This week Gov Newsom of California signed a new law that protects teachers from getting fired if they refuse to out trans students to their parents, suggesting instead that educators should focus on educating children rather than monitoring their sexual or gender identity.
He had signed Assembly Bill 1955 back in July. The new law, known as the Support Academic Futures and Educators for Today’s Youth Act (SAFETY), officially prohibits schools from disclosing a student’s sexual or gender identity or sexuality to their guardians without the student’s permission. Newsom stressed the new law does not stop teachers from talking with parents but instead prevents districts from taking action against teachers who decline to do so.
“Teachers can still talk to parents. There’s nothing in that law that suggests teachers cannot engage parents if they’re concerned about the safety of the child.If that concern is around their sexual orientation, I find it curious, but to the extent that they feel that someone’s sexual orientation is a safety issue, then those teachers can continue as they have been able to engage parents. What they can’t do under the law is fire a teacher for not being a snitch.”
Meanwhile in Trumpland OHIO The Senate and House both passed a bill that would forcibly out LGBTQ+ students to their parents and also allow parents to opt their child out of “sexuality content” at school. House Bill 8 defines sexuality content as “any oral or written instruction, presentation, image, or description of sexual concepts or gender ideology provided in a classroom setting,” with exceptions granted for STI and abuse discussion, as well as “incidental references” to sexual concepts or “gender ideology.”
Equality Ohio Executive Director Dwayne Steward added, “Overnight when most school-age children are asleep, the legislature rushed through another shameful attack on LGBTQ+ youth.” This however is far from the first time that Ohio lawmakers have shown their undisguised homophobia and sheer hatred for our community. In June 2023 the Ohio House of Representatives passed HB 8, a bill modeled after Florida’s “Don’t Say LGBTQ+” bill, and HB 68, which, as amended, would prohibit gender affirming care for transgender youth as well as ban transgender students from participating in school sports consistent with their gender identity.
The Ohio House Primary and Secondary Education Committee left no time for public comment on HB 8 after the addition of amendments targeting LGBTQ+ Ohioans. These amendments added a definition of sex that reduces youth to their genitalia and reproductive capacity. Additionally, the bill explicitly requires that any child in the Ohio public school system who questions their gender identity be immediately outed to their parents, without exception.
As David DeWitt the Editor-In-Chief of the Ohio Capital Journal wrote earlier this year LGBTQ+ Ohioans have been used as a punching bag my whole life. Why can’t they just leave us alone?
