Latest news with #ProtectOhioChildrenCoalition
Yahoo
26-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Ohio group asks U.S. Supreme Court to allow student opt-outs for LGBTQ+ lessons
COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) — A conservative Ohio group is urging the U.S. Supreme Court to allow parents to opt their elementary school children out of classroom lessons that include books with LGBTQ+ characters. The Protect Ohio Children Coalition joined other similar groups from California, Colorado, Nebraska and Texas in writing an amicus brief in the case against a Maryland school district whose curriculum includes LGBTQ+ books. The brief argued in favor of opt-outs for parents wishing to remove their students from such lessons, citing an infringement of their religious beliefs. 'The parents have never maintained that the Pride storybooks, or other specified controversial texts, cannot be taught to other [district] students,' the brief said. 'The parents merely do not want their own children to be subjected to what they view as attempted indoctrination.' Columbus City Schools reverts to birth names for transgender students The Supreme Court is taking up the case after lower courts sided with the district, which said the books weren't part of 'explicit instruction' on sexual orientation and gender identity, and 'no student or adult is asked to change how they feel about these issues.' Rather, the books were included as options within the district's reading list to represent 'a range of cultural, racial, ethnic and religious backgrounds.' 'Like all other books in the language-arts curriculum, these storybooks impart critical reading skills through engaging, age-appropriate stories,' the district said in a filing to the Supreme Court. LGBTQ+ books on the reading list included titles like 'Uncle Bobby's Wedding,' about a young girl struggling with her uncle's same-sex marriage, and 'Pride Puppy,' about attendees at a Pride march who band together to find a family's lost dog. The district said those on the list are 'made available for individual reading, classroom read-aloud and other educational activities designed to foster and enhance literacy skills.' Judge G. Steven Agee of the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, one of the lower courts that agreed with the district, said the parents were not able to 'connect the requisite dots' to show that their religious rights were violated given there isn't proof that a teacher has used the books in a manner that 'coerces children into changing their religious views.' While the books 'could be used in ways that would confuse or mislead children and, in particular, that discussions relating to their contents could be used to indoctrinate their children into espousing views that are contrary to their religious faith … none of that is verified by the limited record that is before us,' wrote Agee. Olentangy schools defends LGBTQ+ anti-bullying policies in federal court The Supreme Court is scheduled to hear arguments in the case on April 22. Protect Ohio Children Coalition's advocacy comes as the inclusion of LGBTQ+ themes in classrooms is being debated across Ohio, like in the case of a New Richmond teacher who is taking her district to court after she was suspended for having books in her class library with LGBTQ+ characters. A Jackson Township school district said in January it will pay $450,000 to a middle school teacher who resigned for refusing to address two transgender students by their preferred names and pronouns after a court said forcing the teacher to use students' preferred names amounted to 'compelled speech.' The coalition also supported Ohio's incoming 'Parents' Bill of Rights' law, which includes a provision requiring schools to provide parents the opportunity to review instructional material that includes 'sexuality content.' A national crisis hotline said it received a significant increase in calls from LGBTQ+ youth in Ohio within hours after the measure was signed into law. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Boston Globe
19-02-2025
- Politics
- Boston Globe
Literacy advocates in Ohio defend difficult texts as they mark Toni Morrison Day
Advertisement 'Words are powerful and that means that they're dangerous,' she said. 'I write for kids and we all want what's best for kids, and we all worry that our kids will hear things that we don't agree with. But the answer isn't censorship — the answer's connection. We have to have conversations with our children.' Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up She made her comments against the backdrop of a larger national movement pushing back on what conservatives see as 'wokeness' in schools. In Ohio, the well-funded Protect Ohio Children Coalition has worked in recent years to gather information on schools and school boards that it says are pushing 'dangerous and radical materials' on Ohio students and it posts to its website an 'indoctrination map' targeting districts. State Rep. Joe Miller, a Democrat whose district includes Morrison's hometown, Lorain, said Tuesday that developing a love of reading as a child can hone critical thinking, foster empathy, spark creativity and broaden one's perspective about people unlike themselves. Morrison learned to read and write using chalk on the sidewalk — and she said of her job at the Lorain library, 'Everything I do starts here,' Miller recalled. Lorain is about 30 miles (48 kilometers) west of Cleveland. Miller said that young writers of varied ages, genders and backgrounds just attended an event at the Lorain Public Library on Saturday celebrating them for their writings. It was part of The Big Read, which is funded by the National Endowment for the Arts. Advertisement 'That funding probably is going to go, and that is going to take away an opportunity,' he said. Sharon Hawkins, director of Right to Read Ohio, said the constitutional right of free speech also applies to reading, which is the receiving of speech, and that courts have extended that right to children, including in their schools. 'Courts have frowned upon anyone restricting this access just because they don't like the ideas expressed in a book,' she said. 'And we the people — Republicans, independents, Democrats, all — overwhelmingly appreciate the local libraries and librarians.'
