Ohio High School Athletic Association hosting summit on diversity, equity and inclusion
Sessions include “The Gender Unicorn: Demystifying the LGBTQIA+ Spectrum”
The Ohio Press Network Staff
COLUMBUS, Ohio - Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) is considered by critics as an alternative and less inflammatory description of critical race theory (CRT), though proponents say they teach two different ideas. Both have generated controversy in the last few years, and now the Ohio High School Athletic Association has announced it is hosting the 2022 OHSAA DEI SUMMIT – Better Together: A Summit on Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging.
The keynote speaker is Dr. Melissa Crum, the CEO of Mosaic Education Network. She bills herself as a “certified DEI practitioner” and encourages visitors to “step into the brave space of ah-ha moments that inspire action.”
“I use art, storytelling and race history to help you answer the important questions that shift belief patterns,” Crum’s website notes.
Topics to be covered in the summit’s breakout sessions include:
• Fundamentals of DEI
• The Gender Unicorn: Demystifying the LGBTQIA+ Spectrum
• Legal Landscape of LGBTQ+ Equality in Ohio
• Cultivating Affirmation & Belonging for LGBTQIA+ Youth
• Why “Indian” Mascots Inhibit Welcoming Environments for All Together
Upon learning about OHSAA’s DEI summit and the breakout session topics, GOP U.S. Senate candidate Mike Gibbons said that OHSAA Executive Director Doug Ute should resign because “this propaganda is beyond the pale.”
“The wokeism infiltrating our children’s classrooms and now in sports is horrific to see and will undoubtedly harm the basic foundations our country was built upon,” Gibbons said. “The OHSAA conference proves that the progressives are indeed at work, and it’s sickening to see such propaganda being spewed into the minds of our youth from elementary school through the university system.”
Josh Mandel is running against Gibbons in the GOP U.S. Senate primary. The pair has exchanged heated words over the course of the campaign, but they share a similar view on OHSAA’s DEI event.
“This is a complete disgrace and yet another example of the far left trying to implement their woke agenda into our lives,” Mandel said about the summit. “The state of Ohio should cancel this conference and immediately halt the use of any taxpayer resources on leftist agenda-driven ‘diversity’ education.”
Some of the breakout sessions—and the topic of DEI itself—are hot-button issues in Ohio.
Race relations
Last November, Gov. Mike DeWine requested the resignations of two Ohio State Board of Education members—former board president Laura Kohler and board member Eric Poklar—after they voted against rescinding a previous anti-racism resolution.
Passed in July 2020 after the George Floyd murder in Minnesota, the anti-racism resolution stated that disparities exist between black, indigenous and students of color and white students in all parts of the education system in Ohio. It also said that progress in closing the gaps has been uneven and unsatisfactory; racism, hate and bigotry have no place in schools; and the board seeks open conversations about racism and inequity.
The board gained new members since the anti-racism resolution passed, and last October it voted for a new measure that repealed the original statement and replaced it with one to promote academic excellence without “respect to race, ethnicity or creed.”
The new resolution said that “there is a troubling focus on the color of one’s skin rather than on the content of one’s character” and acknowledges there are academic achievement gaps based on race but also detailed that “diverse groups, such as economically-disadvantaged students” also experience gaps.
The new resolution condemned curriculum or teacher-training materials “that seek to divide or to ascribe circumstances or qualities, such as collective guilt, moral deficiency or racial bias, to a whole race or group of people.”
The Ohio Press Network reached out to DeWine’s spokesperson for comment on this story but there was no response. After the new resolution was introduced, DeWine did say that history should be taught as it happened and that people should be proud of the Declaration of Independence and U.S. Constitution.
“Yes, there was slavery, and we cannot minimize that, and that has to be taught, as well. But I think that we should not be doing anything that divides kids. Or divides parents or divides people in this country,” DeWine said. “It does not help a child for a child to be told that they might be a victim. It doesn’t help really to tell another child they bear some guilt for something that happened in the past.”
The gender unicorn
Ohio has two bills seeking to ban transgender girls from participating in women’s high school and collegiate sports. LGBTQ advocates claim these measures promote bullying.
There are around 400,000 Ohio high school athletes. According to OHSAA, five transgender girls chose to follow their gender identity and compete in women’s sports this school year.
Developed with representatives from Nationwide Children’s Hospital, the OHSAA policy permits biological males to participate in women’s sports if they have completed one year of hormone therapy or have obtained special permission from the school’s athletic director who determines they have no distinct physical or physiological advantage over the other female athletes.
Rep. Jena Powell (R-Arcanum), who is co-sponsor of House Bill 61 (HB 61) with Rep. Reggie Stolzfus (R-Minerva), calls the proposed legislation’s topic a women’s rights issue.
“Across our country, female athletes are currently losing championships, scholarship opportunities, medals, education and training opportunities to discriminatory policies that allow biological males to compete in girls’ sports,” Powell said.
GOP U.S. Senate candidate Mike Gibbons agrees.
“My daughter played Division 1 soccer in college and her husband played NFL football,” Gibbons said. “If he had been allowed to participate as a member of a women's soccer team, my daughter, and countless other women, would never have had the same opportunities.”
