Federal Judge Denies A "Right To Bully" Trans Students In Ohio
A federal judge ruled this weekend that students do not have a "right to bully" transgender students by misgendering them and harassing them over their gender identity.
A federal judge, Judge Algenon Marbley, ruled over the weekend that the U.S. Constitution likely does not guarantee a "right to bully transgender students" in Ohio. The decision came in response to a lawsuit by Parents Defending Education, an organization that opposes LGBTQ+ rights and has also spoken against policies aimed at preventing racial discrimination. The group has also advocated for book bans related to LGBTQ topics and "critical race theory" in schools. The lawsuit aimed to overturn a policy protecting transgender students in the Olentangy Local School District from harassment based on sexuality and gender identity, part of the district's broader anti-bullying measures.
The policy in question provides protections for transgender students, as well as students from other marginalized groups, from identity-based harassment and bullying. Notably, two sections of the student rules were challenged by the group.
Identity-based harassment is banned, with identity-based harassment being “based on race, color, national origin, sex (including sexual orientation and gender identity), disability, age (except as authorized by law), religion, ancestry, or genetic information (collectively, ‘Protected Classes’) that are protected by Federal civil rights law”
Derogatory language is against the rules, “defined as verbal or written comments, jokes, and slurs that are derogatory towards an individual or group based on one or more of the following characteristics: race, color, national origin, sex (including sexual orientation and transgender identity), disability, age, religion, ancestry, or genetic information.”
Parents who filed a lawsuit through the Parents Defending Education organization objected to these provisions, arguing that students had the right to intentionally and repeatedly misgender their transgender classmates and peers, citing their "sincerely held religious beliefs." They sent emails to school administrators specifically inquiring if students could engage in this behavior. When told it would not be allowed, the parents objected and filed the lawsuit. Their ultimate goal: to overturn the policies protecting transgender students from bullying entirely.
The judge disagreed with the rationale, noting significant case history protecting people from marginalized classes from harassment and abuse based on their identities. He utilized statistics showing that transgender people are at high risk of harassment and abuse in school. He also pointed to decades of precedent giving schools the right to regulate hate speech that could be disruptive to the education environment and speech that directly attacks other students based on protected characteristics, stating that “the intentional misgendering of other students constitutes verbal bullying.”
See this excerpt from the opinion:
Ultimately, the judge concluded that there is no right to misgender and bully trans students in the US Constitution. He rejected claims by the organization based in the 1st and 14th amendment, noting that 1st amendment rights see significant curtailment when it rises to the level of harassment and bullying in schools. He also noted that the 14th amendment, while interpreted to allow parents to direct the upbringing of their own children, does not give them the right to direct how a public school teaches or disciplines their children. In doing so, the judge denied the motion for a preliminary injunction.
The issue of a "right to bully" transgender students has come up in legislatures and school boards across the U.S. this year. In April, a federal judge in Indiana ruled that teachers do not have the right to misgender their transgender students, saying that such actions create a hostile environment. Earlier in the year, Montana enacted a law codifying the right to misgender transgender students in state code. This provision could face challenges as more courts align against attempts to permit bullying of transgender students in schools.
Transgender students in schools are increasingly grappling with policies that shift unpredictably. This year, hundreds of laws have targeted these students in various ways, from pronoun provisions to restrictions on books and bathroom access, and policies that could forcibly out them to their parents. Taken together, these policies, along with those that permit bullying by other students, appear to aim at pushing these students back into the closet. Courts, however, have increasingly sided with the students and are emerging as a significant defense against widespread discrimination in all aspects of life.
It took a court case to establish this? Where are we living? 1952?
They are going to lose this fight against human rights, ultimately. We must be vigilant, but it will happen.
Dinosaurs, my friends. They are dinosaurs, and we are the asteroid.