New Ohio Law Deems Marriage A ‘Controversial Belief’ Not To Be Endorsed By Universities
Higher education institutions in Ohio are barred from taking a stance on marriage after Republican Gov. Mike DeWine signed a law at the end of March deeming belief in the legal and religious union as “controversial.”
Republicans billed the Enact Advance Ohio Higher Education Act as the best way to eliminate universities’ racist admission and hiring practices and expand ideological diversity by explicitly outlawing “political and ideological litmus tests” and requiring schools commit to “seek[ing] out invited speakers who have diverse ideological or political views.”
The law also, however, requires institutions to declare they will not “endorse or oppose” “controversial beliefs,” including marriage. Other topics deemed off-limits for institutional support or condemnation include “climate policies,” “electoral politics,” “foreign policy,” “diversity, equity, and inclusion programs,” “immigration policy,” and “abortion.”
Universities are permitted to circumvent the ban if they will “directly impact the institution’s funding or mission of discovery, improvement, and dissemination of knowledge.”
“The institution may also endorse the congress of the United States when it establishes a state of armed hostility against a foreign power,” the law clarifies. “This division does not include the recognition of national and state holidays, support for the Constitution and laws of the United States or the state of Ohio, or the display of the American or Ohio flag.”
The law also demands that higher education faculty and staff “shall not seek to indoctrinate any
social, political, or religious point of view.” Instead, professors and other university employees must “allow and encourage students to reach their own conclusions about all controversial beliefs or policies.”
DeWine, in response to concerns at the Columbus Metropolitan Club last week that the law will “hurt higher ed in Ohio,” signaled an openness to reevaluating the law if it “didn’t turn out the way we wanted to.”
“It wouldn’t be the first time that something gets passed and everybody looks at it six months later or a year later and says, hey that wasn’t what we intended, or, it didn’t turn out the way we wanted it to,” DeWine said. “I think with any bill, you’re always open, and I think as a state, we should always be open to reexamining everything.”
Jordan Boyd is a staff writer at The Federalist and producer of The Federalist Radio Hour. Her work has also been featured in The Daily Wire, Fox News, and RealClearPolitics. Jordan graduated from Baylor University where she majored in political science and minored in journalism. Follow her on X @jordanboydtx.
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