Middle schooler, 13, is terrified he'll be shunned by colleges after he was accused of sexual harassment for using wrong pronoun when talking to non-binary classmate

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A teenager fears he'll be shunned by colleges after his school accused him of sexual harassment for using the wrong pronoun when talking to a non-binary classmate.

Braden Rabidoux, from Kiel in Wisconsin, spoke out after he was hit with a Title IX complaint for referring to the student as 'she' rather than 'they' or 'them.'

Speaking to Fox News Wednesday, he said: 'I was anxious and scared and upset because I didn’t know what was going to happen.

'But mostly anxious for my present self and my future self because a charge like that on my record could shatter my chances at getting into a college when I grow up.'

Braden and two of his classmates, who have not been named, were hit with the complaint earlier this month. 

They were said to have been berated by the non-binary classmate who screamed abuse at the three students for using female pronouns instead of gender-neutral ones. 

Using the wrong pronoun for a transgender or non-binary person is known as misgendering. 

Braden insisted it was his First-Amendment right to refer to his classmate using whatever pronouns he wished to.  

Braden Rabidoux, pictured left with his mother Rosemary, right, told Fox News he fears being charged with sexual harassment for misgendering a non-binary classmate could affect his college prospects 

The Rabidouxs' are working with Luke Berg, furthest right, a lawyer from the Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty, to push back against Kiel School District's allegations 

This is part of the complaint that has been sent to Kiel Middle School in protest at the school's Title IX complaint against Braden and his two classmates 

His family have now instructed lawyers to fight the charge. Luke Berg, from the Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty, said the allegations are 'a gross misapplication of Title IX sexual harassment charges.'

He added: 'Sexual harassment covers really egregious stuff, not simply using the so-called wrong pronoun. 

'The school’s theory seems to be that any use of a wrong pronoun is automatically punishable speech under Title XI, and if that is truly their position, that is a truly egregious First Amendment violation.'

Meanwhile, Braden's mother Rosemary Rabidoux, who joined him for the Fox News interview, blasted plans by a woke Virginia school district to suspend students for 'malicious misgendering.'

Rosemary said: 'This is middle school. These guys are kids, they’re learning how to interact with each other, and they’ve been taught all their life to see a girl and use pronouns "she" and "her." They don’t understand using plural pronouns for one student," she said.

'Schools should be focused on education, on math and science and social studies, and not … pronouns.'

Braden was accused of sexual harassment by officials at Kiel Middle School, pictured, A spokesperson refused to comment beyond saying the school takes bullying allegations very seriously 

Last week, Rosemary told of her horror at being contacted by Braden's school with the sexual harassment complaint.

She said: 'I immediately went into shock! I'm thinking, sexual harassment? That's rape, that's inappropriate touching, that's incest. What has my son done?

'(The investigating principal) said he's being allegedly charged with sexual harassment for not using proper pronouns. I thought it wasn't real! I thought this has got to be a gag, a joke — one has nothing to do with the other.

'Braden finally came up, defending him, saying 'He doesn't have to use proper pronouns, it's his constitutional right to not use, you can't make him say things.''

Asked whether Rabidoux and her son were anti LGBTQ, Rosemary quickly rose the defense of her family.

'Not at all. Not at all! My children have been raised to love everybody equally,' she said.

Kiel School District has refused to comment on the incident, other than to say that it does not tolerate bullying. 

A spokesperson added that district officials 'continue to support ALL students regardless of sex (including transgender status, change of sex or gender identity)'.

The Wisconsin Institute of Law and Liberty's full letter to the school blasting its action against the boys' has also been published.

It says: 'The mere use of biologically correct pronouns not only does not constitute sexual harassment under Title IX or the District's own policy, it is also speech protected by the First Amendment,' a May 12 letter to the school superintendent, counselor, and principal reads. 

'The District has also violated Title IX procedures and its own policy in its handling of the complaint. The District should promptly end the investigation, dismiss the complaints, and remove them from each of the boys' records,' the letter added. 

'Mispronouning' is also not sexual harassment under Title IX because gender identity is not included within the definition of sex within Title IX. In fact, the Department of Education is currently attempting to amend Title IX to add it,' the letter goes on to explain. 

'To be clear, this statement does not accurately or fully portray the incidents described—as you know, the student in question has teased the boys as much if not more, including calling them numerous names and yelling at them for not using 'they/them' pronouns even when they were not talking to or about her—but even if everything in the music teacher's statement were accurately characterized, it does not amount to the sort of 'severe, pervasive, and objectively offensive' conduct that crosses the line into sexual harassment,' the letter stated.

'The charge against students for sexual harassment is an extreme abuse of the Title IX process. It's totally inappropriate and is totally being mishandled by the school district,' said Luke Berg from the organization.

The attorneys go on to note that if the alleged victim student had been teased then such behavior needs to be addressed by school staff and administrators, but 'none of this warrants accusations of sexual harassment and the serious reputational harm that comes with it.'