Idaho law will require parental consent to use certain names, pronouns in schools | Fact check

BrieAnna J. Frank, USA TODAY
·4 min read

The claim: Idaho is banning all pronouns in schools starting July 1

A May 12 Facebook post (direct link, archive link) claims one state is making a major change to communication in public schools.

“The State of Idaho is BANNING all Pronouns in schools starting July 1,” reads the post.

Other versions of the claim spread widely on Reddit and X, formerly Twitter.

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Our rating: False

The claim mischaracterizes Idaho's HB 538, which prohibits the government from forcing its employees to use a person’s preferred pronouns if they don’t align with their biological sex. It also says public school teachers cannot use a name or pronouns other than the ones assigned to a student at birth without written parental consent. It does not fully ban pronouns, which an expert said would make communication "impossible."

Law is about compelled speech, not banning all pronouns

Idaho Gov. Brad Little signed HB 538 into law in April, and it is set to go into effect July 1. While the legislation targets pronoun usage in schools, the post overstates its scope.

The law's text says government employees cannot be disciplined for declining to state their preferred pronouns or addressing a person by a name or pronoun that is “inconsistent with the person’s sex.”

It goes on to say public school employees specifically cannot “knowingly and intentionally” address an unemancipated minor student with a name, nickname or pronoun that conflicts with his or her biological sex without written parental consent. The law also protects those employees and public school students from punishment for not using such names or pronouns.

“Aside from that the bill does not prevent employees or students from using others’ preferred pronouns if they choose to do so; it does not ban any other speech,” said University of Texas at Austin law professor Steven Collis, who is also director of the university’s Bech-Loughlin First Amendment Center. “What it does do is prevent government from compelling employees or students to use pronouns they do not want to use.”

Banning all pronouns "would make communication impossible," Collis said. “Too much of our language hinges on using pronouns to refer to all sorts of people, animals, entities, groups and things – including the pronoun ‘it.’”

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The law's text highlights 303 Creative LLC v. Elenis as the basis for its reasoning, a 2023 case in which the U.S. Supreme Court held that the state of Colorado couldn’t compel a web designer to create a website with speech she opposed – in her case, wedding websites for same-sex couples.

“This means that while someone cannot claim the First Amendment as a defense for engaging in racist conduct that violates civil rights laws, there is now more wiggle room to use the First Amendment as a shield against enforcement of anti-gay civil rights protections,” said Mississippi College law professor Franklin Rosenblatt.

There's less wiggle room, however, when it comes to what public school employees can call transgender or non-binary students.

“School officials now risk lawsuits if they call students as the students wish to be called without first investigating birth gender and receiving parental permission for how their children can be addressed,” Rosenblatt said.

But school districts could have different ways of adapting to the new law.

“As a local control state, Idaho school districts will be responsible for determining their individual policies for implementation of this new law,” Idaho Department of Education spokesperson Maggie Reynolds told USA TODAY. “So, what implementation looks like in districts could vary, as long as the legislature’s new law is being followed.”

USA TODAY has debunked an array of claims surrounding pronoun usage, including false claims that a Michigan bill would make misgendering someone a felony and that a video shows a passenger arguing with a flight attendant over pronouns.

USA TODAY reached out to users who shared the post for comment. One user responded but did not provide evidence supporting the claim.

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: False claim Idaho schools are banning all pronouns | Fact check