Secular Humanists of Western Lake Erie
Building community through compassion and reason for a better tomorrow.
On September 13, 2026, we had a visit by Fish Stark, the Executive Director of the American Humanist Association, our parent organization. He talked to us about the scourge of White Christian Nationalism and what Humanists can do and what is being done to fight back and resist them. We had a great crowd at the Yager Center at Swan Creek Metropark. The afternoon also included refreshments. Here are a few pictures from the event:
Here is the video of he remarks
In June of 2025, the US Supreme Court released a 6–3 decision in the case Mahmoud v. Taylor. The case was filed by parents who wished to opt their children out of instruction involving LGBTQ-themed storybooks in a Maryland public school system. The Court held that the school district’s policy of not permitting opt-outs violated the parents’ right to free exercise of religion under the First Amendment.
“Drawing on ‘enduring American tradition,’ we have long recognized the rights of parents to direct ‘the religious upbringing’ of their children… The right of parents ‘to direct the religious upbringing of their’ children would be an empty promise if it did not follow those children into the public school classroom.”
With that in mind, the Secular Humanists of Western Lake Erie has created a form parents can use to opt-out their children from curriculum that
Violate or substantially conflict with your sincerely held religious beliefs;
Interfere with your right to direct your child’s religious upbringing;
Expose your child to religious or moral viewpoints that undermine our family’s religious teachings or practices.
For example, here in Ohio there is a law proposed that would force public-schools to show a biased video produced by an anti-abortion group. The video is called Baby Olivia and is meant to bully kids into not having abortions. This opt-out form would exempt your child from watching it.
There is another proposed law to install a curriculum called The Success sequence that would expose children to a religiously biased view of how they should live their lives. This form would protect your child from that nonsense.
If your school has a time for the pledge of allegiance you can opt them out of it same goes for studying a 10 Commandments poster the state may require be put up.
You can also use this form to opt your child out of attending those mandatory fake assemblies about character building which is really just a way for religious groups to talk to your children without you being in the room.
Our opt out form can be used in other cases as well that aren’t mentioned here. We also suggest you check with your school district to see if they have a specific process to opt-out children but you can still use our form to add to that process.
Also note that the school is not allowed to ask about your religious beliefs or question them, That would be a 1st amendment violation.
It is thanks to a few bigoted parents that we can all protect our children from religious extremism.
This form is provided for informational purposes only and is NOT legal advice. If you have any legal questions about the form or its use consult an attorney
Petitions to repeal Ohio Senate Bill 1 have started to be distributed. SB 1 as it is known that was quickly passed at the start of the year, over the objection of many universities and protests by students, would censor university classes and is anti-union. It is also known as the higher education destruction act and many of the points in the law scratch conservative biases about colleges such as the power of unions, not teaching how great capitalism is, and hate towards diversity, equality, and inclusion.
For a break down of what is in SB 1 check out this explainer sheet from AAUP Ohio and Honesty for Ohio Education:
Substitute Ohio Senate Bill 1 — Bill Breakdown
Upcoming Signing events:
Our friends at Toledo Troublemakers is hosting a petition signing event on May 14th from 5:30 to 7 :30 PM at Earnest Brew Works Westgate 3134 W. Central , Toledo.
Findlay Forward Together will be holding a SB1 Repeal Petition Signing Drive-Thru Thursday May 15th from 5 to 7 PM at 111 3rd St in Findlay.
When we hear about other signing events we will share them on social media accounts.
The conservatives will be very picky about signatures so here are some basic rules:
“With the title and summary language approval, petitioners can now start gathering signatures. About 248,092 signatures are needed — 6% of the total vote cast for governor during the last gubernatorial election. The signatures must be from at least 44 of Ohio’s 88 counties. The signatures would likely be due at the end of June. ”
For more information check out this website:
*Update 06/30/2025* - Even with a strong effort, the petition drive fell short by 50,000 signatures. The group behind the effort ran a truly grassroots drive and didn’t use paid petition signature collectors. SB 1 is a very unpopular law so hopefully those opposed to it will try again soon.
SHoWLE recently created a new resource page that has links to tools and sources to help us support democracy.
These links include links to liked minded groups and news sources that actually cover the real news and not the corporate white-washed version we see most often.
The title of the new page is Supporting Democracy and can be found under our Resources menu on the website.
Also included is links to new videos created by President Doug Berger that helps the viewer setup and use the My Ohio Legislature and GovTrack.us legislation tracking websites.
If you have any suggestions or corrections for this new resource please let us know.
The SHoWLE Board of Directors adopted the following statement in support of the LGBTQ+ community and to oppose bigotry. This statement can be found in our Policies and Resolution page of the website.
The Board of the Secular Humanists of Western Lake Erie voted on January 21, 2025, to “sign on” to a statement issued by a majority of the secular, Humanist, and freethought groups in the country affirming our commitment to support and protect the rights of the LGBTQ+ community in this country.
