Opponent Testimony for SB 1 — Alisa P. Ramakrishnan, Ph.D., House Economic and Workforce Committee

Summary

Alisa Ramakrishnan, a patent agent at DLA Piper, LLC, gave opponent testimony on SB 1 to the House Economic and Workforce Committee. The testimony expresses concern about the bill's effect on the well-being of children in schools and describes personal accounts involving LGBTQ children and their parents. The testimony asks how children who are not conservative Christians would be affected with a Christian conservative government in charge of the Department of Education. It calls the bill a blatant effort for governmental control of education and asks for a no vote.

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                             Opponent Testimony for SB 1
                       House Economic and Workforce Committee
                                    May 8, 2923

                                Alisa P. Ramakrishnan, Ph.D.
                                       DLA Piper, LLC
Chairman D.J. Swearington, Senator Bill Reineke, and members of the House Economic and
Workforce Committee,
Thank you for allowing me to testify today. My name is Alisa Ramakrishnan. I am a patent agent
at DLA Piper, LLC, and was a stay-at-home mother for 10 years. I have two children, both
gender non-conforming, ages 17 and 12. I am expressing concern about SB1 and its negative
effect on the well-being of children in schools.
My oldest child had a friend in high school who was lesbian, but was afraid to tell her parents
because they were very conservative and did not believe LGBTQ people were real. When her
parents found out, they moved her to a highly conservative school in downtown Columbus
where she would be forced out of such ideas. My child has not heard anything from her since –
she was forced to drop all communication with her friends.
One of my friends, who is religiously conservative, texted me a few months ago to express
concerns about my child, who is LGBTQ. She sent me a long story that was in the news about a
child who had friends who introduced them to drugs and pornography at a young age, probably
about 14, and that this child now wanted to be called a name and gender different than what
was identified at birth. In deep distress, the parents took the child out of school and cut off all
contact with any friends or people that were LGBTQ. The story says that through love and
forced behavior patterns, the parents “fixed” the child. My friend thought I should do the same
with my child. Isolate them from friends and school, insist on a gender and sexual orientation,
and force the child to comply with “love”. My child is not involved with drugs or pornography and
has good friends, who are all LGBTQ. Why would I submit them to what amounts to actual
torture? This poor child should have been taken to supportive therapy to help them feel loved
and safe, not terrified into compliance with a homophobic lifestyle.
Children need a safe space where they can address concerns without fear of being taken away
from school and friends. With a Christian conservative government in charge of the Department
of Education, how will children who are not conservative Christians be affected? Will parents
who want to support their children in a healthy manner be forced to remove their children from
public schools and attempt to homeschool them in order to protect them from discrimination and
threats? If the Ohio government were liberal instead of conservative Christian, how would
conservative Christian parents feel if their children are forced to learn about things they
disagreed deeply with?
This bill is a blatant effort for governmental control of education. Are the government elected
officials trained educators? It’s like having government control medical care, dictating who
should be forcefully sterilized, who should be subjected to clinical trials studying the negative
effects of drugs, who should be tortured into affirming agreement with the prejudices of
government officials. The government should allow educators to educate, and concern
themselves with providing safe and supportive educational resources for our children, in
accordance with the wishes of those of us who pay taxes.
Bills such as these are driven by fear, hate, and ignorance. It places further negative impact on
marginalized students, and unfairly targets teachers. I ask that you please consider my testimony and
vote no on this bill.

Thank you,

Alisa P. Ramakrishnan


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