LGBTQIA hatred all the way from Ohio in the US.
In Ohio, a new bill – House Bill 686 – was introduced by extremist right-wing state representative Gail Pavliga to ban public universities from asking prospective students or employees for their preferred named and pronouns.
Specifically, Ohio’s public universities will be prevented from including pronoun-related questions on college and employment applications.
The bill is now with the Ohio House Education committee.
In 2022, a former Ohio middle school teacher filed a lawsuit to allege that she had to forcibly resign after refusing to address two transgender students by their preferred names and pronouns. In August 2024, the US District Court for the Northern District of Ohio stated that forcing this teacher to use students’ preferred names is akin to “compelled speech”; meaning, it sided with allowing LGBTQIA people to be discriminated by empowering those who opt not to honor their preferred names and/or pronouns. Nonetheless, it added that the case must go to trial to determine if the First Amendment protects the teacher’s unwillingness to call transgender students by their preferred names.
There are other similar or related cases in Ohio courts, which could become moot and academic if the proposed anti-LGBTQIA bill is passed into law.
