The Foundation for Moral Law applauds a decision of the Eighth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals today upholding the right of parents to object to an Iowa school policy requiring that students and teachers be addressed by their “preferred pronouns.” You can read the decision here.

The Linn Mar Community School District of Ceder Rapids, Iowa, adopted a policy that required all personnel to address students, teachers, and staff by their preferred pronouns and threatening expulsion or firing for those who refused to comply. The policy also provided that, in some circumstances, parents need not be told of their children’s gender changes.

A group called Parents Defending Education challenged the policy in federal district court, claiming that the policy deprived parents of their fundamental right to direct the upbringing and education of their children and violates the free speech rights of students who do not believe in gender changes or preferred pronouns. The Foundation for Moral Law filed an amicus brief supporting Parents Defending Education.

The federal district court ruled against the parents’ group, but the Eighth Circuit reversed that decision. The Eighth Circuit noted that the policy requiring students and personnel to “respect a student’s gender identity” could not only require student to use pronouns they do not wish to use but could also prohibit any speech critical of transgenderism. The Circuit Court therefore ordered the district court to grant a preliminary injunction prohibiting enforcement of that portion of the policy.

Foundation Senior Counsel John Eidsmoe, the primary author of the Foundation’s amicus brief, explained that “a student has a right to speak of himself by whatever pronouns he or she chooses, but he does not have a right to require others to address him by those pronouns. That violates the free speech rights of others, some of whom may object to gender transitions on religious, moral, or scientific grounds.”

Eidsmoe added, “The Linn Mar District policy is not isolated; it is followed, officially or unofficially, in districts across the nation, with support from the Biden Administration. The Foundation hopes this decision will be a beacon; that will lead others to respect the constitutional rights of those who don’t believe in gender transitions.”