Despite Student Protest, an Ohio School Board Voted Unanimously to Remove LGBTQ+ Protective Language

The Bellbrook-Sugarcreek School Board of Education meeting lasted nearly five hours on April 27.

Student after student came up to the microphone to make their voices heard — some calm, some outraged, some in complete tears — all with the same goal: to ask their school board representatives to not remove language specifically protecting LGBTQ+ students, teachers and staff in the Greene County district 20 miles southeast of Dayton.

At the close of the meeting, the school board voted 5-0 to remove the language.

At the very start of the meeting, Board Vice President Audra Dorn attempted to explain the board’s rationale. With the current lack of national or statewide LGBTQ+ protections, Dorn argued that the specific LGBTQ+ protections in the board’s “Anti-Harassment” policy were too much.

“In our current version, I find our board policy is overly broad and doesn’t properly summarize current law,” Dorn said as audience members shouted “Shame on you!” at her.

Dorn asserted that all students have the right to a safe school and that the board could write separate language that was more LGBTQ-inclusive.

“Wrong is still wrong. Harassment, bullying and intimidation are still wrong,” Dorn said.

The public participation session of the meeting featured hours of students, teachers and parents arguing in favor of keeping the language.

“As a student at Bellbrook who feels inadequate to identify in the manner she chooses due to bullying, I find that removing the line about sexual orientation and gender identity to be very upsetting,” said Libby Durham.

Others highlighted that the board’s proposed change represented far more than semantics.

“This change doesn’t directly imply that LGBTQ+ individuals are allowed to be harassed, but it implies that they will no longer be protected from harassment,” said Colton Grove.

Reagan Daily, the president of the students’ Gender & Sexuality Alliance (GSA), broke down in tears explaining the harassment that LGBTQ+ students face in the school.

“We have been harassed for as long as I can remember. There have been threats against the GSA club. Last year, someone threatened to shoot up the GSA. This is very emotional. Last year, they came to our meeting and threatened us. If you take out [the LGBTQ+ language], it will only get worse,” Daily said.

Board member Kevin Price said he listened to the speakers during public participation and had an open mind. He then argued for the removal of the language as it enabled “attempts to force locker room and bathroom [access] and athletic participation on sports teams.”

“Tonight I will vote in accordance with what I believe the majority of our community would want to protect all of our children, especially females in matters of privacy and sports,” Price said.

After the board voted unanimously to remove the language, they voted to move forward with a process to create new language at a later date that would cover all community members, not just LGBTQ+ students, teachers and staff.