Dear Representative Swearingen
Friday, January 3, 2025
Ohio just sent a piece of legislation to the Governor’s desk for signature. Introduced by Ohio Representative DJ Swearingen (R) (a real piece of shit), the law is, well, a real piece of shit.
The law is part don’t-say-gay and part Christian nationalist nocturnal ejaculation.
The bill requires parents to be notified about “sexuality content” that would be taught in classrooms, with the option for the children to be opted out of the discussions. Schools will also be required to notify parents if their child requests counseling or asks to be called by a different name or pronoun.
…the legislation also requires schools to allow children to leave the building to get religious instruction during the school day…
They’re calling it “priority legislation” and they’ve named it The Parents’ Bill Of Rights.
Jesus Jumping Christ on a splintered cross. Don’t get me started. I can’t even. I don’t even want to even. It’s not about parents’ rights. It’s smug bigotry, and kids are going to suffer or die because of it. And I’m sure good ol’ boy DJ Swearingen doesn’t give two fucks about that so long as he can make life miserable for queer kids and stoke enough ignorance-fueled anger to get re-elected by the gullible, hateful rubes in his gerrymandered district.
Here’s a letter I’ll be sending to whoever opens his mail.
***
Dear Representative Swearingen:
All over the country parental rights are under attack, but none so much as the rights of parents in Ohio with children who identify as gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, or queer +. I bet nearly tens of them have expressed their helpless frustration to you directly via email, mail, telephone, and other means of communication. I don’t know how you get any other work done with that much correspondence coming in.
Thankfully their frustrations are assuaged. All it took was grit, determination, a sprinkle of dark money, a stroke of Governor DeWine’s pen, and presto! Their fragile parental rights are now fully espoused and enshrined in the Ohio Revised Code. These troubled parents will finally have a say in what their children learn and do in school. Multi-degree bearing, licensed, professional educators and counselors will no longer stand in the way of that.
Your legislation couldn’t be more important. So many laws are designed to take away or restrict parental rights. Ohio parents already have so few rights when it comes to how their children are educated.
I mean, they barely have a right to help themselves and their privileged, often caucasian families to a taxpayer subsidized school vouchering program rooted in racism and thinly veiled in a shroud of parental choice while specifically intended to further segregate, ghettoize and eventually wipe out public K-12 education thus ensuring generations of ignorant Ohioans continue to vote against their own best interests.
They needed a hero, and they found it in you. We all have. Our entire state can heave a collective sigh of relief now that Ohio parents and their rights are safe. Well done, you.
The December 30 announcement on the Ohio House website, “Priority Parents' Bill of Rights Sent to Ohio Governor”, suggests you care about the wellbeing of Ohio children. As such, I thought you’d be quite devastated to learn that 40% of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, or queer + youth seriously consider suicide each year. 20% actually attempt suicide (The Trevor Project). Not having a trusted adult to confide in at school could make things much harder for those lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, or queer+ kids contemplating suicide. I should know. I was one of them. And my parents had no more or fewer rights than any other parent does as a result of your entirely pointless legislation.
I can’t help but wonder, Representative Swearingen, if your next piece of legislation will do anything to help those kids - the ones actually in harm’s way.
Seems to me that could be the exact kind of legislation Ohio actually needs.