COLUMBUS, Ohio ( WCMH ) — Ohio’s public universities could be banned from asking prospective students their preferred pronouns on applications if a new state house bill becomes law.
House Bill 686 was introduced this month to prohibit a state institution of higher education from using “any application for student admission that asks for, or contains a field in which an applicant may indicate, an applicant’s preferred gender pronouns.” Proposed by Rep. Gail Pavliga (R-Portage County), the legislation would also ban those institutions from asking any applicant for employment their pronouns.
Ohio State University and a dozen other public Ohio universities allow students to apply through the Common App, an online portal students can use to apply to multiple institutions. The portal includes an optional pronoun question where applicants can pick she/her, he/him, they/them or write in their own pronouns.
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Some Ohio universities, like Bowling Green State University, has added a question to its Common App application that asks a student’s gender identity. The University of Cincinnati asks whether the prospective student is a member of the LGBTQ+ community.