Showing posts with label Ohio. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Ohio. Show all posts

Thursday, January 25, 2024

Ohio Legislature Overrides Governor's Veto of Bill on Transgender Health Care and Sports Participation

The Ohio Senate yesterday voted 24-8 to override Governor Mike DeWine's veto of HB 68, the Saving Adolescents from Experimentation (SAFE) Act. The Ohio House of Representatives two weeks ago voted 65-28 to override. The bill, which will now become law, bars physicians from performing gender reassignment surgery or prescribing cross-sex hormones or puberty blockers to minors. It also prohibits transgender women from participating on women's athletic teams in schools that participate in interscholastic athletics and in public and private colleges. (See prior posting.) WCMH News reports on the Senate's vote and says that a court challenge to the legislation is expected.

Tuesday, January 23, 2024

Church Sues City Over Operation of Ministry for Homeless

Suit was filed yesterday in an Ohio federal district court seeking to enjoin the city of Bryan, Ohio from enforcing its zoning ordinances in an attempt to prevent a Christian church that ministers to the homeless from remaining open 24-hours a day. The complaint (full text) in Dad's Place of Bryan, Ohio v. City of Bryan, (ND OH, filed 1/22/2024), contends that the city has begun "a coordinated effort to exclude ministries from operating downtown." The city has charged the church's pastor with 18 criminal counts for allowing homeless to reside on the property for an extended amount of time in violation of zoning rules. The Church in its complaint contends that the city has violated the 1st and 14th Amendments, RLUIPA, the Fair Housing Act and the Ohio Constitution. First Liberty Institute issued a press release announcing the filing of the lawsuit.

UPDATE: Friendly Atheist has additional background on the city's concerns regarding the church's activities.

Monday, January 08, 2024

Ohio Adopting Administrative Rules on Gender Transition Treatments

 As previously reported, last month Ohio Governor Mike DeWine vetoed a bill which prohibited physicians from performing gender reassignment surgery or prescribing cross-sex hormones or puberty blockers to minors, and prohibited transgender women from participating on women's athletic teams in schools that participate in interscholastic athletics and in public and private colleges. However, in his veto message he urged the Ohio Department of Health to adopt rules to carry out part of what the vetoed legislation provided-- a ban on gender transition surgeries for minors and rules to prevent pop-up clinics for treating gender dysphoria. On January 5, the Department of Health published a draft of rules (full text) to carry out the Governor's proposal.  The Health Department's Release describes the rules:

The emergency rules filed today:

• Prohibit health care facilities, including ambulatory surgical facilities, and hospitals from performing gender surgeries on minors.

The draft rules proposed for public comment:

• Obligate the Department of Health to report deidentified data to the General Assembly and the public every six months.
• Set forth quality standards for those hospitals and ambulatory surgical facilities that wish to treat gender-related conditions.

On January 5, Governor DeWine signed an Executive Order (full text) allowing the Department of Health to adopt on an emergency basis without the usual comment procedures its proposed rules banning gender transition surgeries on minors and setting quality standards for facilities that treat gender dysphoria.  Under Ohio law, the emergency rules will be effective for 120 days. (It should be noted that there is a slight discrepancy in the rule numbers set out in the Health Department's Release and those set forth in the Governor's Executive Order.)

Friday, December 29, 2023

Ohio Governor Vetoes Ban on Gender Affirming Treatments for Minors and Women's Sports Provisions: Proposes Administrative Alternatives

 Ohio Governor Mike DeWine today vetoed HB 68 which prohibited physicians from performing gender reassignment surgery or prescribing cross-sex hormones or puberty blockers to minors, and prohibited transgender women from participating on women's athletic teams in schools that participate in interscholastic athletics and in public and private colleges. (Full text of Governor's Veto Message, his prepared Statement at a News Conference, and a video of his lengthy News Conference on the veto.) Focusing only on the ban on treatment of minors, the Governor said in part:

Were I to sign Substitute House Bill 68 or were Substitute House Bill 68 to become law, Ohio would be saying that the State, that the government, knows what is best medically for a child rather than the two people who love that child the most, the parents...

I have listened to the concerns the Legislature ... and agree that action is necessary regarding a number of issues raised.

I believe we can address a number of goals in Substitute House Bill 68 by administrative rules that will have a better chance of surviving judicial review and being adopted....

I adamantly agree with the General Assembly that no surgery of this kind should ever be performed on those under the age of 18. I am directing our agencies to draft rules to ban this practice in Ohio.

