The UC system is facing a federal lawsuit over allegations that its anti-harassment policies that prohibit repeated or intentional misgendering violate some students’ First Amendment rights.
National advocacy group Defending Education argues that systemwide rules punish students for expressing their belief that “biological sex is immutable” and require them to use classmates’ preferred names and pronouns.
The complaint names top officials across the university and targets provisions of the systemwide Sexual Violence and Sexual Harassment policy, which define repeated or intentional misgendering and deadnaming as prohibited gender-based harassment. All university employees, students and third-parties are required to abide by the policy.
The advocacy group is asking a federal court to issue a preliminary and permanent injunction barring the UC from enforcing its rules on misgendering and deadnaming — as well as any similar policies across the university — and to strike them down as unconstitutional.
“Under the guise of combatting ‘sexual harassment,’ UC has enacted a speech code that punishes students for engaging in protected speech and discourages them from expressing views outside of the university-approved mainstream,” the lawsuit said.
Defending Education — a nonprofit organization working to “fight indoctrination in classrooms and on campus” — filed the lawsuit on behalf of four of its student members across UC Irvine, UC San Diego and UCLA.
According to the complaint, students have refrained from sharing their views on gender identity on- and off-campus because they fear being reported or disciplined for violating the policy.
The lawsuit also takes aim at other university protocols it claims violate the First Amendment, including the Anti-Discrimination Policy’s reinforcement of SVSH guidelines which prohibit harassment based on protected characteristics such as gender identity.
According to Stett Holbrook, spokesperson for the University of California Office of the President, both the SVSH and Anti-Discrimination policies were developed in accordance with federal and state law. He added that the protocols are implemented in a way that “recognizes the importance of rights to freedom of speech and expression.”
“The University of California is committed to fostering an environment that is welcoming to all while respecting freedom of speech and expression,” Holbrook said in a statement. “The purpose of these policies is to protect members of the University community from discrimination and harassment, not to regulate protected speech.”
However, the nonprofit similarly takes issue with the systemwide Sexual Harassment, Anti-Discrimination, Prevention and Education training. Better known as SHAPE, the mandatory course is assigned to students annually to test their knowledge of Title IX policy.
The program was launched in June 2025 by UC Online alongside the Systemwide Office of Civil Rights, and marked a “significant advancement” in campuswide training that supported the UC system’s “commitment to safe and inclusive campus environments,” according to a UCOP website about SHAPE.
The lawsuit objects to a specific scenario described in the training, where a transgender woman is repeatedly misgendered by her classmate — who continues to call her by the name she used before her transition, refers to her as a man and complains when she uses the woman’s restroom — even after she repeatedly asks the classmate to stop.
The training defines the situation as harassment through the creation of a “hostile environment.” The complaint argues that the training scenario is one-sided, since students are not given the option to say that the speech is not harassment.
The nonprofit argues that these policies are part of a broader trend toward censorship across the UC system, citing recent incidents at several campuses where they allege the speech of students or guest speakers was suppressed.
Among the incidents mentioned was the recent Berkeley Forum event featuring Google chief scientist Jeff Dean, which was shut down after protesters interrupted the program to criticize the use of Gemini AI in the genocide in Gaza.
The lawsuit explicitly mentioned UCLA, UCSD and UCI received an “F” in the 2026 Free Speech Rankings of American Colleges, run by the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, or FIRE.
UC Berkeley was among the list of campuses to receive a failing grade, and recently received a letter from FIRE reprimanding the school for allowing protesters at the Berkeley Forum event to “thwart campus discourse.” In its response to the letter, UC Berkeley announced that it has opened a review into the incident.
“‘Anti-discrimination’ and ‘anti-harassment’ policies cannot be used as a sword to compel students to speak in the way the government dictates, contrary to their deeply held beliefs,” the lawsuit said.
Omar Espinoza — an ASUC senator who represents the LGBTQ+ community on campus — said that the lawsuit is challenging protections that transgender students have relied on.
He said the policies serve to send an “important message” to LGBTQ+ students that they belong on campus and to ensure that the university has a legal obligation to investigate instances where they’re subject to discrimination or harassment.
Ahead of internal discussions on the case, Espinoza urged the university to show an “unwavering commitment to protecting every student, their dignity, their safety and their ability to succeed. “
“(For LGBTQ+ students), this isn’t about theory, and this isn’t about law … it’s about actual human lives,” Espinoza said. “This will affect their everyday experiences, how they’re going to feel on their first day of class and whether they’ll be able to join a club without having to wonder if they’ll be called out because of who they are.”