COLUMBUS – Today, the American Civil Liberties Union and the ACLU of Ohio filed an amicus brief in the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals in a lawsuit by Plaintiff-Appellants (the “parent group”) challenging Olentangy Local School District’s (the “District”) student speech policies.
The policies at issue apply to speech both on and off campus and, taken together, raise significant First Amendment concerns. The policies prohibit a wide range of speech, including everything from jokes about religion to criticism of a classmate’s political beliefs, regardless of whether that speech would substantially disrupt the school or harass any student.
Though it challenged these policies in their entirety, the parent group seeks a ruling from the Court stating that students may not be punished for misgendering their peers. As an organization committed both to free speech and to protecting LGBTQ students from discrimination, the ACLU submitted an amicus brief to make sure the Court upholds both ideals. The ACLU argues that neither the school nor the parent group got things entirely right.
The amicus brief explains that the First Amendment protects students’ speech in school, which is essential both to their development and that of society—and that schools can nevertheless punish students for harassment that creates a hostile educational environment for other students and/or speech that would create a substantial disruption. It explains that the District cannot categorically ban or punish all instances of a student using a classmate’s nonpreferred pronouns, regardless of intent, impact, or context. At the same time, it also explains that some instances of misgendering are not immune from school discipline when they cause a substantial and material disruption and/or create a hostile educational environment.
“Students’ ability to explore ideas and perspectives, challenge viewpoints, and engage in critical thinking is a core goal of our educational system, and that ability depends on robust First Amendment protections. But schools can prohibit student speech that creates a hostile educational environment. The District’s policies overstep by regulating speech regardless of whether it is harassment or not and whether it will disrupt school, violating all students’ constitutionally protected right to free speech,” added Amy Gilbert, Senior Staff Attorney for the ACLU of Ohio.
The case, Parents Defending Education v. Olentangy Local School District Board of Education, was originally filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio in March 2023. Following an initial denial of a preliminary injunction, the parent group filed an appeal in July 2023, in which the ACLU provided an amicus brief in October 2023. After the Court declined to issue an injunction again in August 2024, the parent group sought review by the whole Sixth Circuit on the grounds that the Court’s ruling conflicts with an earlier case, Meriwether v. Hartop.
The ACLU of Ohio and the ACLU urge the Sixth Circuit to reverse the District Court’s original decision, encouraging the District to instead adopt policies that protect student speech while retaining the ability to punish speech that crosses the line into harassment that creates a hostile educational environment, or speech that causes a substantial disruption to the school setting.