I share with the legislature their concerns that there is no comprehensive data regarding persons who receive this care, nor independent analysis of any such data. I am today directing our agencies to immediately draft rules to require reporting to the relevant agencies and to report this data to the General Assembly and the public every six months. We will do this not only when patients are minors, but also when the patients are adults.

I also share with the legislature’s concerns about clinics that may pop up and try to sell patients inadequate or even ideological treatments. This is a concern shared by people I spoke with who had both positive experiences and negative experiences with their own treatments....

Therefore, I am directing our agencies to draft rules that establish restrictions that prevent pop-up clinics or fly-by-night operations and provide important protections for Ohio children and their families and for adults.

Thursday, December 14, 2023

Ohio Legislature Passes Bill on Transgender Treatment of Minors and Transgender Participation on Sports Teams

Yesterday, the Ohio legislature gave final approval to House Bill 68 (full text) which enacts the Saving Ohio Adolescents from Experimentation (SAFE) Act and the Save Women's Sports Act. The bill prohibits physicians from performing gender reassignment surgery or prescribing cross-sex hormones or puberty blockers to minors. It requires mental health professionals to obtain parental consent before diagnosing or treating a minor for a gender-related condition. The bill also prohibits transgender women from participating on women's athletic teams in schools that participate in interscholastic athletics and in public and private colleges. The bill additionally prohibits courts from denying or limiting parental rights because of a parent's decision to raise a child according to his or her biological sex or because the parent declines to consent to the child receiving gender transition services or counseling. The bill now goes to Governor Mike DeWine for his signature. The Cincinnati Enquirer, reporting on the bill, says it is unclear whether the governor will sign the legislation.

UPDATE: On Dec. 29, Governor DeWine vetoed the bill, but offered administrative alternatives. (See subsequent posting for details.)

Thursday, November 23, 2023

Appeals Court Upholds Denial of Unemployment Benefits To Health Care Worker Who Was Denied Religious Exemption From Vaccine Mandate

In Cyriaque v. Director- Ohio Department of Job and Family Services, (OH App., Nov. 22, 2023), an Ohio state appellate court upheld the denial of unemployment benefits to a clinical trainer at a community health center who was denied a religious exemption from a federal Covid vaccine mandate.  Her employment was terminated when she continued to refuse the vaccine.  In upholding the denial of benefits, the appeals court said in part:

It was, of course, the hearing officer’s province to assess the credibility of Cyriaque’s assertion that the exemption request was based upon her sincere religious opposition to the COVID-19 vaccines. In coming to this decisive determination, the hearing officer was free to believe all, some, or none of Cyriaque’s testimony. As noted, Cyriaque’s exemption statement submitted to Community Health did not assert that her religious opposition to the COVID-19 vaccines was based upon the use of aborted fetal cells in the development of the vaccines. In contrast, Cyriaque’s hearing testimony and other evidence exclusively focused upon the use of aborted fetal cells being used in the development of the vaccines as the basis for the requested exemption. This contrast between Cyriaque’s statement provided to Community Health and her hearing testimony provided support for the hearing officer’s finding that Cyriaque’s exemption request was not premised upon her sincere religious opposition to the COVID-19 vaccines. Given this, we cannot conclude the commission’s decision was unlawful because it violated Cyriaque’s rights under the Free Exercise Clause, that the decision was unreasonable, or that the decision was against the manifest weight of the evidence.

Saturday, November 11, 2023

Anti-Abortion Legislators in Ohio Will Seek to Remove Jurisdiction of Courts to Interpret New Constitutional Amendment

 As previously reported, abortion opponents in Ohio have taken several approaches in their unsuccessful attempt to prevent the adoption of a reproductive rights amendment to the Ohio Constitution. First they unsuccessfully attempted to amend the state constitution to increase the percentage of voters needed to adopt a constitutional amendment.  Then the state Ballot board adopted a description of the proposed amendment that was seen as painting the amendment in a less favorable light.  Nevertheless, earlier this week voters adopted the amendment by a vote of 56.6% to 43.4%.  Several legislators now say they will attempt to remove jurisdiction from Ohio courts to interpret the new amendment.  In a November 9 press release from the state legislature's Republican Newsroom, Republican legislators said in part:

“Foreign billionaires don't get to make Ohio laws,” said Jennifer Gross (R-West Chester), pointing to millions from billionaires outside America that helped fund Issue 1. Gross added, “This is foreign election interference, and it will not stand.”...

Representative Beth Lear (R-Galena) stated, “No amendment can overturn the God given rights with which we were born.”

