Schoolboys Persecuted for 'Mispronoun' Crime

June 29, 2022

Schoolboys Persecuted for 'Mispronoun' Crime

Three middle school boys narrowly escaped punishment in Wisconsin. They were being investigated under Title IX proceedings after their school accused them of sexual harassment for “mispronouning” another student.

The “sexual harassment” consisted of the eighth-graders not referring to a female student with her “preferred pronouns” of “they/them.”

In a case that attorneys described as “bizarre,” the Kiel Area School District in Wisconsin opened a formal Title IX complaint of “sexual harassment” against the boys on March 29. The official complaint form denotes “mispronouning” as the cause for the investigation.

Rosemary Rabidoux, the mother of one of the accused boys—13-year-old Braden—told the media in April that the “sexually harassed” student “had been screaming at one of Braden’s friends to use proper pronouns, calling him profanity, and this friend is very soft-spoken and kind of just sunk down into his chair.”

According to Mrs. Rabidoux, “Braden finally came up, defending him, saying ‘he doesn’t have to use proper pronouns; it’s his constitutional right to not use [them]; you can’t make him say things.’”

Attorneys Defend the Three Students

The Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty (WILL) agreed to defend the three boys and their families. Its lawyers informed the school district on May 12 that both the complaint and investigation into the boys were “wholly inappropriate and should be immediately dismissed.”

WILL noted that the “mere use of biologically correct pronouns not only does not constitute sexual harassment under Title IX or the District’s own policy, it is also speech protected by the First Amendment.”

The attorneys argued that the school district had violated Title IX procedures and its own policy in handling the complaint. The district failed to give a required “detailed notice of the allegations,” giving instead only a “generic letter.” The Kiel school district also held rounds of questioning “without first providing additional details or giving the boys and their families time to prepare.”

Drawing from prior cases, the attorneys warned the school district that “[a]s much as the District may want to control which pronouns students use, it ‘do[es] not have a license to act as classroom thought police.’”

In another email, the Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty re-iterated their warning to the Kiel school district on June 2, writing that Title IX investigations were completely inappropriate.

School District Drops the Case

Shortly afterward, on the same day, the Kiel school district announced that the matter was now considered “closed.” The school district’s brief letter did not, however, withdraw or publicly correct its Title IX investigation into the three boys but instead defended the school staff over their ludicrous decision.

In this one case, common sense finally prevailed, but the LGBTQ flood tide is still flowing. All of this and worse will soon be coming to a school near you!