The Republican lawmaker said she wanted to prohibit public universities in Ohio from asking prospective students for their preferred pronouns when submitting applications for admission to studies because, in her opinion, this could indicate their political ideology and possibly influence their admission.
State Rep. Gail Pavliga, R-Portage County, was recently introduced House Bill 686, which would also prohibit a public university from asking a job applicant their preferred pronoun on an employee application. Ohio does 14 public universities.
“There is no need for the university to require this information, it is clearly not a sufficient indicator of an individual’s college readiness,” Pavliga said in her sponsor testimony at a recent meeting of the Ohio House of Representatives Committee on Higher Education. “So why should we include it in our applications? Providing an optional field for pronoun apply clearly distinguishes groups based on their political ideology.
Anecdotally, she said she has talked to many juvenile Republicans who say they don’t fill out questions about pronouns on applications.
“Those who do not respond to the pronoun prompt are much more likely to lean right, toward the political spectrum, and those who do respond are much more likely to lean left, toward the political spectrum,” Pavliga said. “Candidates should not be denied admission based on their political ideology, but without this bill it is a stark reality.”
HB 686 addresses the problem of bias in higher education, she said.
“We’re trying to assess a person’s readiness, whether it’s for a job at a university or for college admission,” Pavliga said. “The use of the pronoun does not actually indicate that readiness or qualification.”
State Rep. Beryl Brown Piccolantonio, D-Gahanna, said people generally prefer to be addressed by how they identify and said there is sometimes confusion around her name, which causes that she sometimes receives correspondence addressed to her as Mr. Piccolantonio.
“Other than the issue of prejudice, do you think there is any purpose to address people in the way they actually live in the world?” she asked.
Pavliga responded that while the proposal would not ask a person’s preferred pronoun, she stated that nothing in HB 686 prohibits questions about a person’s preferred pronouns from being asked at any other time.
Common applicationthe online portal that many students apply to apply to several colleges and universities includes an optional pronoun question. More than 1,000 colleges and universities across the country apply Common for their application process – including 13 public universities in Ohio. Northeast Ohio Medical University does not apply Common.
“I am sure that if some of the largest universities in the country requested that this field be deactivated for their institution, there would be no problem,” Pavliga said.
Even though the bill was introduced by a Republican, the chairman of the Higher Education Committee, R-Washington Twp. Tom Young, said HB 686 is not a Democrat or Republican bill.
“It’s a matter of choice and application options,” he said.
According to the study, nearly two-thirds of juvenile LGBTQ people said it would be helpful if their loved ones knew more pronouns. The Trevor Project’s 2023 Mental Health Survey.
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