To prevent mischief by pro-abortion courts with Issue 1, Ohio legislators will consider removing jurisdiction from the judiciary over this ambiguous ballot initiative. The Ohio legislature alone will consider what, if any, modifications to make to existing laws based on public hearings and input from legal experts on both sides.

Tuesday, November 07, 2023

Ohioans Vote On Reproductive Rights Amendment

In Ohio today, voters are casting ballots on State Issue 1 that, if approved will add the following to the Ohio Constitution:

Article I, Section 22. The Right to Reproductive Freedom with Protections for Health and Safety

A. Every individual has a right to make and carry out one’s own reproductive decisions, including but not limited to decisions on:
1. contraception;
2. fertility treatment;
3. continuing one’s own pregnancy;
4. miscarriage care; and
5. abortion.

B. The State shall not, directly or indirectly, burden, penalize, prohibit, interfere with, or discriminate against either:

1. An individual's voluntary exercise of this right or

2. A person or entity that assists an individual exercising this right,

unless the State demonstrates that it is using the least restrictive means to advance the individual's health in accordance with widely accepted and evidence-based standards of care.

However, abortion may be prohibited after fetal viability. But in no case may such an abortion be prohibited if in the professional judgment of the pregnant patient’s treating physician it is necessary to protect the pregnant patient’s life or health.

C. As used in this Section:

1. “Fetal viability” means “the point in a pregnancy when, in the professional judgment of the pregnant patient's treating physician, the fetus has a significant likelihood of survival outside the uterus with reasonable measures. This is determined on a case-by-case basis.”

2. “State” includes any governmental entity and any political subdivision.

D. This Section is self-executing.

Ballotpedia has additional information on the proposed amendment. Live election results will be available here.

UPDATE: With 84% of the precincts reporting, the measure has passed 55.6% to 44.4%.

Thursday, September 21, 2023

Ohio Supreme Court Upholds Most of Ballot Board's Description of Reproductive Rights Initiative

In State ex. rel. Ohioans United for Reproductive Rights v. Ohio Ballot Board, (OH Sup. Ct., Sept. 19, 2023), the Ohio Supreme Court, in a per curiam opinion concurred in fully by Justice Fischer and (with a short opinion) by Donnelly, upheld most of the ballot language drafted by the Ohio Ballot Board to describe a Reproductive Freedom initiative that will be on the November ballot.  The Board substituted its description for the proponent's request that the full text of the amendment appear on the ballot. (See prior related posting.) The majority of the Court disapproved only the Ballot Board's substitution of "citizens of the State of Ohio" for the term "State" used in the proposed amendment.  One of the Ballot Board's changes approved by the majority was its substitution of the term "unborn child" for the term "fetus" in the text of the proposed amendment.  The majority said in part:

According to relators, “[o]ne’s judgment about the developmental stage at which the ethical status of ‘unborn child’ attaches has obvious implications for whether and how one believes abortion should be regulated.” Relators argue that the terms “fetus” or “fetal viability,” which appear in the proposed amendment’s text, are scientifically accurate and do not carry the same moral judgment as “unborn child.”

We reject relators’ argument. Importantly, relators do not argue that the term “unborn child” is factually inaccurate. To the contrary, their argument asserts that “unborn child” is a divisive term that elicits a moral judgment whereas the terms “fetus” and “fetal viability” are more neutral and scientific. But this argument does not establish that the ballot board’s language constitutes improper persuasion.

Justice Stewart and Justice Brunner each filed an opinion finding all of the Ballot Board's language unacceptable. Justice Brunner said in part:

A majority of respondent Ohio Ballot Board’s members ... obfuscated the actual language of the proposed state constitutional amendment by substituting their own language and creating out of whole cloth a veil of deceit and bias in their desire to impose their views on Ohio voters about what they think is the substance of the proposed amendment. And they did this by completely recrafting simple and straightforward amendment language into a version that contains more words than the amendment itself. The evidence in the record makes clear that it was their intent to use their positions on the board to influence the outcome of the election with the ballot language the board certified for the proposed amendment.

Justice Deters, in an opinion concurred in by Chief Justice Kennedy and Justice DeWine, concluded that they would have upheld all of the Ballot Board's language, saying that it "does not mislead, deceive, or defraud voters."

NBC News reports on the decision.

