Thursday ruled that a school district in central Ohio can’t punish students who identify transgender students by their biological pronouns.
The court’s majority ruled that Olentangy Local Schools 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.”
The court issued a preliminary injunction that prohibits the district from “punishing students for the commonplace use of biological pronouns” when referring to transgender students.
The opinion reverses earlier decisions by a federal judge and a three-judge panel of the appeals court, which had ruled for the district.
In its ruling, the 6th Circuit cited a 1969 U.S. Supreme Court decision in Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District, stating that Olentangy Local Schools “has fallen far short of meeting this demanding standard. It introduced no evidence that the use of biological pronouns would disrupt school functions or qualify as harassment under Ohio law.”
The court noted: “Our society continues to debate whether biological pronouns are appropriate or offensive — just as it continues to debate many other issues surrounding transgender rights. The school district may not skew this debate by forcing one side to change the way it conveys its message or by compelling it to express a different view.”
In February 2023, a concerned parent emailed Olentangy officials about the district’s transgender policies, noting that the parent has a “devoutly Christian child” who believes that only “two biological genders” exist (“male/female”) “and that those genders are decided at conception by God.” The parent asked whether Olentangy’s policies would force students “to use the pronouns that a transgender child identifies with or be subject to reprimand from the district if they refuse to do so,” the court’s opinion notes.
A few days later, the school district’s legal counsel responded on behalf of the district, explaining that Olentangy’s anti-harassment policy “prohibits discrimination and harassment based upon a student’s sex, including sexual orientation and gender identity.” The legal counsel added: “A student purposefully referring to another student by using gendered language they know is contrary to the other student’s identity would be an example of discrimination under Board Policy.”
The 6th Circuit shot down that policy.
Federal court: Ohio school district can’t punish students who refuse to use trans pronouns added by Editor Two on
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