Appeals Court Rules for Professor in Transgender Pronoun Case: Professor’s First Amendment rights violated when university tried forcing him to refer to biological male student using female pronouns.

A federal appeals court on March 26 reversed a lower court decision, ruling that an Ohio professor’s First Amendment rights may have been violated when his university tried forcing him to refer to a biological male student using female pronouns.

A three-judge panel of the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said philosophy professor Nicholas Meriwether “has plausibly alleged that Shawnee State violated his First Amendment rights by compelling his speech or silence and casting a pall of orthodoxy over the classroom.”

Shawnee State University, in Ohio, has employed Meriwether for 25 years.

The case centers around a 2016 rule change that requires faculty to refer to students by their “preferred pronoun[s].”

When Meriwether, a Christian, sought clarification on the rule, a university official claimed that Christians are “primarily motivated out of fear” and should be “banned from teaching courses regarding that religion.” She also said she thought even the “presence of religion in higher education is counterproductive.”

Two years later, on the first day of his class, Meriwether was using the Socratic method to lead a discussion and addressed, as he normally does, students using gender references like “Mr.” He called one person “sir,” not knowing the biological male identifies as a female.

After class, the individual approached Meriwether and demanded the professor refer to him as a she and use feminine titles and pronouns. Meriwether said he wasn’t sure he could and was threatened in response, according to court filings.

The situation escalated as various officials got involved. The professor’s attempt to reach a compromise—he offered to use the preferred pronoun, but would place a disclaimer in his syllabus noting that he was doing so under compulsion—was rejected, and he was ultimately reprimanded, receiving a written warning. A union appeal failed, dismissed by Provost Jeffrey Bauer,

This case proves thankfully that there are still courts in this country that will allow you to sue on certain grounds if the culture warriors come after you.

In a unanimous ruling, the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said that Shawnee State University violated Prof. Nicholas Meriwether’s rights of free speech and free exercise of religion by punishing him for resisting school rules that forced him to address students in the terms of their choosing.
Meriwether, a philosophy professor and devout Christian, sued Shawnee State, claiming that its mandate to use terms that conflict with biology infringed on his religious belief that gender is fixed from the moment of conception.
The court’s decision, written by a judge appointed to the bench by President Trump and issued Friday, upheld Meriwether’s argument.
“The First Amendment interests are especially strong here because Meriwether’s speech also relates to his core religious and philosophical beliefs,” Judge Amul Thapar wrote in a 32-page decision.

Meriwether apparently referred to a transgender student as “Mr.” instead of “Ms.” in 2016. After the student complained, he was reprimanded in 2018 by the school. His win before a federal appeals court clears him to sue to seek damages, presumably that might have resulted from that reprimand.

Meriwether claimed in his lawsuit, that was originally dismissed in 2020 after a federal judge sided with the school, that his First Amendment rights were being violated by the school’s nondiscrimination policy.

“To accede to these demands would have required Dr. Meriwether to communicate views regarding gender identity that he does not hold, that he does not wish to communicate, and that would contradict (and force him to violate) his sincerely held Christian beliefs,” the lawsuit reads.
The suit claims that “the number of potential gender identities is infinite” and that there are over 100 “different options currently available.”
School officials countered by saying that respecting students’ pronouns is a part of Meriwether’s job, and therefore not protected by the First Amendment.

Hey you.

Anytime I am confronted with a crazy, the only pronoun I will use, hey, you.

When I’ve been asked what my personal pronouns are: EL JEFE, ( it must be used in caps, and attack helicopter.

Using their rules, and making them like live by them, without exception is the only hope we have at winning without violence.

Can’t wait until my next HR experience. I figure if they are now hiring people at the top federal level those who “identify” other than how they were born, then I will also.
Although the ACLU will not likely run to assist me in the upcoming lawsuits, I plan on taking the struggle to them.
Twitter, Instagram, fb, and even reddit were willing to ban the label of superstraight as a sexual identity. The only thing left is to use their labels and force them to abide by them.
This is the last stop in peaceful opposition.

Next, it will be time to organize, though I’m not waiting holding my breath. If a charismatic billionaire isn’t ready and able to lead, whom is left on the list?

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