Sponsored by Sen. Kristina Roegner (R-Hudson), Senate Bill 132 (SB 132) would require public schools and public and private colleges and universities to separate student athletics by sex, not gender.
The bill adds that, if a participant’s sex is disputed, the student athlete must provide a signed physician’s statement indicating his or her sex based on “internal and external reproductive anatomy,” “normal endogenously produced levels of testosterone” and an analysis of the athlete’s “genetic makeup.”
A provision in SB 132 would protect athletes from “retaliation or other adverse action” after reporting a violation by granting them a cause of action for injunctive relief, damages and more.
LGBTQ advocacy group Equality Ohio said in a press release that SB 132 “is one of the most extreme political attacks on transgender people in recent memory. Not only does it display a fundamental ignorance about transgender people and their participation in sports, it also attacks the Ohio High School Athletic Association and the NCAA in their ability to make policies that they deem are best for athletes.”
“The bottom line is this,” the statement continued. “SB 132 seeks to single out transgender young people for increased bullying and harassment by preventing them from participating in the sports they love.”
Both bills are currently stagnating in committee.
There is no evidence that transgender girls are taking scholarships away from anyone, OHSAA’s Director of Compliance Kristin Ronai said. No real problem exists for the legislation to solve because OHSAA already has a policy in place, and the transgender population is small, she added.
“I personally, and the rest of our office, have not received one complaint about transgender athlete participation in the state of Ohio,” Ronai said. “I think a lot of the reference points are to states with different policies than ours.”
“The Gender Unicorn: Demystifying the LGBTQIA+ Spectrum” is one of the first breakout sessions at the April 8 DEI Summit, perhaps reflecting OHSAA’s recognition of how serious the transgender sports issue is among leaders of Ohio high schools.
Last May, a Gallup poll discovered that 62% of Americans think that transgender athletes should play on teams that match their gender at birth.
DeWine has consistently opposed HB 61, also known as Save Women’s Sports Act.
“This issue is best addressed outside of government, through individual sports leagues and athletic associations, including the Ohio High School Athletic Association, who can tailor policies to meet the needs of their member athletes and member institutions,” DeWine said in a statement last year.
Schools with Indian mascots
A recent study from OHSAA showed that 79 schools in Ohio have Native American nicknames or mascots. Ohio has rich Native American history. Some of the nicknames include Indians, Redskins, Redmen, Apaches, Arrows, Braves, Chieftains, Chipps, Mohawks, Raiders, Seminoles, Senecas and Warriors.
Last year, Rep. Adam Miller (D-Columbus) and Rep. Jessica Miranda (D-Forest Park) introduced a resolution encouraging Ohio schools to retire Native American mascots.
“School spirit is about the teachers, students, community and even the building. Many schools with Native American mascots are stepping up, moving in the right direction,” Miller said at the time. “We need to all work together and make these mascots a thing of the past.”
“We’re sending a message that hurtful stereotypes have no place in Ohio,” Miranda added. “This resolution is just one of many measures needed to address the injustices Native Americans have faced in this state.”
In Cleveland, the Dolan Family Trust decided to cancel the Indians in favor of a new nickname – the Guardians. Critics say that the Dolan family buckled to the cancel-culture mob, even though the Indians were given that nickname in 1915 to honor Louis Sockalexis, who broke a barrier when he became the first Native American to play Major League Baseball.
Matt Dolan, a state senator who is Larry Dolan’s son, is running to replace Portman. Dolan’s campaign website has verbiage that talks about how “rights afforded by the Constitution, like freedom of speech and the right to due process, are under attack in our classrooms, town squares and sports stadiums.”
Dolan dismissed talk of bowing to the far-left, cancel-culture movement.
“My parents spent time on reservations in Arizona and with Native Americans in Ohio asking about how people felt about the name and Chief Wahoo. It became clear that most Native Americans did not find either offensive, but they also did not think it honored them,” Dolan explained. “The [Washington] Redskins changed their name. But the reality also is we are in the business of baseball, and we don’t want free agents coming into Cleveland having to answer political questions. We want them to focus on joining our team and winning a World Series.”
While the Indians are no more, and name changes are being contemplated by Cleveland Metropolitan School District and Cleveland State University, Parma High School decided last year to keep its Redmen mascot.
Civil unrest related to George Floyd’s death, the Washington Redskins changing their name to the Washington Football Team and the Indians’ switch to the Guardians sparked the debate on whether or not the Redmen name was appropriate.
The district received input from more than 2,100 people through Zoom meetings. Later that month, Cuyahoga Heights School District’s school board voted to retire the Redskins mascot. Parma chose otherwise.
“I met with three different groups of students from Parma High School,” Parma City Schools Superintendent Charles Smialek said. “It was a clear consensus to keep the mascot. There was a lot of pride and sense of tradition behind the mascot. At this point, we’re not moving forward with any type of change. It certainly doesn’t mean we won’t change at some point, but it’s not something we’re pursuing.”
Though the Redmen nickname is safe for now in Parma, the breakout session titled, “Why ‘Indian’ Mascots Inhibit Welcoming Environments for All Together” hints that OHSAA believes that Ohio high schools should mimic Cleveland’s baseball franchise and move on from Native American nicknames and mascots.
