With new state legislation, parents worry about LGBTQ students
New state laws in Ohio including the so-called "Parents Bill of Rights" and "Bathroom Bill" have some parents concerned about the health and safety of LGBTQ students at Talawanda.
Ohio House Bill 8 (H.B. 8) known as ‘The Parents’ Bill of Rights” was signed into law on Jan. 8. Since its signing, some parents have expressed concern that it puts LGBTQ students at risk within their homes.
The bill, which will go into effect starting April 9, requires public schools to inform a student's parent of any major changes to their “mental, emotional, or physical health or well-being.” Under the bill, requesting to “identify as a gender that does not align with the student’s biological sex” counts as a change in well-being. H.B. 8 also requires districts to adopt policies allowing students to leave for religious instruction and letting parents review “any instructional material that includes sexuality content.”
LaTricia Hillman, who owns and teaches at Loft Preschool, is also a mother of two Talawanda High School students. Hillman said while she doesn’t expect her own children to be affected by the bill, she worries about other Talawanda students.
“[H.B. 8] is putting a lot of children in danger,” Hillman said, “and it's breaking the trust that students have with their teachers and their counselors.”
Megan Kuykendoll, professor in Miami University’s Department of Family Science and Social Work and parent of two children at Talawanda, follows the district’s Board of Education. At a recent meeting, she brought up her concerns about the bill in regard to student safety, especially when it comes to those who identify with the LGBTQ community.
“I’m concerned that students with these identities are not going to be able to be their authentic selves at school,” Kuykendoll said in an interview with the Oxford Free Press, “because of how that might be communicated back to their families that could affect their safety and well-being.”
H.B. 8 was sponsored by Sara Carruthers, a former House Republican who represented Oxford and Hamilton. During an Ohio Senate Education Committee meeting in December 2023, Carruthers said the bill was necessary because “parents need to have a seat at the table when it comes to their children.”
Representative D.J. Swearingen, the second primary sponsor of the bill, said during the same committee hearing that it prevents school districts from encouraging students to hide issues of well-being from parents. The bill aims to give parents more direct oversight in classes with sexuality material, Swearingen said.
Diane Mullins, the current representative for Oxford and Hamilton, did not respond to a request for comment regarding how the legislation will impact her constituents. Prior to the election, Mullins told the Free Press that maintaining parental rights in schools was one of her top priorities. Under that goal, she said the state needs to “keep boys out of girls sports” and girls’ restrooms.
Talawanda Superintendent Ed Theroux wrote in an email to the Oxford Free Press that he has “major concerns” regarding laws that may negatively impact children. “It is my opinion that the recent laws passed do not consider the collateral damage and unintended consequences that most legislators do not know or have even considered,” he wrote. “These new laws could hurt students.”
In the future, Theroux said Ohio legislation and changing federal policy could lead to increases in mental health issues and even violence or derogatory language at Talawanda and other Ohio schools. However, the district is required to and will follow the law, he said, while working with the community to support students.
Hillman said she is confident in Talawanda’s ability to protect its students even when enforcing these new changes.
“[Talawanda teachers] will do what needs to be done to keep that child safe,” Hillman said. “I've never once faltered that, and I know that they're trying to figure it out so that they [are] staying legal on the legal side of things, but where they're their first priority is still the student.”
Kuykendoll said initiatives like H.B. 8 and Senate Bill 104, also known as the Bathroom Bill, are causing uncertainty in public schools. S.B. 104 requires transgender and nonbinary students in K-12 schools and in college to use the restroom that corresponds with their gender assigned at birth. When it comes to protecting their LGBTQ students, Kuykendoll said she had “relative confidence” in the district.
“I'm concerned at how some of these things are going to be implemented,” Kuykendoll said. “Bills like this empower folks to take things into their own hands, and we can see increased incidences of bullying with anti-LGBTQ legislation, because people feel emboldened by that legislation and protected by that legislation to enact violence, and I hope that we don't see that in our school system.”
Theroux said one the ways Talawanda educators will continue supporting their LGBTQ students is by referring them to outside organizations like The Trevor Project and Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG) which provide resources for crisis intervention and suicide prevention services.
“It is time to come together as a community because our children are our most precious cargo in society,” Theroux wrote.
