“We are in Ohio. Not California.” – What supporters of the anti-LGBTQ+ State Board of Ed resolution are saying

On Wednesday, the State Board of Education (BOE) of Ohio will again consider a resolution that targets LGBTQ+ students and rejects Title IX language that would protect LGBTQ+ students from discrimination.

The “Resolution to Support Parents, Schools, and Districts in Rejecting Harmful, Coercive, and Burdensome Gender Identity Policies” has been widely described as a wide-ranging attack on LGBTQ+ youth, including an instruction to have the Superintendent of Public Instruction issue a letter to every school district in Ohio to ignore the application of Title IX protections to LGBTQ+ students.

The resolution was authored by State BOE member Brendan Shea of London Ohio. who shares in his bio that he is home-schooling his children, serves as founder and president of Madison County Right to Life, and enjoys Bible study in his free time.

At the BOE meeting on September 20, more than 60 Ohioans participated in the public participation portion of the agenda to offer their thoughts on the resolution. The vast majority of the speakers—over 50—argued passionately against the resolution.

For the October 12 meeting, Ohioans have again been submitting testimony, but the number of supporters has increased exponentially.

So what are these supporters actually saying?

Here are some samples:

We are in Ohio, not California. This is the heartland. The majority of families here want to raise their kids in an environment that is not trying shift our culture to that of a permissive upside down free for all…PC culture would have me not use the word NORMAL. Well, I am going to use it. We all know what NORMAL is and we know there is an agenda to destroy NORMAL. I am here to say that parents want NORMAL. –Patty Klein, Findlay

We do not want to make the national news because one of our girls gets raped in the restroom or one of our boys gets accused of something they did not do just because a girl happened to be in the restroom at the same time they were. -Kim Duskey, Teacher

We have drifted off from morality. How do we get it back? One key way is by calling upon the General Assembly to make a law allowing prayer and the Bible to come back into all public schools. -Stephanie Lang

The moral degeneracy of our nation, its schools, and other institutions that are supposed to help students has grown like a cancer since the early 1900’s to bring us here today…Children and adults are assaulted daily with movies such as Broke Back Mountain, explicit TV shows and movies, showing them how cool it is to be LGBTQ and the list goes on…We do not condone smoking, drinking, vaping, drugs, etc. in schools so why do we need to accept LGBTQ as normal behavior? -Linda Bishop, Findlay

Just this summer my community lost a transgender 16 yr old to suicide. But Jesus Christ has overcome all principalities and powers. Through Christ we have the Victory and do not have to succumb to these very real threats and intimidation. Through Jesus Christ we can and must battle and overcome. -Kimberly Brown, Crooksville

There was a time in my life as a child that I wanted to be a boy. I am immensely grateful that my parents never affirmed this delusion as my life today would be drastically different; Without having parents who advocated for my true identity (my actual real identity, not some false illusion that I had fantasized) I would not have been able to find security in my own skin, nor would I have loved myself, as the “self” I wished to create could never have brought me fulfillment. -Corinne Nussbaum

I believe that a variety of contentious issues, such as anti-racism and sexual/gender identity issues, are being made part of the average school day in a way that does not benefit Ohio’s students…Let’s stop using schools as a training ground for turning young students into activists for our favored causes. -Beth Murdoch, Hilliard City School District Board of Education

Witnesses selected to testify will have three minutes to present their testimony. Board members will not be asking witnesses any follow-up questions.

Ignite Action:

• Honesty for Ohio Education has created an Action Center to make your voice heard on this resolution, including scripts to contact your representatives and local media.