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As students return to the University of Minnesota to start their fall semester, a lawsuit underway in federal court hopes to protect them from being required to use their peers’ preferred gender pronouns.
The University of Minnesota was sued recently by the conservative Young America’s Foundation over claims that the school’s gender and pronoun policies violate students’ First Amendment rights.
The U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota is scheduled to hold a hearing on Dec. 14 as the university seeks to dismiss the lawsuit and YAF defends its complaint.
YAF, represented by the Southeastern Legal Foundation, filed the lawsuit June 18, alleging some students have been forced to “censor” or “compel” their speech due to fear of disciplinary action.
One of the policies challenged in the lawsuit states that faculty, staff and students are expected to use the names, gender identities, and pronouns specified to them except when legal documents require otherwise.
“University members and units are expected to use the names, gender identities, and pronouns specified to them by other University members, except as legally required,” the policy states.
“For example, the use of legal names is required on certain legal documents. University members and units are also expected to use other gendered personal references, if any, that are consistent with the gender identities and pronouns specified by University members,” it states.
Southeastern Legal Foundation contends that such policies infringe upon students who may hold different views.
“This means that a UMN student can be accused of discrimination for believing that there are only two genders; refusing to use incorrect pronouns; refusing to recognize transgenderism; and speaking out for their own privacy against members of the opposite sex using their bathrooms,” the foundation stated on its website.
Some of the topics students fear speaking in support of include “men should not compete in women’s sports or use their bathrooms,” “there are only two genders,” “sex is immutable,” “a man cannot get pregnant,” or “a man cannot become a woman, and a woman cannot become a man,” the lawsuit states.
The University of Minnesota did not respond to The College Fix’s request for comment.
In a statement to a local Fox News affiliate, a campus spokesperson said: “The University is deeply committed to both protecting freedom of speech and fostering a safe, inclusive learning environment for all students. Because this involves active litigation, we cannot comment on the specific allegations of the lawsuit at this time.”
The lawsuit also flags the university’s Bias Response and Referral Network, which collects “bias complaints” from the campus community about perceived discrimination. The lawsuit cites several examples of complaints to the bias response team, including “by a University member because the member complained about having to use the phrase ‘lactating individuals’ instead of ‘mother.'”
As The College Fix reported in May, that complaint was among the more than 100 Bias Response and Referral Network reports filed between July 2024 and March 2026 obtained through a public records act request.
Another report based on gender identity and religion was an Aug. 2025 incident where a student reported a street evangelist for saying “remember, only male and female,” and trying “to convert [the] reporter to Christianity” outside of the university’s Coffman Memorial Union, The Fix reported.
The lawsuit argues that the bias response team is another vector for complaints that students face, in addition to the Title IX office or an office overseeing Student Conduct Code violations.
YAF is asking the courts to declare the pronoun policy is unconstitutional and also seek $1 in nominal damages in addition to attorneys fees.
The University of Minnesota is not the first higher educational institution to encounter legal challenges over matters regarding gender and pronoun policies.
In 2019, Shawnee State University Professor Nicholas Meriwether faced disciplinary action in the wake of his decline to refer to a student’s requested pronouns. The matter was settled in March 202, with $400,000 paid out in damages and attorney fees to Meriwether.
MORE: University will pay $400K to end legal battle over preferred pronoun mandate
