School district advises child abuse reports be considered against parents who don’t support a child’s gender transition

Public schools in Cincinnati have been advised to consider reporting parents for child abuse if the they show signs of not being supportive of a child’s changed gender identity.

The advice was incorporated in a 2021 memo included in the Cincinnati Board of Education’s meeting minutes, Fox News reports.

The memo also includes advice about keeping the child’s gender identity secret from parents. 

“A student’s transgender status, sex at birth, and legal name are all confidential records,” the memo states. “Special consideration should be given by schools about disclosing a student’s gender identity to parents.” 

The memo was a product of the school board’s “Policy and Equity” committee. 

It’s also a byproduct of the school district’s buy into “Social and Emotional Learning,” which downgrades academics and replaces it with taking care of a student’s “physical, emotional, and psychological needs.”  

The memo itself was produced in consultation with a number of LGBT lobbyist groups such as Gay, Lesbian & Straight Education Network (GLSEN); National Center for Transgender Equality; American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU); Gender Spectrum; Human Rights Campaign Foundation; and the National Center for Lesbian Rights, said Fox News.  

Also contributing to the memo was the nation’s largest union, the National Education Association (NEA).  

One parental rights advocate said the advice in the memo was “unconscionable.” 

“It is unconscionable that a public school system would casually toss families into the wood chipper of the child protective services bureaucracy based on mere speculation that parents may or may not be ‘supportive’ of a child’s gender identity,” Nicki Neily, the president and founder of Parents Defending Education told Fox News Digital. “Doing so not only strains an already overburdened child welfare system, but also subjects loving families to a nightmarish process where they are forced to ‘prove’ that they do, in fact, love their children.” 

In Ohio, Republicans have introduced House Bill 8, known as the Parental Bill of Rights, which would circumvent many of the policies outlined in the Cincinnati Board of Education’s memo.  

“The bill protects a parent’s ability to direct their child’s physical and mental health,” bill sponsor Rep. D.J. Swearingen said when he gave sponsor testimony in March, according to the Columbus Dispatch. “In HB 8, the school district is prohibited from keeping changes in the health of the student from their parent, and the school district is also prohibited from encouraging the student to hide these issues from their parents.” 

The district insists, however, that despite the fact the memo was distributed to the school administrators across the district, it doesn’t represent “official” policy of the Board of Education.