South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson files brief in Ohio school district case

COLUMBIA, SC (WIS) – South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson has filed a friend-of-the-court brief in a case involving the Olentangy Local School District board of education near Columbus, Ohio, and its use of preferred pronouns by students.

“The board has adopted a policy of penalizing students who ‘among other things, fail to address a student by (his or her) preferred pronouns,’” Wilson’s office said in a press release.

The letter said the council tried to “eliminate any opposing views” by enforcing the use of preferred terms and setting policies to punish students who do not.

“The First Amendment does not allow school officials to force students to express content that is inconsistent with their values,” the letter argued.

A three-judge panel of the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals initially sided with the school board and left the policy in place.

In a letter filed by Wilson, the full bench was asked to grant the motion for reconsideration.

Wilson was joined by Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost, who co-chaired the case, as well as the attorneys general of Alabama, Alaska, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia and West Virginia.

WIS reached out to the school district for comment but did not receive a response.

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