This past Monday, a pair of House Republicans in Ohio have brought forth a bill in the same vein as the recently signed Parental Rights in Education law from Florida that would outright ban the instruction of gender identity and sexual orientation for all kids from kindergarten through third grade.
Titled House Bill 616 was brought to the floor by Reps. Jean Schmidt and Mike Loychik.
“Curriculum about gender identity and sexuality has no place in K-3 classrooms, period,” stated Loychik in a tweet.
“That’s why I just introduced a bill to ban curriculum about sexuality and gender identity until 3rd grade in Ohio,” he stated.
Curriculum about gender identity and sexuality has no place in K-3 classrooms, period.
That’s why I just introduced a bill to ban curriculum about sexuality and gender identity until 3rd grade in Ohio.
— Representative Mike Loychik (@MikeLoychik) April 5, 2022
“The classroom is a place that seeks answers for our children without political activism,” stated Schmidt in a release. “Parents deserve and should be provided a say in what is taught to their children in schools.”
This new bill also plans to ban materials in relation to critical race theory, utilizing the same style of language as seen in the South Dakota version of the law that restricts the teaching of divisive concepts in the classroom. The bill specifically sports the prohibition of teaching all aspects of critical race theory, intersectional theory, the 1619 Project, equity, diversity, and inclusion learning outcomes, and the idea of inherited racial guilt.
When comparing its similarities to the Florida law, the version from Ohio would be limited somewhat from the ability to “teach, use, or provide any curriculum or instructional materials on sexual orientation or gender identity.”
Additionally, students in 4th-12th grades would be guarded against the instruction of materials concerning gender identity or sexual orientation that is not deemed “age-appropriate or developmentally appropriate for students in accordance with state standards.”
Quite a few opponents of the bill in Ohio seem to claim that the bill is too vague and could end up hurting the state’s LGBTQ+ families.
“There is far too much ambiguity in the bills,” stated Christina Collins, an Ohio State Board of Education Member, as reported by the Columbus Dispatch. “They continue to ignore that Ohio’s districts already have policies around the teaching of controversial issues.”
Recently, Ron DeSantis, the Republican Florida Governor, has had to deal with far more than his fair share of criticism from the Dems in the wake of his signing of the state’s Parental Rights in Education legislation into law this past month. As reported by the Daily Wire:
The governor promised Monday that parents have a “fundamental” role in the education, upbringing, and healthcare of their children, insisting that he will never cave to pressure from outside groups like Disney on this matter.
DeSantis noted that there has been much talk about HB 1557, pointing to “sloganeering and fake narratives by leftist politicians, by activists, by corporate media.”
While some critics have not read the legislation and are merely guessing what it says through their fake narratives, DeSantis said, “leftist politicians, corporate media outlets, some of these activist groups, they actually have read the bill.”
“And they are sloganeering because they don’t want to admit that they support a lot of the things we are providing protections against,” he said.
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