The Ohio Statehouse. (Photo from Library of Congress)
A bill focused on educating Ohio children about sex abuse prevention is stalling in the statehouse as an anti-LGBTQ religious group lobbies against the bipartisan legislation in favor of its own draft that would ban the teaching of same-sex relationships.
The bill — referred to as Erin’s Law, named after Erin Merryn, a child sexual assault survivor working to pass versions of the legislation across the country – would require school districts to teach grades K-6 about child sexual abuse prevention and educate grades 7-12 about sexual violence prevention.
Last summer, the Ohio House overwhelmingly approved the bipartisan legislation, with only eight Republicans voting against the bill.
Though sponsors believe it has enough GOP support in the Republican-controlled state Senate to pass, the Center for Christian Virtue, an anti-LGBTQ+ religious group, has worked for months to derail the bill, reports the Columbus Dispatch.
“Who would not want to protect children?” said state Rep. Scott Lipps, the bill’s prime Republican sponsor, according to the newspaper.
The group is reportedly concerned about the legislation leaving parents in the dark and flying in the face of abstinence-only sex education. However, the bill requires “age-appropriate” education and parental notification.
But the Center for Christian Virtue argues that the bill lacks a clear definition of “age-appropriate,” and the parental notification clause should let parents opt their children out of the curriculum. The group also thinks the legislation violates state law because it doesn’t stress abstinence.
“If we’re going to do that in the state of Ohio, it’s got to be abstinence-related,” said David Mahan, policy director at the Center for Christian Virtue, according to the Dispatch. “It’s not opinion. It’s law.”
Advocates say allowing parents or guardians to remove their children from the program is dangerous.
“Any effort to attach parental consent to this law is another layer of perpetuation of violence, removing power, control, agency and autonomy from the victim,” Rosa Beltré, president of the Ohio Alliance to End Sexual Violence, told the newspaper. “The vast majority of survivors of child sexual assault express that their victimization occurred at the hands of a caretaker, an adult they trusted, a parent.”
After meeting with Lipps, the Center for Christian Virtue submitted its own version of the bill.
The group’s proposed draft “absolutely guts Erin’s Law,” said Lipps. Among other changes, the draft stresses “that sexual activity is only appropriate in marriage” and discourages any implication that parents aren’t trustworthy, according to the Dispatch. The Center for Christian Virtue views marriage as only between one man and one woman, according to its website.
“There’s no reason that we would pass this bill,” Lipp added.
The organization has long advocated against the LGBTQ+ community in Ohio. Last year, Mahan made homophobic and transphobic comments at a church in Cincinnati. The group has also pushed for anti-LGBTQ+ legislation in the state, including an anti-Trans sports bill and a ban on gender-affirming care for minors.
For now, the future of the bill is uncertain, according to the Dispatch.
“We have a bipartisan bill,” state Rep. Brigid Kelly, the bill’s prime Democratic sponsor, told the newspaper. “We have a lot of support from families, from survivors, from advocates. I would think that those voices should carry weight in the statehouse.”
Still, the Center for Christian Virtue has singled it will continue to push back against the legislation over the details.
“It’s important in terms of the what, but the how is an issue,” Mahan said. “It’s not like if we oppose (the bill) we’re for abusing children, which is absolutely ridiculous.”
