Ohio teachers train colleagues to navigate anti-LGBTQ+ classroom laws

This story originally appeared on The Buckeye Flame.

During a time when Ohio’s Republican majority is seeking to reshape the state’s public education system, Youngstown-area middle school teacher Erica Putro was surprised to find her colleagues knew little about anti-LGBTQ+ legislation that would completely change how they interact with queer students.

Few of her peers knew much about Ohio House Bill 8 (the “Parents’ Bill of Rights”), which requires schools to out transgender students who “identify as a gender that does not align” with their original birth certificate’s gender marker.

Concerned about the lack of awareness, Putro helped launch Honesty for Mahoning Valley Education alongside the local LGBTQ+ advocacy nonprofit, Mahoning Valley Queer Action (MVQA). The goal is to educate educators on anti-LGBTQ+ legislation that affects their classrooms, and help them motivate their school boards to protect students.

“We’re supposed to make sure kids are healthy, safe, supported, challenged and engaged,” Putro said. “You can’t make sure that kids are healthy and safe if we’re welcoming an extremist ideology.”

HB 8 was “hard to ignore,” and the lack of guidance from schools was “frustrating,” said Putro, who has been a teacher for 27 years and whose own children are LGBTQ+. New anti-LGBTQ+ laws, executive orders and the deaths of trans teens–including the 2024 murder of Pauly Likens in nearby Sharon, Pennsylvania – hit too close to home.

“Every single thing started to feel very personal,” Putro said. Queer teens in the community “just really wanna be kids.”

Despite the bill impacting the classroom, she said “very few educators” knew about the bill–including leaders in her own school district. She was “feeling really bold one day” after she saw a board member alone in the hallway.

“I said, ‘Can you talk to me about our policy about HB 8 – this policy that you all had to write over the summer and file with the state that requires that if a student asks us to use different pronouns, that we have to call their parents?’” Putro recalled. “This board member had no idea what I was talking about.”

The local group came about after one of Putro’s fellow MVQA members took a job with Honesty for Ohio Education – a statewide nonpartisan coalition that advocates for protecting students from discrimination and supports local control of schools. Having that connection helped MVQA create the Mahoning Valley “Honesty” team, which collaborates with the state group.

“ We figured if we could collaborate with [Honesty for Ohio Education], then maybe the resources and tools and even just the public profile that they have would give us some leverage or would help us make some progress,” Putro said.

On July 11, Honesty for Mahoning Valley Education held its first big event: a panel discussion featuring the LGBTQ-student advocacy organization Glisten, among others. Attendance was small, but Putro said people were engaged.

Honesty for Mahoning Valley Education will host its first open meeting at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday, July 30, at Newport Library, 3730 Market St. in Youngstown.

Though culture wars have dominated media attention, Putro said she doesn’t want to lose sight of the real issue parents, teachers and citizens have to fight against: the dismantling of free public education.

”Start those conversations, be more direct with [our] school administrators and school boards. If that’s the one thing that comes out of this, we’d be thrilled,” she said. “We need to remember these public schools belong to us as well, and they always have.”

IGNITE ACTION

• To learn more about Honesty for Mahoning Valley Education’s first open meeting on July 30, click here.
• To access educational resources from Honesty for Ohio Education, click here.
• To learn about Ohio’s LGBTQ+ legislation, check out The Buckeye Flame’s 2025-2026 LGBTQ+ Legislation Guide by clicking here.