Friday, September 01, 2023

Reproductive Rights Proponents Sue Ohio Ballot Board Over Ballot Language

On Monday, a suit seeking a writ of mandamus was filed in the Ohio Supreme Court by backers of Issue 1, "Right to Reproductive Freedom with Protections for Health and Safety." The suit challenges the Ohio Ballot Board's revised language describing the state constitutional amendment that will be on the November ballot in the state. (See prior posting.) Instead of placing the text of the proposed Amendment on ballots, the Ballot Board drafted new language which plaintiffs say misrepresents the proposed amendment. The complaint (full text) in State of Ohio ex rel. Ohioans United for Reproductive Rights v. Ohio Ballot Board, (OH Sup. Ct. filed 8/28/2023), alleges in part:

Article XVI of the Ohio Constitution requires the Ohio Ballot Board to prescribe ballot language for the Amendment that “properly identif[ies] the substance of the proposal to be voted upon” and does not “mislead, deceive, or defraud” voters. The language the Ballot Board adopted at its August 24, 2023, meeting flouts those requirements and aims improperly to mislead Ohioans and persuade them to oppose the Amendment. Accordingly, Relators request that the Court issue a writ of mandamus directing the Ballot Board to reconvene and adopt the full text of the Amendment as the ballot language. That remedy is appropriate because the Ballot Board’s prescribed language is irreparably flawed. In the alternative, Relators request that the Court issue a writ of mandamus directing the Ballot Board to reconvene and adopt ballot language that properly and lawfully describes the Amendment, correcting the numerous defects in the existing language....

CBS News reports on the lawsuit.

Monday, August 28, 2023

Now Ohio Ballot Language On Abortion Rights Is The Issue

As reported by the Statehouse News Bureau, proponents of a reproductive rights amendment to the Ohio Constitution which will be voted on in November are considering a lawsuit against the Ohio Ballot Board which rejected the language proponents asked to be used on the ballot that voters will see. The Board replaced proponents' language with language drafted by Ohio's Secretary of State who is an abortion opponent. Proponents' Initiative Petition asked for the full 250-word text of the proposed Amendment to appear on the ballot.  Secretary of State Frank LaRose, saying that this was too long, instead drafted a 203-word Summary which uses the term "unborn child" four times in describing the effect of the proposed Amendment.

Friday, August 11, 2023

Near-Final Tally of Ohio Issue 1

With over 99% of the votes now counted, Ohio's Issue 1 failed on Tuesday by a vote of 57.01% against and 42.99% in favor. (Results from Secretary of State.) Issue 1 would have made it more difficult for voters to amend the Ohio Constitution, among other things by raising the required popular vote to 60% instead of the current majority.  The immediate aim of proponents of Issue 1 was to make it more difficult to pass a Reproductive Rights amendment that will be on the November ballot.

Tuesday, August 08, 2023

Challenges To School's Transgender Bathroom Policy Dismissed

In Doe No. 1 v. Bethel Local School District Board of Education, (SD OH, Aug. 7, 2023), an Ohio federal district court, in a 52-page opinion, dismissed a wide-ranging group of challenges-- including due process, equal protection and free exercise challenges-- to a school board policy allowing students to use school bathrooms corresponding to their gender identity. The court said in part:

All Plaintiffs claim that the School District is “providing communal intimate facilities for transgender students in accordance with their believed core identity while denying the Muslim and Christian families communal intimate facilities in accordance with their believed core identity.”...

Parents have a right to make the initial choice about where their child attends school.... But inventing a constitutional right to strike down a state school’s choices about curriculum and school operations would impermissibly extend that right and, in our pluralistic society, require State schools to cater to inconsistent obligations from parents who may have different moral objections about how a school operates.... The substantive protections in the Due Process Clause do not extend so far....

The Muslim and Christian Plaintiffs—parents and students alike—allege that the School District’s actions have burdened the exercise of their religion.... Namely, both student groups have sincerely held religious beliefs that prevent them from sharing bathrooms with the opposite gender and receiving instruction about LGBTQ+ beliefs.... In exposing the Muslim and Christian Student Plaintiffs to the prospect that they will encounter a transgender individual in the bathroom, the School District has allegedly indirectly burdened the exercise of their faith because they have caused them to refrain from using the bathroom.... As to the Muslim and Christian Parent Plaintiffs, they allege that the School District’s actions are denying them “the ability to exercise their good-faith religious beliefs in raising their children in [their] faith.”... 

... [T]he School District’s policy ... is neutral and generally applicable. As a reminder, the School District announced that it would allow students to use the bathroom that corresponded with their gender identity..... This is (1) facially neutral because it makes no reference, overt or implied, to religion or religious conduct; and (2) generally applicable because it restricts religious and nonreligious conduct equally—every student gets to use the bathroom that corresponds with their gender identity.....

