WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, Independent Women’s Law Center (IWLC), alongside the Manhattan Institute, filed an en banc amicus brief before the Sixth Circuit to challenge one of Ohio’s largest school district’s policies that require students to profess the belief that men can become women, including by using “preferred pronouns.” IWLC argues the school board’s pronoun policies violate the First Amendment by forcing many students to speak contrary to their beliefs that sex is binary, and women are biologically distinct from men. The brief emphasizes that using biologically accurate sex-based pronouns is necessary to preserve females’ private spaces.
In Parents Defending Education v. Olentangy Local School District, the pro-parent group sought relief from the policies, arguing they violate the First Amendment. The District Court for the Southern District of Ohio denied the pro-parent group’s request for a preliminary injunction, and on appeal, a Sixth Circuit panel upheld the decision. Parents Defending Education filed for a rehearing before the entire Sixth Circuit and IWLC submitted an amicus brief in support of the petition. On November 1, 2024, the Court GRANTED the request for an en banc rehearing.
“Forcing the use of the biologically incorrect pronouns is the first step towards allowing males to intrude on females’ private spaces, including locker rooms, restrooms, social clubs, and living quarters,” IWLC says in the brief. For example, in IWLC’s case Westenbroek v. Kappa Kappa Gamma, Kappa leadership asserted that “woman” in Kappa’s bylaws meant “man.” The brief continues, “Using female pronouns for males endorses and reinforces the harmful falsehood… that the term ‘women’ can mean men. Males who refer to themselves as female then can and do insist on access to all girls’ and women’s spaces and programs.”
IWLC argues that saving female pronouns for females preserves women’s sports by dismantling the idea that some males are females. In contrast, the Ohio school board’s “policies would lead to the normalization of boys in girls’ spaces, severely harming those girls,” IWLC concludes in the brief.
“In any society that respects female empowerment, girls should be permitted to acknowledge biological sex in schools, which is not only in line with reality, but is necessary to preserve sex-based spaces, rights, and privacies. Schools cannot force us to play the pronoun game, which only leads to the dissolution of protections for women,” said May Mailman, director of Independent Women’s Law Center.
A copy of the amicus brief can be found here.
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Independent Women’s Law Center advocates for equal opportunity, individual liberty, and the continued legal relevance of biological sex.