Kaleidoscope Youth Center responds to state budget

By Erin Upchurch, Kaleidoscope Youth Center

We are filled with immense grief in response to the ongoing discrimination and attempts at erasure gleefully flowing from the Ohio Statehouse.

In the United States, there are approximately 4.2 million youth experiencing homelessness.

In its current form, the state budget mandates “withholding state money from youth shelters that support transgender youth.” Among other things, this mandate is both cruel and inhumane. Imagine hating an entire group of people so much – specifically children – that you’d be willing to make decisions that risk the lives and well-being of thousands, solely to support your personal beliefs.

Ohio Senate passes budget containing slate of anti-LGBTQ+ attacks

During the 2023-2024 school year, Ohio had 25,550 students experiencing homelessness. And these are the ones who were able to be counted. The Ohio Department of Health currently provides support to 13 organizations that are taking innovative approaches to serving Ohio youth experiencing homelessness. This line in the budget forces funded organizations/programs to make the choice between rejecting youth or losing funding that will impact, at minimum, more than 25,550 young people without a home. This action is no different than the Bible’s story of King Solomon ordering two women to ‘split the baby’.

Eligibility for access to basic human needs should not be dependent upon the opinions of those in power. This is what happens when extremism goes unchecked. We have reached dangerous and dehumanizing levels of legislation. We’ve seen this before, and we know how it ends.

This is not leadership.

We are calling on Governor DeWine to reach into his own humanity and line-item veto this specific provision, as well as the five others listed below; solely focused on compromising the well-being, and ultimately erasing the lives of an entire group of Ohioans.

Discrimination written into the state budget:

A policy modeled after President Trump’s executive order “to recognize two sexes, male and female.” According to the budgetlanguage, “these sexes are not changeable and are grounded in fundamental and incontrovertible reality.”
Banning the use of Medicaid for mental health services that “promote or affirm gender transition.”
Requiring libraries to place material related to sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression out of the view of persons under the age 18.
Banning menstrual products from the men’s restrooms of public buildings.
Mandating that state agencies may only fly the official Ohio state flag on the grounds or buildings, effectively banning the display of Pride flags.

Belief in our existence is a fool’s errand. LGBTQIA+ people are real people. People with families and children. People who are doctors, teachers, social workers, lawyers, elected officials, and more. And we deserve the same rights as everyone else. At this point we are not asking for acceptance or approval. But we would like you to leave us alone.

Seriously, please leave us alone. 🔥

Erin Upchurch, MSSA, LISW-S (she/her) is an integrative social work practitioner, nonprofit leader, and somatic therapist. She lives in Columbus, Ohio and is the executive director of Kaleidoscope Youth Center.