Moreover, Plaintiffs’ complaint does not hint of any plausible fact that suggests the School District is using this policy to suppress religious beliefs, as the School District’s actions make no mention of, and do not reference, religion whatsoever....

Because the bathroom policy is generally applicable, it is subject only to rational basis review. 

Cincinnati Enquirer reports on the decision.

Sunday, July 30, 2023

Suit Challenges Ohio Reproductive Freedom Amendment Ballot Issue

 A legal action was filed Friday in the Ohio Supreme Court seeking to disqualify from the November ballot a proposed Reproductive Freedom amendment to the state constitution which has been certified for inclusion on the ballot by the state Secretary of State. The complaint (full text) in Giroux v. Committee Representing Petitioners, (OH Sup. Ct., filed 7/28/2023) contends that the initiative petitions failed to comply with the legal requirement to include the text of existing statutes that would be implicitly repealed by the amendment if it is adopted. Cincinnati Enquirer reports on the lawsuit. [Thanks to Thomas Rutledge for the lead.]

Tuesday, July 04, 2023

Defendant's Beliefs About Psilocybin Were Personal, Not Religious

In State of Ohio v. Sobel, (OH App., June 30, 2023), an Ohio appellate court rejected appellant's claim that his sentence for drug possession was based in part on his statements about his use of mushrooms as part of his religion. The court said in part:

... Sobel failed to establish that he uses psilocybin mushrooms in connection with a sincerely held religious belief. He described the “Church of Freewater” as consisting of three people providing life coaching to drug and alcohol addicted persons in the manner of Tony Robbins (a noted inspirational, self-help, motivational personality). Sobel does not describe any particular religious beliefs or tenets of the organization, other than to help people “be themselves, through mind, body, and spirit.” Freewater’s core belief appears to be allowing people to believe whatever he or she wants to believe....

Sobel also does not describe how the mushrooms are utilized in furtherance of the religion as part of a rite or ceremony. He only states opaquely, “mushrooms are a holy sacrament and [unintelligible] medicine for myself and for the Freewater organization that helps me with past traumas both immediate and ancestral and tap into the divine knowledge that is only accessible with the aid of these divine teachers.” ...

[T]hroughout the proceedings, rather than claiming a religious use, Sobel represented that mushrooms were used to treat chronic pain and PTSD.

Under the circumstances of this case, the alleged belief that was infringed would be most accurately characterized as a personal preference, rather than as a deeply held religious conviction.

Tuesday, May 23, 2023

Judge's Religious Comments Did Not Violate Defendant's Rights

 In State of Ohio v. Loftis, (OH App., May 19, 2023), an Ohio state appellate court held that a judge's references to religion during a sentencing hearing for defendant who was convicted of sexual battery did not violate defendant's due process rights or the Establishment Clause. During the sentencing hearing, the trial court judge said in part:

... [T]he diminished influence or role of organized churches and faith or religion in the world, that whole diminishing concept isn’t boding well for the community. No surprise maybe if you read Revelation, if you do Biblical prophecy, you are all going to end up in a big dumpster fire at some point in time, so the trend is exactly what we are seeing....

The statutes, the law, every social moray[,] every religious system at least in terms of the New Testament years have said there is a duty to protect children. Some societies sacrifice children, but that’s thousands of years ago. It’s the other way around. Is that lost? Yeah, totally it’s lost. That doesn’t mean the expectation is not there....

The appellate court said in part:

 ... [T]he trial judge’s comments did not suggest that he was referencing his own religious beliefs as a guideline for his sentencing decision. Instead, his comments were limited to espousing his belief that the lack of a religious foundation leads to improper behavior. 

More importantly, we conclude that the trial court complied with the applicable provisions of R.C. Chapter 2929. The record affirmatively demonstrates that the trial court relied upon the proper statutory factors....

Saturday, April 08, 2023

Ministerial Exception Doctrine Requires Dismissal of Hostile Work Environment Claims

In Montgomery v. St. John's United Church of Christ, (OH App., April 6, 2023), an Ohio state appellate court held that the ministerial exception doctrine requires dismissal of plaintiffs' hostile work environment claims. In the case, the church's minister and a pastoral assistant contended that they were sexually harassed by a lay leader of the church, and that their employment was terminated because of their resistance to this conduct. The court said in part:

The [trial] court found that due to the nature of relationships of the parties involved and the subject matter of the conversations and communications between them, it could not “adjudicate the sexual harassment claims of Appellants without distinguishing between Appellee Martin as a parishioner in the congregation seeking counsel, guidance, and comfort from his pastor and pastoral assistant, and Martin as a church officer engaging in harassing or hostile behavior.”... The court found that it could not make this distinction or determination without “delving deeply into the relationships and expectations of the parties and their church and their faith.” ... 

