I 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 6432 

To prohibit the use of funds to implement, administer, or enforce measures 

requiring certain employees to refer to an individual by the preferred 

pronouns of such individual or a name other than the legal name of 

such individual, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

NOVEMBER 15, 2023 

Mr. OGLES (for himself, Ms. BOEBERT, Mr. LAMALFA, Mrs. MILLER of Illinois, Mr. BIGGS, Mr. HARRIS, Mr. GOSAR, Mr. WEBER of Texas, Mr. 

CRANE, Mr. NORMAN, Mr. CLYDE, Mr. HIGGINS of Louisiana, Mr. COLLINS, Mr. ROSENDALE, and Mr. DUNCAN) introduced the following bill; 

which was referred to the Committee on Oversight and Accountability 

A BILL 

To prohibit the use of funds to implement, administer, or 

enforce measures requiring certain employees to refer 

to an individual by the preferred pronouns of such individual or a name other than the legal name of such 

individual, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Safeguarding Honest 

5 Speech Act’’. 


kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB
2 

•HR 6432 IH

1 SEC. 2. NO FEDERAL FUNDS FOR COMPELLED LANGUAGE. 

2 (a) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any other provi3 sion of law, no funds may be used for the purpose of im4 plementing, administering, or enforcing any rule, policy, 

5 guidance, recommendation, or memoranda requiring an 

6 employee or contractor of any Federal agency or Depart7 ment to use— 

8 (1) another person’s preferred pronouns if they 

9 are incompatible with such a person’s sex; or 

10 (2) a name other than a person’s legal name 

11 when referring to such a person. 

12 (b) ENFORCEMENT.— 

13 (1) IN GENERAL.—All Federal agencies and 

14 Departments shall ensure that, not later than 30 

15 days following a written notice from any employee or 

16 contractor regarding an alleged violation of sub17 section (a), a formal response to the notice is issued 

18 to the employee or contractor. 

19 (2) PRIVATE RIGHT OF ACTION.—In the case 

20 that the formal response in subsection (a) does not 

21 represent a satisfactory outcome for a federal em22 ployee or contractor, any employee or contractor ag23 grieved by a violation of subsection (a) may com24 mence a civil action against the Federal agency or 

25 Department responsible for the alleged violation. 


kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB
3 

•HR 6432 IH

1 (3) RELIEF.—In any action under this sub2 section, the court may award appropriate relief, in3 cluding— 

4 (A) temporary, preliminary, or permanent 

5 injunctive relief; 

6 (B) compensatory damages; 

7 (C) punitive or exemplary damages, which 

8 may not exceed $100,000; and 

9 (D) reasonable fees for attorneys. 

10 (4) STATUTE OF LIMITATIONS.—An action 

11 under this subsection shall be brought not later than 

12 one year after the date on which the alleged viola13 tion of subsection (a) occurred. 

14 (c) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

15 (1) SEX.—The term ‘‘sex’’ means sex recog16 nized based solely on a person’s reproductive biology 

17 and genetics at birth. 

18 (2) PERSON.—The term ‘‘person’’ means an in19 dividual. 

Æ 


kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB