Witnesses on Tuesday gave testimony regarding a bill that would force all Ohio public school teachers and school staff — including school social workers, counselors and school psychologists — to out LGBTQ+ students to their parents.
HB 8, called “The Parents’ Bill of Rights” by its Republican sponsors, passed the Ohio House of Representatives in June and now sits in the Senate Education Committee.
The bill also requires parent notification with regards to any representation of LGBTQ+ identity in the K-12 curriculum. This could include depictions of same-sex parents in children’s books, a student’s show-and-tell of a napkin from their sibling’s same-sex wedding or the screening of a new Disney movie.
Opponents of the bill at Tuesday’s hearing outnumbered those supporting the bill by more than 5-to-1.
Here are 13 of the most memorable quotes from Tuesday’s hearing.
1. “Why would I want to be a teacher in Ohio when my legislators are so obsessed with gender and sexuality that they do not have time to pass legislation that would actually improve our schools? Why would I want to be a teacher in Ohio when my legislators are proposing laws that would ban me from putting a family picture on my desk, or from talking about my family at all? Since this bill does not define ‘sexual concepts’ or ‘gender ideology,’ there are those who would argue that my wedding photo or the questions it could prompt would qualify as one or the other.”
– Amanda Erickson, Kaleidoscope Youth Center, with degrees in education
2. “The young person is the expert in their own life, identity and experience. So, if that young person feels like the safest person to come out to first is their teacher or guidance counselor or the school janitor, it doesn’t necessarily mean that they’re never going to come out to their parents and families, and it certainly doesn’t mean that their teacher, counselor or janitor has the right to out the student on their behalf. It just means the young person is exercising their autonomy and privacy in choosing when they feel safe and comfortable to come out, as they have every right to do. But, here’s the thing: even if it does mean that that young person will never come out to their parents or families, that’s also okay! All people, including young people, are entitled to their own privacy.”
– Mallory Golski, Kaleidoscope Youth Center
3. “If you are thinking about pushing this bill, I want to ask you: what are you afraid of? What problem are you trying to solve? Trans inevitability? Trans youth? Trans futures? Because I’ll tell you what trans kids all over the state are afraid of: being outed to family members and kicked out because of it.”
– Cody Clark, opponent
4. “As this committee knows, HB 8 requires school districts to notify a student’s parent of any change in the student’s services or monitoring related to the student’s mental, emotional, or physical health or well-being or the school’s ability to provide a safe and supportive learning environment for the student.”
– Gary Daniels, ACLU of Ohio, refuting a point that Chair Andrew Brenner (R-Delaware) repeatedly made that the bill does not force teachers and school staff to out LGBTQ+ students to parents, which the bill’s language blatantly does.
5. “Why would a pregnant student go to the school nurse for morning sickness knowing that information must be reported to a parent who will then kick them out of the house? What happens when the guidance counselor may be the only safety valve a high schooler has regarding their questions about gender identity, or sexual orientation, but now the information given by the vulnerable student must be disclosed to other school staff, as would be necessary for compliance with HB 8, and with the most loving, supportive parents to the most abusive and threatening ones. No exceptions.”
– Daniels, highlighting that HB 8 has far-reaching effects for all students, not only LGBTQ+ ones
6. “Already overworked school counselors simply don’t have the time to make reports on our evolving needs assessments at the frequency at which they occur to every parent affected.”
– Heather Fairs, Ohio School Counselor Association, explaining how the implementation of HB 8 is simply not tenable
7. “If students know that school counselors will be forced to disclose what was shared in a private meetings, more and more of our students may hesitate before reaching out to us about sensitive issues, which would require the most emotional support.”
– Fairs, on the chilling effect HB 8 would have
8. “If parents do not know that their child is queer, transgender, or is questioning their identity, it is because that child either knows that their parent is not a safe person to come out to or because they don’t have the knowledge, language, or coping skills to be able to tell their parents.”
– Liam Strausbaugh, National Association of Social Workers (Ohio chapter)
9. “If this bill was enacted when I was in school, I would not be here today. I would have been shot dead by my mother.”
– Annie Stillion, opponent
10. “While Ohio legislature had passed only 15 bills this entire year, we’ve had 25 hearings and counting on anti-LGBTQ+ bills like this one.”
– Maria Bruno, Equality Ohio
11. “This bill has become a Don’t Say Gay or Trans 2.0 Bill. Teachers will be put in impossible situations during normal class discussions, and any mention of LGBTQ+ identities could put their entire career at risk. Something as simple as a teacher’s family picture on their desk, or a student’s family or identity organically arising as a topic, and teachers will be put in an impossible situation. This is not hyperbole.”
– Bruno, on the curriculum ban part of the bill
12. “Most egregiously [teachers] are withholding information regarding a students mental and emotional health status from parents. Primarily this is occurring when the student identifies as part of LGBT.”
-Lisa Chaffee, proponent, describing “activist teachers” who are having conversations that Chaffee said they should not be having “on moral grounds.”
13. “We do not co-parent with the government.”
– Chaffee, in an ironic statement given that Chaffee has testified in favor of HB 68, which would have the government superseding the right of parents to make healthcare decisions for their trans children
IGNITE ACTION
- To register to vote or to check your voter eligibility status in the state of Ohio, click here.
- To find contact information for your Ohio state representative, click here.
- To find a list of contact information for members of the Ohio Senate Government Oversight Committee, click here.
- To add your personal name, business or non-profit organization to Equality Ohio‘s “Ohio is Home” statewide sign-on letter urging lawmakers to reject HB 68, click here.
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