By Jonathan Stempel
(Reuters) – A federal appeals court decided on Friday to revisit its recent decision to uphold a central Ohio school district’s right to enforce policies against the bullying of transgender students, which had been challenged by a conservative parents group.
The 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said its 16 active judges will hear arguments as soon as possible in Parents Defending Education’s lawsuit against the Olentangy Local School District, Ohio’s fourth-largest with about 23,400 students.
Nine of the 16 judges were appointed by Republican presidents, including six by Donald Trump. The court is considered among the more conservative federal appeals courts. Parents Defending Education is a Virginia-based nonprofit.
Olentangy, located near Columbus, sought to prohibit the “misgendering” of transgender students, including by failing to address them by their preferred pronouns.
It also sought to ban bullying based on race, sex, disability and religion; and using cellphones to embarrass, harass and threaten students.
In July, a divided three-judge appeals court panel said Parents Defending Education was unlikely to show that Olentangy’s policies violated the First Amendment.
That decision upheld a lower court’s July 2023 refusal to issue an injunction blocking enforcement.
The dissenting judge, Circuit Judge Alice Batchelder, accused Olentangy of turning students into “captive subjects” by requiring their acceptance of gender transitioning.
Friday’s order vacates the panel’s decision.
The case is one of many around the country addressing the rights of transgender students.
In seeking a rehearing, Parents Defending Education said the misgendering policy harmed parents by forcing them to enroll children in schools where they are “forced to mouth the government’s latest orthodoxy on sex and gender.”
Lawyers for the Olentangy school district did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Nicole Neily, president of Parents Defending Education, in a statement said the group was grateful for the rehearing and looked forward to vindicating its members’ rights.
The case is Parents Defending Education v. Olentangy Local School District et al, 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, No. 23-3630.
(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York; editing by Diane Craft)
