A recently proposed Ohio Senate resolution calls on the federal government not to include sexual orientation and gender identification in anti-discrimination laws used in education funding.
State Senator Andrew Brenner, R-Delaware, introduced the resolution: Parallel Resolution of the Senate 11on Tuesday, asking the U.S. Department of Education to “exempt sexual orientation and gender identity from Title IX,” according to the resolution.
Title IX is a 1970s law that prohibits sex discrimination in education receiving federal funds. The recent changes would add support for LGBTQ+ based on gender identity and sexual orientation, as well as protections against harassment for pregnant students and students with children. The changes were published by the DOE in April and were scheduled to go into effect in August.
Brenner’s resolution states that if passed, Ohio’s 135th General Assembly “will find that this broad expansion of Title IX is detrimental to all women’s sports” and urges the U.S. Department of Energy to “remove all references to sexual orientation and identity gender” from the law.
It also asks Congress and President Joe Biden to change the law “to specify that the word ‘sex’ does not include sexual orientation or gender identity.”
The resolution is only a proposal of the legislator, and not a right or an enforceable obligation. However, the resolution contains messages from the Republican side of the General Assembly against transgender people and other LGBTQ+ issues.
Bills currently pending in the Ohio Legislature related to transgender issues include House Bill 183, which would prevent transgender students from using bathrooms and locker rooms assigned to their gender identity, and House Bill 8, which would require public schools to notify parents about content sexually explicit classroom materials in schools and provide alternatives to content. HB 8 would also require school districts to notify parents about student sexuality through a mandatory disclosure clause.
HB 183 was recently voted out of committee, and HB 8 has already passed the House, with hearings underway in the Senate Education Committee.
The General Assembly has already passed House Bill 68, which prohibits gender-affirming guardianship of minors and prevents transgender students from playing on sports teams consistent with their gender identity.
Enforcement of HB 68 has been temporarily halted by a Franklin County judge as a lawsuit challenging the law goes to Common Pleas Court.
Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost, in a lawsuit filed in behind schedule April, asked the Ohio Supreme Court to lift the transient pause on enforcement, stating that “one judge from one county has no more power than the governor’s veto.”
Governor Mike DeWine vetoed the bill, but his veto was overridden by lawmakers.
Yost also took the state’s stance on Title IX. Before the recent proposed resolution went into effect, the attorney general joined a lawsuit announced in behind schedule April by Yost’s office against changes to Title IX language.
He represents Ohio in a lawsuit led by Tennessee and joined by leaders from Kentucky, Indiana, Virginia and West Virginia against the U.S. DOE and Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona.
As part lawsuitYost argues that a final Title IX rule covering sexual orientation and gender identity “would override Ohio’s athletics regulations…causing irreparable harm to Ohio’s sovereign legislature,” citing provisions that provide for separate teams for men and women.
The lawsuit states that Ohio received more than $5.2 billion in federal funds in 2023 and “expects to receive additional funds of equal or greater value in future fiscal years.”
