In Ohio, Trans Students Triumph Against the Odds
It was 11 a.m. when I got the first pictures from the Department of Education building in Columbus, Ohio. Inside, the overflow crowd gathered to make their arguments to the 19 board members, most of whom were appointed by a Republican governor. Basic rights for transgender youth hung in the balance. I sent messages to one of the leaders who would plead the case for the dignity of all transgender students in Ohio to gauge the crowd. The response I got back: “This is a live game.”
Just a month earlier, State of Ohio Board of Education member Brendan Shea submitted his proposal titled, “Resolution to Support Parents, Schools, and Districts in Rejecting Harmful, Coercive, and Burdensome Gender Identity Policies.” This resolution was a litany of anti-transgender decrees. Individual parts of the proposed policies could be found in many of the more than 155 anti-transgender bills that were filed around the United States in 2022. Shea’s resolution was unique in that it contained all the discriminatory school policies. If the proposals were accepted:
Schools would be forced to deny Title IX discrimination claims to trans students.
Transgender students would be banned from bathrooms matching their gender identity.
Teachers would be compelled to out transgender students to their families.
Teachers could not provide any instruction on gender identity or sexual orientation (similar to Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” law).
Trans students would be banned from sports teams matching their gender identity.
Within 24 hours, activists mobilized across Ohio. Fighting against anti-transgender policies in Ohio was nothing new to me; I previously had worked with many of the same activists in opposing Ohio’s HB454, which would medically detransition all transgender teens in the state and strip doctors of their licenses if they followed medical guidelines for gender-affirming care. Organizations like Equality Ohio, Kaleidoscope Youth Center, and Honesty for Ohio Education mobilized their volunteers. Within hours, Honesty for Ohio Education published an extensive guide with three ways people could fight back: showing up to the board meeting and carpooling with friends, speaking out by submitting online comments to representatives and local school boards, and sharing information with their local school district about how to oppose the policy.
I pushed a call to action to my followers on Twitter, many of whom follow me for my coverage of anti-LGBTQ+ legislation, and dozens messaged back that they would make the trip to Columbus to speak out against the measure. Within only five days, we gathered enough speakers to fill an overflow room. Virtually, all speakers spoke out against the policy, including one teacher who went viral for her impassioned defense of the transgender kids she has taught in her 30-plus years of teaching. The board members set a date of October 12 to vote on the measure.
On October 12, the hearing began at noon and stretched over four hours. Speakers who did not speak at the first hearing were given priority; early slots were taken by speakers from anti-trans organizations like the Center for Christian Virtue and anti-trans elected officials such as Gary Click, the representative who authored the aforementioned HB454. However, dozens of former and current transgender students, teachers, and parents gave testimony to close out the hearing, and passionately pleaded with personal anecdotes to give current transgender students dignity. We then watched as the board discussed the resolution and took a vote. The vote itself took more than an hour and a half to complete, as the meeting devolved into parliamentary chaos with various members making proposals to delay or amend the measure. Ultimately, the board voted 12–7 to send the resolution to committee, effectively blocking it from going into effect.
Activists on the ground told me that the anti-transgender speakers were stunned and silent as they shuffled out of the building. One board member spoke to an activist and told them that it was the testimony of former transgender students that really moved them in their vote. We have seen this in legislative fights across the country, such as in Texas when 10-year-old activist Kai Shappley pleaded for her rights to the Texas legislature and swayed a vote against forced detransition. Ultimately, it is the expression of transgender joy and resilience that has continually moved elected officials to not take our rights away.
Going into the next several months, many states will begin their legislative cycles anew. Activists I have spoken to are afraid that 2022–23 will feature even more anti-transgender bills than previous record-breaking cycles. Republican governors have taken to bypassing the legislative process after legislative defeats of banner anti-trans legislation. In Florida, Governor Ron DeSantis has weaponized the Florida Board of Medicine to ban Medicaid coverage of transgender procedures. His agencies are also proposing forcibly detransitioning trans youth as well as banning social transition. Likewise, Governor Glenn Youngkin in Virginia has proposed a statewide policy that would force teachers to misgender their trans students and ban trans students from bathrooms in a very similar manner to the Ohio Board of Education bill. No longer can activists rely on swaying elected officials. We must contend with pleading with unelected boards to protect our rights. This victory in Ohio gives us hope that we can still win even with the low odds that entails.
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