Employees of one Virginia school district must now call each other by the pronouns that reflect the person's sex at birth.
Workers can't be compelled to violate their principles by using pronouns they consider inappropriate, the Chesapeake School Board decided in December.
The board is one of many passing similar regulations. In 2025 alone, a Wisconsin school district settled a lawsuit filed by one of its teachers who was fired after failing to use a transgender student's preferred pronouns, and an appellate court ruled against an Ohio school district that implemented a policy prohibiting offensive or insulting pronoun-related language.
President Donald Trump’s administration has gotten involved in the matter as well.
Trump signed an executive order in January prohibiting K-12 schools that receive federal funding from engaging in what the order described as “illegal and discriminatory treatment and indoctrination in K-12 schools, including based on gender ideology.” The order's definition of "social transition," which it bars federal funding recipients from supporting in students, includes using pronouns that don't align with a person's biological sex.