We agree that this is precisely the kind of state inquiry into church employment decisions that the First Amendment forbids....

Saturday, March 04, 2023

6th Circuit: Muslim-Owned Company Adequately Alleged Religious and National Origin Discrimination

In Speed Way Transportation, LLC v. City of Gahanna, Ohio, (6th Cir., March 1, 2023), the U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals held 2-1 that a towing company adequately alleged an equal protection claim. Plaintiffs claimed religious and national origin discrimination in the city's rejection of their bid for a three-year towing contract.  The court said in part:

Plaintiffs allege that no other business—let alone any other towing business—in the City of Gahanna, including the comparator firms Broad & James and Cal’s Towing, is owned, and operated by individuals of Egyptian national origin and Muslim faith.

Plaintiffs also sufficiently allege that they were treated differently than the two comparator firms.

Judge Suhrheinrich filed a dissenting opinion.

All 3 judges on the panel agreed that plaintiffs' other 1st and 14th Amendment claims were properly dismissed by the district court. The majority opinion said in part:

Plaintiffs have failed to allege that they engaged in “conduct”—a specific exercise of their religion—that the Free Exercise Clause protects. Lacking an allegation of “protected conduct,” the Plaintiffs cannot state a First Amendment retaliation claim based on the exercise of rights protected by the Free Exercise clause... The district court did not err in dismissing this count.

Tuesday, December 27, 2022

New Ohio Law Focuses on Zoom-Bombing and Other Disruptions of Religious Services

As reported by JTA, the Ohio legislature in its final session earlier this month gave final passage to H.B. 504 (full text) amending the ban on disturbing a lawful meeting to increase penalties and to focus specifically on disturbing religious services.  The Act now provides in part:

Disturbing a lawful meeting is a misdemeanor of the first degree if either of the following applies:

(1) The violation is committed with the intent to disturb or disquiet any assemblage of people met for religious worship at a tax-exempt place of worship, regardless of whether the conduct is within the place at which the assemblage is held or is on the property on which that place is located and disturbs the order and solemnity of the assemblage.

(2) The violation is committed with the intent to prevent, disrupt, or interfere with a virtual meeting or gathering of people for religious worship, through use of a computer, computer system, telecommunications device, or other electronic device or system, or in any other manner.

Clause (2) of this section is particularly aimed at the practice of Zoom-bombing religious services that are being held online. Zoom-bombing has especially been used during the COVID pandemic to create antisemitic disruptions of online synagogue services.  In Ohio, a first-degree misdemeanor is punishable by up to 6 months in jail and a fine of up to $1000.

Wednesday, December 14, 2022

Teacher Sues Over School's Policy on Transgender Students

Suit was filed this week in an Ohio federal district court by a middle school teacher who resigned after refusing on religious grounds to comply with the school's policy regarding transgender students.  The school required teachers to address students by their preferred names and pronouns. The complaint (full text) in Geraghty v. Jackson Local School District Board of Education, (ND OH, filed 12/12/20222), alleges in part:

2. The Constitution guarantees a freedom of thought that includes a freedom to differ.... 

3. The Constitution protects this freedom to differ, in part, by prohibiting the government from adopting and enforcing a set of approved views on these matters in America’s public schools.... 

4. Defendants have abandoned this guiding light and adopted one particular view on this subject: that a person’s subjective identity determines whether a person is male or female, not a person’s sex. Compounding their unlawful adoption of an orthodoxy in this area, they have created and implemented a Policy requiring teachers, including Plaintiff Vivian Geraghty, to mouth her own support of Defendants’ views by forcing her, as a condition of keeping her job as a public school teacher, to participate in the “social transition” of children in her class.

5. Ms. Geraghty has a different view of this fundamental matter, informed by her scientific understanding and her Christian faith....

7. Because no interest justifies the state’s treatment of Ms. Geraghty—indeed, the very nature of free speech, free exercise of religion, and freedom from state-enforced orthodoxy on fundamental matters condemns the state’s attempt to purge contrary views from its schools—she brings this Complaint for injunctive, declaratory, and compensatory relief.

ADF issued a press release announcing the filing of the lawsuit.