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‘Pride Act' aims to protect Ohio parents with LGBTQ+ children
COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) — An Ohio lawmaker said her new parental rights bill coinciding with Pride Month is designed to combat the 'hostile environment' fostered by anti-LGBTQ+ legislation.
House Bill 327, the 'Parents Rights for Inclusion, Diversity and Equity' Act (PRIDE Act), would protect Ohio parents' access to evidence-based medical and behavioral health care, hygiene care like menstrual care products, and educational opportunities for their children 'that are reflective of and inclusive of all students.'
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'Most of all, parents have the right to raise their children in an inclusive, respectful, and accepting environment which honors their children's rights to freedoms of speech and expression,' the bill states.
Rep. Karen Brownlee (D-Symmes Township), H.B. 327's primary sponsor, argues the act is needed given the anti-LGBTQ+ bills passed by the Statehouse that she said 'take away the rights of parents who raise LGBTQ kids.'
Brownlee pointed to the 'Parents' Bill of Rights,' legislation requiring schools to notify parents of changes in a student's mental, emotional or physical health. Opponents argue the measure will result in the 'outing' of LGBTQ+ students, and cite a crisis hotline that said it received an increase in calls from Ohio youth within hours after the bill was signed into law in January.
'Parents rights have been a particular focus for the super majority over the past few years and, coupled with their targeting of LGBTQ youth, it's created a hostile environment for many of our young people and the adults who take care of them,' Brownlee said during a June 3 news conference.
Republicans have long said the 'Parents' Bill of Rights' ensures parents are making decisions for their children, not the government. Gov. Mike DeWine told reporters in January that the bill provides a path for parents to be informed about what's going on in their child's life.
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'[Parents are] the first teachers, they're the best teachers, and that's very, very important,' DeWine said, noting that he does not see the bill as harming LGBTQ+ students.
Brownlee listed several other Ohio anti-LGBTQ+ measures, like requiring academic institutions to set separate bathrooms based on students' 'biological sex.' Columbus City Schools said this law is why the district reverted students' names to those reflected on birth certificates and rescinded its trans and gender variant student policy in February.
The mother of two children who identify within the LGBTQ+ community, Brownlee said LGBTQ+ youth are owed 'the same rights, freedoms and access as any other young person' and that she and her husband deserve the 'same rights as other parents to raise their children in a safe and supportive Ohio.'
'When our kids came out to us, we were scared, out of fear for our kids wellness, safety and future here in the state of Ohio,' said Brownlee. 'The continued bullying of our youth is a losing fight. Let's stop fighting with our kids. Let's stop creating manufactured cultural wars that hurt them. Instead, let's listen to them.'
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Brownlee announced the act during a news conference marking Pride Month with other Statehouse Democrats and LGBTQ+ advocates. Sen. Nickie Antonio (D-Lakewood), Ohio's first openly gay Statehouse lawmaker, touted her new bill to mark 'Love Makes a Family Week,' after Republican legislators introduced plans to designate a month celebrating 'natural families.'
Antonio also recently reintroduced proposals to ban anti-LGBTQ+ conversion therapy and discrimination against the LGBTQ+ community.
Reps. Anita Somani (D-Dublin) and Eric Synenberg (D-Beachwood) announced the reintroduction of the 'Marriage Equality Act,' a House Joint Resolution to codify same-sex and interracial marriage. If passed by the Statehouse, the act would place a constitutional amendment on the November 2026 ballot, providing Ohioans the chance to enshrine marriage equality into Ohio's constitution.
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