After midnight on the last day of Ohio’s two-year legislative session, the Ohio House voted to pass HB 8, the Parents’ Bill of Rights.
HB 8 will force teachers and school staff to make LGBTQ+ youth accessible to parents and limit mention of LGBTQ+ identity in school curricula.
“We are once again leaving the worst piece of legislation for the middle of the night when everyone has gone quiet,” said House Minority Leader Allison Russo (D-Upper Arlington).
The bill requires teachers and school staff – including school social workers, counselors, and psychologists – to notify a student’s parents of “any change in services to the student, including counseling or monitoring services related to the mental, emotional, or physical health of the student or his/her well-being.” existence.”
The legislation clearly defines transgender identity as requiring parental notification, and previous testimony has confirmed that disclosing sexual orientation would also result in contact with parents.
The bill also prohibits any mention of “sexual content” in grades K-3 and requires that such content be “age appropriate” for all other grades. Sexual content is defined in the bill as “written instructions, presentations, depictions or descriptions of sexual concepts or gender ideologies.” “Gender ideology” is not defined anywhere in the bill.
After amendments in the Ohio Senate, the bill now includes a mandate requiring all schools to find a time during the school day when students can leave school to attend religious education classes.
This recent language regarding exemption time for religious instruction (RTRI) was subject to final approval by the House. State Reps. Jamie Callender (R-Concord), Republican Gayle Manning (R-North Ridgeville) and Republican Andrea White (R-Kettering) broke away from their party to vote against the bill.
Still, the bill passed by a 57-31 vote and now goes to Gov. Mike DeWine for his signature.
The House is debating RTRI
Since the House had previously approved the Parents’ Bill of Rights in June 2023, in this case it was only necessary to agree to the changes introduced by the Senate. Thus, the debate in the House was largely constrained to the revised language regarding RTRI.
Rep. Sara Carruthers (R-Hamilton), an original co-sponsor of HB 8, said the bill is a “good” bill and involves parents and teachers working together. She said the RTRI mandate does not impose a specific religion on schools.
“If [students] would like to learn Hebrew or any other religion, it is possible,” Carruthers said, allegedly linking the language with religion.
Rep. Adam Bird (R-New Richmond) countered numerous teachers and school administrators who testified that it was an incredible disruption when students left in the middle of the school day to receive such instruction.
“It doesn’t burden teachers,” Bird said.
Other Republicans have said religion is a necessary part of public education.
“Religion is not inconsistent with good public education; it complements each other,” said Republican Gary Click (R-Vickery), a Baptist pastor.
Rep. Josh Williams (Sylvania Township) took a bolder stance, reminding opponents that Republicans are the majority in the Ohio Legislature and that there would be consequences for trying to find alternatives to allow students to go to religious studies. instruction.
“I won’t use foul language, but FAFO,” Williams said, making the call an abbreviation full of profanity. “If we need to pick up the pace again, we will. If we want to make it mandatory to have a certain policy, we will do that.”
Only Rep. Jodi Whitted (Madeira) emphasized how harmful this bill would be to school staff and LGBTQ+ youth. Social work professor Whitted shared how HB 8 violates the professional standards of her profession, including privacy, confidentiality and fundamental obligations to clients.
“Taking kids out on trips doesn’t help kids,” Whitted said. “It’s risky. This bill won’t lend a hand anyone.”
What’s next?
The vote in the House ends an almost two-year journey towards a Parents’ Bill of Rights.
HB 8 was one of the first eight bills introduced by Republicans in 2023, establishing it as one of the top priorities for this two-year term. LGBTQ+ advocates have labeled the bill the “Dangerous Students Act,” the “Ban Gay/Trans Talk Act,” and a threat to all LGBTQ+ youth in Ohio public schools.
In more than a dozen House and Senate committee hearings since it was introduced nearly two years ago, opponents of the bill provided hundreds of testimonies, outnumbering supporters of the bill by a margin of more than 100 to 1.
Opponents included the National Association of Social Workers (NASW), which did so He testified many times that HB 8 violates their professional guidelines and all principles of a sound therapeutic process, violating students’ “privacy rights and desires.”
Republican lawmakers have not been swayed by these arguments about ethics and professional standards, choosing instead to repeatedly portray teachers and school staff as bad actors who withhold information from parents.
Governor Mike DeWine he had previously signaled that he would sign the billspecifically supporting the language in RTRI.
After the vote, reactions from opponents of HB 8 began to come in.
“HB 8 is another example of politicians’ cruelty towards children who have the right to bodily autonomy and deserve to be understood and accepted,” said Lauren Blauvelt, executive director of Planned Parenthood Advocates of Ohio.
“School policy should focus on education, not discrimination. This bill could place a burden on our teachers while failing to prioritize what is best for our children,” said Senator Nickie Antonio (D-Lakewood).
The ACLU of Ohio, Equality Ohio, TransOhio and Equitas Health have released statements urging Ohioans to contact Governor DeWine.
“At night, when most school-age children are asleep, the Legislature has launched another heinous attack on LGBTQ+ youth,” said Dwayne Steward, executive director of Equality Ohio. “In the face of bipartisan opposition and opposition from a broad coalition of teachers, social workers and LGBTQ+ advocates, Governor DeWine should veto this bill and ask the Legislature to start next session with a focus on ensuring every young Ohio student has access to school, that welcomes them as they are.”🔥
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- Interested parties may contact Governor Mike DeWine at 614-644-4357 and 614-466-3555.
