Buckeye Reporter

The Ohio Pulse Poll from Baldwin Wallace University showed that nearly 54% of Ohioans believe that parents should not have control over which books are in school libraries, among several other key parental rights issues polled. The poll highlights that the future of parental rights in education in Ohio could rest on Issue 1, the August 8 ballot initiative that would raise the threshold necessary to pass an amendment to Ohio's State Constitution from 50%+1 to 60%. 

According to poll results: 53.8% of Ohio residents believe that parents should not have control over which books are in the school library, 56.4% of Ohio residents believe that parents should not have the ability to stop schools from teaching content they do not like, 56.8% of Ohio residents believe that students should be taught about sexual orientation starting in 6th grade, and 45.6% of Ohio residents believe that students should be taught about gender identity in 6th grade with 7.2% of respondents reporting “Not sure.” 

The Ohio Pulse poll, conducted by the Baldwin Wallace University Community Research Institute, surveyed 856 registered voters and was released in October of last year.

According to the poll, 53.8% of Ohio residents believe that parents should not have control over which books are in the school library. 5.9% responded that they were unsure.

According to the Cleveland Reporter, Red Wine and Blue, a Shaker Heights-based group of "suburban wine moms" that's been fighting to keep pornographic books in Ohio K-12 school libraries, is part of the "Vote No in August" coalition of left-leaning Ohio activist groups opposing Issue 1.

Red Wine and Blue's priorities include banning parental notification of teenage abortions in Ohio, requiring public schools to include instruction in so-called "Critical Race Theory," and to teach sex education far earlier, as young as first grade, while barring schools from teaching children that there is such a thing as biological sex, reported Cleveland Reporter. The group is promoting books like Gender Queer and This Book Is Gay, which emphasize "transsexual" themes and even feature comic graphics depicting homosexual sex acts. While technically pornographic, the group holds they still have educational value, and that schools aren't encouraging children to have sex or to become gay. The group's founder, political consultant Katie Paris, has argued that these books are just as appropriate as "Shakespeare or Ernest Hemingway, (or) the Bible."

The poll also found that 56.4% of Ohio residents believe that parents should not have the ability to stop schools from teaching content they find objectionable. Additionally, 56.8% of Ohio residents believe that students should be taught about sexual orientation starting in 6th grade. 45.6% of Ohioans responded that they believed students should be taught about gender identity in 6th grade while a further 7.2% weren't sure how they felt on that issue.

State Rep. Scott Wiggam (R-Wayne County) told the Buckeye Reporter "[v]oting yes on Issue 1 will protect our kids, parents' right and the liberties we hold dear."

Buckeye Reporter previously reported that Ohio is one of only 15 states which allow for ballot-driven amendments to their constitutions. Of those fifteen, four of them, Illinois, Arizona, Florida, and Colorado, have thresholds for passage above a simple majority.