Known by supporters as the "Parental Rights" bill and the "Don't Say Gay" bill by opposers, House Bill 616 was introduced on Monday, April 4, by Ohio Republicans. This new bill proposal prohibits divisive or inherently racist curriculum and bans instruction that includes sexual orientation and gender identity. This bill has raised a lot of concern from LGBTQ activists and for good reason. This bill proposal could make LGBTQ identities excluded and unmentionable again. And finally, this bill pushes the heteronormative agenda.
The introduction of House Bill 616 could impact greatly the lives of people who are part of the LGBTQ community. There has always been a stigma surrounding LGBTQ in the classroom. It is only recently becoming acceptable to the masses and this bill could disrupt and destroy that progress. Teachers and students who have just become even somewhat comfortable sharing their identities with the people around them will feel silenced yet again. There has been a huge power struggle between people in the LGBTQ community and the large imposing heteronormative agenda being pushed into every aspect of their lives. By passing this bill, it will successfully silence and exclude LGBTQ identities just like how it used to be, before we knew how to fairly treat and include individuals.
This bill pushes the heteronormative agenda. This bill instructs teachers to not teach any material that includes sexual orientation or gender identity in kindergarten through third grade and in years fourth through 12th such instruction would be banned if it's presented in a manner that is not age-appropriate or developmentally appropriate for students in accordance with state standards. If we think about it, what does this include? When talking about sexual orientation and gender identity we are also talking about cisgendered and heterosexual persons, since they have a gender and a sexuality as do members of the LGBTQ community. We might assume that using the words he and she are acceptable in the classroom so we must ask, why are only some genders and sexualities acceptable for the classroom and others aren't? This goes back to the heteronormative agenda.
This "Don't Say Gay" bill is posing to be a problem for LGBTQ activists and advocates. It is clear the motivations behind this bill are not pure and push a heteronormative agenda. This bill could effectively try to erase history and successfully silence and exclude LGBTQ persons in the classroom.
Molly Gebhardt
Howard
.webp){kind=tracking}