Conservative Group’s Members Can Misgender People on UC Campuses Without Consequence, Judge Rules
University of California campuses cannot enforce an anti-harassment policy against members of a conservative group for referring to others using names and pronouns that are inconsistent with how they identify, a federal judge said this week.
U.S. District Judge Fred W. Slaughter issued a preliminary injunction on Tuesday that for now protects members of Defending Education from punishment associated with violating the part of that policy covering misgendering another. The policy also covers sexual harassment and violence and applies to all campus employees and students.
UC can still enforce the policy against members for other violations of the policy to prevent the “abuse of transgender students, just as they enforce the policy to prevent the abuse of any other student,” Slaughter wrote.
Nicole Neily, Defending Education’s president, said in a statement that the group was gratified by the decision.
“It is unconstitutional for public universities to compel student speech, and we will continue to defend this principle in California and other schools across the country as needed.”
In a statement, UC spokesperson Rachel Zaentz said the policy is “designed to protect members of the university community from discrimination and harassment, not to regulate protected speech.”
“While we disagree with the court’s ruling, UC will always seek to foster a welcoming environment that protects both freedom of expression and the fundamental rights of all members of our community,” Zaentz said in the statement.
Zaentz said UC “applies the same legal standards to [gender identity harassment reports] as it does to all allegations of harassment.”
The move is the latest in a battle of conservative groups and politicians attempting to remove transgender protections in schools and on campuses by moving to, among other things, prevent transgender girls from competing on girls sports teams and limiting the privacy of a student’s gender identity from parents.
On the same day as Slaughter’s order, a Southern California judge ruled that schools are not required to notify parents if their child changes their preferred pronouns, but officials must answer questions about a child’s gender expression if parents ask.
Defending Education is among those groups who have targeted several diversity initiatives and programs and transgender policies across the country. In a recent complaint against the Oakland Unified School District, Defending Education argued that a program aimed at helping Latino students discriminates against white students.
The group has also taken aim at UC Berkeley a number of times before, complaining that the school discriminated based on race and highlighted instances of ethnic studies curriculum.
The current lawsuit was first lodged against UC in June and argues similar claims in previous lawsuits brought by the group, alleging that the policy violates the First and Fourteenth Amendments.
At UC Berkeley, 2% of undergraduate students and 3% of graduate students are transgender or nonbinary, according to 2025 fall enrollment numbers. Another 2% of staff and 1% of lecturers identify the same way.