by Katelynn Richardson
The Ohio Supreme Court coordinated a conference where an activist group held a training for judges that claimed children have a “stable sense” of their gender identity by the age of four.
The presentation, titled “The Judicial System & LGBTQ+ Families: A Cultural Humility Approach,” was given by a local activist group, Equality Ohio, during the Ohio Association of Magistrates (OAM) Fall 2023 conference. The presentation featured the “gender unicorn” — a graphic portraying gender identity and expression as spectrums — and encouraged “affirming” youth transgender identities by “respecting their pronouns and allowing them to change legal documents,” according to the slideshow obtained by the Daily Caller News Foundation via a public records request.
“Research suggests that children who assert a gender-diverse identity know their gender as clearly and consistently as their developmentally matched peers,” one slide states after explaining most children have a “stable sense” of their gender identity by age four.
However, a representative for the court confirmed that it helped coordinate the event.
“While the Judicial College office of the Supreme Court of Ohio assists in the coordination of the events related to these presentations, the associations themselves bear the costs associated with hosting the events and providing the materials,” a representative for the court stated in response to the records request.
Ohio Supreme Court Public Information Director Lyn Tolan told the Daily Caller News Foundation the presentation was an example of the court assisting “judicial or court related associations on education provided to the association members at a conference.”
“In these situations, Judicial College staff work with the association’s leaders to identify the educational topics they wish to present at the conference,” Tolan said. “If a topic is identified and not the faculty, Judicial College staff will work with the association to identify potential faculty for the association’s approval.”
OAM’s website states that the association “works very closely with the Supreme Court’s Ohio Judicial College in developing Judicial College CLE [continuing legal education] for Magistrates and Judges for both our Fall and Spring Conferences as well as for CLE’s throughout the year.”
Magistrate Thomas Freeman serves on the Judicial College board as OAM’s representative, according to the website.
While the training on LGBTQ+ issues was not mandatory, Ohio judges are required to complete 40 hours of continuing legal education every two years, including ten hours offered by the Supreme Court of Ohio Judicial College, according to the educational requirements.
The presentation claims that “affirming transgender and nonbinary youth by respecting their pronouns and allowing them to change legal documents is associated with lower rates of attempting suicide.”
Multiple studies have challenged the assertion that allowing children to undergo a social transition promotes better mental health outcomes.
Equality Ohio vocally opposed a state bill banning sex-change surgeries for minors and condemned the Catholic Diocese of Cleveland for a policy stating that no person can “publicly advocate or celebrate” sexual orientation in a manner contrary to the church’s teaching.
The organization also supported liberal candidates for the Ohio Supreme Court in 2022, urging voters to make their decision based on the candidate’s willingness to “uphold LGBTQ+ civil rights.” The group gave current Ohio Supreme Court Chief Justice Sharon Kennedy an “F” rating because she indicated an unborn child is “biologically human at every stage of his or her biological development” and was “endorsed by organizations that oppose LGBTQ+ equality.”
Equality Ohio’s presentation is one of at least eight trainings involving LGBT and gender issues that the Ohio Supreme Court has had a role in coordinating over the past two years, according to a list obtained by the DCNF via public records.
During a 2023 with Ohio Associations of Probate, Juvenile and Domestic Relations Judges (OAPJDR) Summer Conference the court helped coordinate, there was a training about “LGBTQ+ Legal Rights and Custody Issues.” The presentation included a slide on “polysexuals and alternative partnerships.”
The Ohio Supreme Court also coordinated with OAM at its Spring 2022 Conference that included a training titled “LGBTQ+: Shaping an Inclusive Judicial System,” according to the list.
In November 2022, Todd Brower, director of the Judicial Education Program at the UCLA School of Law’s Williams Institute Judicial Education Program, taught a webinar for court personnel titled, “Sexual Identity and Gender Identity in the Courts.” Brower offers similar presentations to “courts and administrative agencies across the U.S. and internationally,” according to the Williams Institute website.
Brower taught a course on incorporating pronoun usage and an awareness of gender identity into the courtroom at the Nevada Supreme Court in July 2023, the DCNF previously reported.
Equality Ohio did not respond to requests for comment.
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Katelynn Richardson is a reporter at Daily Caller News Foundation.
Photo “Ohio Supreme Court Justices” by The Ohio Supreme Court.
