A healthy campus community is one where identities are respected.

But a recent lawsuit against the UC threatens that standard.

Defending Education – an organization that advocates for nonpolitical education, according to its website – sued the UC on June 18, alleging that UC’s sexual violence and sexual harassment policy fosters compelled speech and viewpoint discrimination. The group also alleged in the lawsuit that by categorizing deadnaming and misgendering as potential sexual harassment, the UC has prohibited the free speech of students.

[Related: Conservative group files lawsuit against UC for alleged free speech violations]

The student plaintiffs included in the lawsuit allege their First Amendment rights were violated because they feared retaliation from UC for expressing their views on gender. The lawsuit demands UC revoke this section of its SVSH rules.

By targeting a gender-inclusive language policy, the organization seeks to roll back protections for transgender people at the UC. The outcome of the lawsuit may be undecided, but UC’s support of transgender students should not be.

The First Amendment is a crucial part of University campuses. The Editorial Board holds that UC campuses must remain centers of productive and authentic discussion and collaboration. The Defending Education lawsuit fails to consider that tolerating non-gender-affirming language would be corrosive to that ideal.

Nearly a third of transgender people reported unfair treatment from higher education employees, including their instructors and administrators, according to a 2022 nationwide study by the UCLA School of Law Williams Institute.

But transgender students are facing more than just discrimination from higher-education officials. They’re dealing with a federal administration that targets their rights – and it’s imperative the UC does not comply.

Children’s Hospital Los Angeles abruptly closed its gender-affirming healthcare program last year in response to federal pressure, including threats to the hospital’s Medicaid funding.

The Department of Health and Human Services eventually ditched those threats, but CHLA’s Center for Transyouth Health and Development remains out of service.

In August, the federal government asked UCLA to implement anti-transgender policies to regain federal research funding. The university made no indication that it would sign the agreement, but it goes to show how close the issue has gotten to campus.

Although compliance might seem like an easy way out, transgender rights are not a peripheral issue. The UC must defend itself against this lawsuit.

If the UC does not unabashedly support its transgender students, it removes expectations of basic human decency. It sets a precedent that UC students can be disrespected for who they are, presenting the opportunity for people of any identity to be scrutinized and disrespected.

A lack of baseline decency affects us all.