The University System of New Hampshire has restored a student’s article published in a school newspaper following its removal because the writer objected to the publication requiring gender pronouns to be included in bylines despite his religious objections.
The Christian conservative legal organization Liberty Counsel announced in a statement Tuesday that an unnamed institution within the University System of New Hampshire has agreed to restore an article written by a student for the school newspaper to the publication’s website. The article was removed after the student disapproved of including gender pronouns alongside his byline based on his religious beliefs.
The University System also agreed that it won’t require the inclusion of pronouns alongside students’ bylines, according to Liberty Counsel.
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The development follows a demand letter to the University System of New Hampshire leadership last month requesting that the article be restored without including his gender pronouns. The letter demanded that students would no longer have to include their gender pronouns in their “bylines or signature blocks.”
The unnamed student sincerely believes that “God created humans only male and female; that these sexes cannot change; and that pronouns are objective, consistent with sex, and are not subjective.”
After the student made multiple requests to have his gender pronouns removed from his byline, the school newspaper removed both his article and his pronouns on Jan. 29.
Liberty Counsel threatened potential legal action against the University System of New Hampshire if the demands were unmet.
“The removal of the Article appears retaliatory, in censoring [the student’s] entire article, rather than simply respecting his decision not to use ‘pronouns’ on the basis of his beliefs,” the letter stated.
“[The newspaper’s] decision to force [the student] to identify with ‘He/Him’ pronouns in his byline as a condition of article publication — or worse — retaliatory censorship of the entire article for voicing his objections — violates [the student’s] cherished First Amendment rights, and his sincerely held religious, scientific, and political beliefs.”
The letter argues that compelling someone to “speak the government’s message in this way” violates the First Amendment to the United States Constitution.
“[The student] believes that listing ‘pronouns’ next to his name is objectionable, because it is designed to communicate a false message that pronouns are subjective, that sex can be changed, and generally promote a new ‘orthodoxy’ regarding the nature of sex inconsistent with his Christian faith,” Liberty Counsel maintained.
Liberty Counsel founder Mat Staver believes the university system “made the right decision.”
“As a result, they will no longer require authors to use personal pronouns,” he said in a statement. “The First Amendment guarantees a right to express, or not to express, according to his or her religious beliefs and political values.”
According to the University System of New Hampshire’s official website, institutions included in the system are the University of New Hampshire and its three campuses, Plymouth State University and Keene State College. The system serves a combined total of 27,000 students on an annual basis.
Ryan Foley is a reporter for The Christian Post. He can be reached at: ryan.foley@christianpost.com
