State school board resolution would oppose President Joe Biden’s proposed Title IX protections for LGBTQ students, urges local schools to defy rules – cleveland.com
COLUMBUS, Ohio – A proposed resolution likely to be discussed at next week’s Ohio State Board of Education meeting opposes a proposal by the U.S. Department of Education to enhance Title IX protections for gay and transgender kids and encourages local schools to defy the proposal.
Opponents slammed the resolution as a politically motivated move to stir culture wars in an election season and said the proposal targets vulnerable children.
The resolution claims biological sex is not fluid or changeable. It opposes the Biden administration’s proposed rules that would include sexual orientation and gender identity in Title IX, which withholds federal funding from education programs practicing sex-based discrimination..
Schools that violate Title IX could face federal funding cuts for programs that support everything from classroom instruction to free and reduced lunch programs.
The Resolution to Support Parents, Schools, and Districts in Rejecting Harmful, Coercive, and Burdensome Gender Identity Policies was introduced by Brendan Shea, a conservative-leaning board member from Madison County in central Ohio.
Generally, state school board resolutions are introduced one month before the board votes on them, unless board members change the rules to vote sooner. Cleveland.com/The Plain Dealer reached out to Shea for more information. He said he was unavailable to comment until later.
If passed, the resolution requires the following:
-The state superintendent of public instruction would have to send all schools that receive federal funds for instruction, free and reduced lunch and other programs a letter that says the new federal rules are without force, nonbinding and unenforceable.
-The letter would urge local schools to not amend their policies and procedures to fall in line with a U.S. Department of Education’s LGBTQ rule. The letter wouldn’t compel schools to do this, as Ohio’s education system gives local schools a lot of control over their own policies.
-The resolution would throw the state school board’s support behind a lawsuit Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost and 21 other attorneys general have filed against the Biden administration over the proposed rule.
-The resolution would urge the Ohio General Assembly to pass laws to force schools to disclose to parents when their child asks for alternative names and pronouns to be used, or questions their gender identify.
-The resolution also would back bills in the Ohio House and Senate that would ban transgender girls and women from playing girls and women’s high school and college sports. That legislation made national news because it contains a provision that athletes accused of being the opposite gender would have to get a genital exam to clear the matter up.
James Knapp, board chair for TransOhio, said the resolution is especially harmful to trans kids, who face a higher risk of death by suicide.
TransOhio receives calls and emails weekly from students and their families who are in distress and feeling unsafe over treatment at school. He said there is a “direct correlation” between legislation and the resolution and the treatment kids face at school.
“We just lost a trans youth two months ago, in Crooksville, Ohio,” Knapp said. “He had just recently come out as trans and he felt unwelcome and unloved and thought that he couldn’t possibly live as a transgender person. And unfortunately that just isn’t true. There are happy, successful transgender adults out there.”
Knapp said he’s hearing from students in schools that in recent years had been friendly to transgender students. Schools have become more hostile, have closed gay-straight alliances, are “deadnaming” or calling trans students by names they don’t prefer, and not using the pronouns they prefer, he said.
“Now I’m not sure if that’s because they’re trying to comply with these resolutions and this legislation that hasn’t been passed yet, or if it’s a turning tide, and they’re letting the politics into the schools,” he said.
The resolution contrasts with guidance from the American Psychological Association, which says transgender people have been documented in many cultures throughout history. The APA, in a webpage dedicated to transgender people, gender identity and gender expression, does not advocate ignoring the needs of gender-nonconforming children.
“Parents of gender-nonconforming children may need to work with schools and other institutions to address their children’s particular needs and ensure their children’s safety,” it says. “It is helpful to consult with mental health and medical professionals familiar with gender issues in children to decide how to best address these concerns. It is not helpful to force the child to act in a more gender-conforming way. Peer support from other parents of gender-nonconforming children may also be helpful.”
The state school board typically reserves time during its meeting for public comment. Groups opposing and in favor of the resolution are expected to attend Tuesday’s meeting.
Ohio Value Voters, a Cleveland-based conservative Christian public policy organization, is urging its members to attend Tuesday and speak in favor of the resolution, or send emails to the school board.
So is Honesty for Ohio Education, a Cleveland-based group made up of teachers unions, the NAACP, Policy Matters Ohio and other. But Honesty for Ohio Education wants its members to speak against the resolution.
This resolution isn’t the first time the Ohio State Board of Education has waded into culture wars. Last year, the board a majority of the board rescinded a previously passed anti-racism resolution.
“The State Board of Education must stop this toxic resolution in its tracks,” said Cynthia Peeples, founding director of Honesty for Ohio Education. “It builds on a foundation of falsehoods and attacks that certain Ohio policymakers have copied from divisive, extremist national groups with no concern for the wellbeing of Ohio’s young people.”