Opponents of Ohio's parental rights bill 'outraged' after testimony denied

Opponents of a parents' bill of rights say Ohio House Republicans denied them a chance to speak about how it might harm LGBTQ children before putting the legislation up for a vote.

"On the face of the bill, the content, we are outraged," Honesty for Ohio Education Director Cynthia Peeples said. "Around the protocol of how the chair and the committee members are moving this legislation, we are equally outraged."

House Bill 8 would require Ohio's public schools to notify parents before teaching any "sexuality content," which it defined "as any oral or written instruction, presentation, image, or description of sexual concepts or gender ideology."

The bill would also require parents to be told about any changes to the child's health or well-being, including "any request by a student to identify as a gender that does not align with the student's biological sex."

More: Opponents say Ohio's proposed parent's bill of rights is increasingly anti-LGBTQ

Those details were added during a House Primary and Secondary Education Committee hearing last week, but there wasn't any in-person testimony about the changes.

"We feel like the bill has had a lot of hearings," Rep. Adam Bird, R-New Richmond, said. "There’s not a sub-bill here. It’s an amendment that was only a couple of pages. The committee, if I’m being honest with you, they want to favorably report this."

Opponents say changes this big amount to a rewrite of the legislation, and they deserved a hearing, not a last-minute request for written testimony.

"During Pride month, this committee is entertaining a bill that would normalize bullying LGBTQ+ kids in schools, and our community is unlikely to have the opportunity to speak in front of the committee before voting," according to a letter signed by 12 organizations.

The letter, along with a joint statement in opposition to HB 8, was rejected by the committee because it was sent one minute after the 3 p.m. deadline for testimony.

Equality Ohio Policy Director Maria Bruno wrote in an email to a committee staffer that she was sure she hit send before 3 p.m. and was disappointed to receive no leeway, given that anyone who wanted to submit testimony had three and a half hours in the middle of a workday instead of the traditional 24-hour notice.

"We find it pretty egregious and foul," Peeples said. "This is very anti-democratic."

Bird told the USA TODAY Network Ohio Bureau that he strictly adheres to the submission deadlines for his committee to be consistent and fair.

"I’m disappointed," Rep. Sean Brennan, D-Parma, said. "I respect my chairman deeply, he’s a friend, but gosh, I would hope they would give people a little bit of leeway."

He wanted the committee to delay its vote on HB 8 should until lawmakers hear from the public.

"These are big changes, but even if it was a smaller change, I'd want a hearing. When the public has an opportunity to opine on the bills we are voting on, it helps us to do our jobs better," Brennan said. "This is why sometimes, in Columbus, they pass bad bills... We’ve got the time. Why are we trying to rush it?"

That request was denied. Republicans on the committee approved HB 8 over the objections of Democrats, setting up a vote by the full House on Wednesday.

Anna Staver is a reporter for the USA TODAY Network Ohio Bureau, which serves the Columbus Dispatch, Cincinnati Enquirer, Akron Beacon Journal and 18 other affiliated news organizations across Ohio.

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This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Ohio parental bill of rights could be up for Tuesday vote