‘Misgendering’ branded sexual harassment in US Uni policy

The University of California (UC) has come under fire for including ‘misgendering’ in its sexual harassment policy.

Under its 43-page Sexual Violence and Sexual Harassment Policy, intentionally calling a gender-confused person by their name used before ‘transition’ may be considered as “sexual harassment”.

Campaign group Defending Education (DE) has launched a legal complaint, accusing the University of restricting free speech.

Punishing students

The UC policy states: “Prohibited Conduct under this Policy includes intentional or repeated use of a name or pronoun inconsistent with the individual’s gender identity (i.e., misgendering).”

In their lawsuit, DE uses the example of students “who voice dissenting opinions on transgender issues, like the belief that someone should ‘use a particular bathroom that does not correspond to their gender identity'”, saying they “can be punished under the Hostile-Environment Provision” of the policy.

It explains: “UC has enacted a speech code that punishes students for engaging in protected speech and discourages them from expressing views outside of the university-approved mainstream.”

‘Marketplace of ideas’

The campaign group explained: “The protection of First Amendment freedoms is nowhere more vital than in American institutions of higher education.

“In fact, the college classroom has been referred to by the U.S. Supreme Court as the ‘marketplace of ideas.’ But marketplaces of ideas wither without open discourse and debate on matters of gender identity and the fixed nature of biological sex.”

It referenced a recent survey of 70,000 college students, showing that roughly half of them felt uncomfortable sharing views on controversial political topics in class or with their peers.

Free speech

Earlier this year, a Christian teacher in the US was awarded $650,000 after he was forced to resign for refusing to use the ‘preferred names and pronouns’ of gender-confused pupils.

John Kluge had worked as a music teacher at Brownsburg High School, Indiana, for four years when its corporation introduced a policy requiring gender-confused pupils to receive “affirmation of their preferred identity” and warning teachers they could be disciplined for using “the wrong name/pronoun”. Kluge was initially allowed to refer to all pupils by their surnames, but this was later reversed and he resigned in 2018.

Alliance Defending Freedom’s David Cortman, the religious liberty group which supported the case, said: “This settlement confirms what the law has always said: Public schools cannot force teachers to violate their religious beliefs. Title VII requires employers to accommodate their employees’ religious beliefs and practices. When they fail to do so—or worse, announce that they will grant no religious accommodations, as Brownsburg did—they can be held accountable.”