In a statement titled “Statement from American Atheist, Humanist, Freethought, and Secular Groups Affirming Commitment to Protecting LGBTQ+ Rights” 16 national secular groups affirmed:
“We will not permit religious extremists to foment a moral panic, encourage harassment or violence, and enact dangerous policies that seek to force LGBTQ+ Americans generally—and trans Americans in particular—out of public life and out of existence. Nor will we sit silently or ignore when the talking points, misinformation, and outright fabrications of anti-LGBTQ+ extremists are laundered and given a veneer of legitimacy or acceptability by those who hold themselves out as voices of reason or science.”
The SHoWLE Board agrees 100% with the statement and we intend that our group will continue to be a welcoming place for all people no matter who you are or who you love. Our Humanist values demand it.
We need more compassion and understanding and much less irrational hysteria. We need laws and policies based on data and actual reality and not biases, religious indoctrination, or tabloid anecdotes.
SHoWLE also will not tolerate bigotry from our state legislature, general community, or our membership. We will call out that bigotry when needed. We will not support or work with any group that supports bigotry of any kind especially toward the LGBTQ+ community.
Some people have said that recent attacks on the Trans community have been only about discussing science and biology and that by not allowing that discussion we are censoring science. We reject that argument.
Free speech arguments should never be used to justify hurting people and whether a group should have basic dignity, and worth should never be debated.
No one should live in fear for simply existing.
Starting on February 1st, 2025, SHoWLE will reduce our use of Facebook. We will put in a static post pointing visitors to our website but we will not update our public page, boost any posts, or create any new events.
We don’t make this decision easily but the change in political views of the CEO and other actions taken by Meta, the owner of Facebook, make our continued use of the platform problematic. If you are not aware of these issues check out the links at the end of this post for some details. In general:
The fact-checking moderation was put into place a decade ago because Facebook was used to facilitate ethnic cleansing in a couple of countries. Not to mention now there will be more irrational posts about the harm of vaccines and other promotion of woo.
We will keep our private group page for now but we intend to promote a more open community forum in the future off Facebook.
We recommend that our members also move away from Facebook but that decision should be left up to each individual. In the links below is an article from EFF.org that shows how to block use of your data for profit making by Meta.
If you have any questions about this new policy, feel free to reach out to Doug or other Board members.
Meta ends its DEI programs as Zuckerberg blasts Biden on Joe Rogan
Mark Zuckerberg Preps for More Ethnic Cleansing
Mad at Meta? Don’t Let Them Collect and Monetize Your Personal Data
You can also find us on Bluesky as Toledo Humanist Community
***FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Toledo Humanists Condemn Override of HB 68 Veto
TOLEDO — The Secular Humanists of Western Lake Erie condemn the override of the veto of House Bill 68 that will now allow the ban on gender-affirming care and ban on Trans women in school sports to become law.
The majority ignored medical science and the pleas of the Trans community and dismissed their very existence. Several Senators during the vote claimed Trans kids don’t exist and that their God assigned the child’s gender at conception. Rep. Gary Click, in a statement on X called for resources for individuals who regret their transition “as they realign with their authentic selves.” We reject Rep. Click’s call as misguided and tinged with religious bigotry.
We don’t believe that laws and public policy should ignore scientific consensus or be irrationally supported by moral panic. It is clear to us that some legislators believe their religion is above basic human decency and compassion. Bullying children is not a good look.
It was also ironic in the same session the same people who voted to harm Trans kids overrode a veto on a budget item that prohibits local governments from enacting their own regulations on tobacco, particularly bans on the sale of flavored nicotine products, which are typically marketed toward minors.
The action by the Ohio Legislature to force HB 68 into law also denies the right of parents to support their child’s health care needs whatever that maybe.
We hope that the ban is challenged in court and ends up like other similar bans by being ruled unconstitutional.
We will do what we can to support the LGBTQI community during these unwarranted and indefensible attacks from the government.
Media contact: Douglas Berger, President
More information:
The Secular Humanists of Western Lake Erie are dismayed and disappointed that several local members of the Ohio House of Representatives signed on to a letter to announce their intention to subvert the will of the voters who passed State Issue 1 on November 7th.
Continue reading “SHoWLE Disappointed Some Local Legislators Want To Subvert The Will Of The Voters”
President Douglas Berger submitted written testimony to the Ohio House Higher Education Committee that is considering House Bill 183 that would prohibit transgender kids and adults from using the public bathrooms that align with their gender identity.
Two people on the committee are from the NW Ohio area. Rep. Derek Merrin (R‑42) and Rep. Josh Williams (R‑41).
The hearing for opposition testimony is Wednesday October 11th. Here is the text of his testimony as submitted:
Chair Rep. Young, Vice Chair Rep. Manning, and Ranking Member Rep. Miller, my name is Douglas Berger and I am President of the Secular Humanists of Western Lake Erie, based in Toledo.
I am writing today to express our group’s opposition to House Bill 183 that would prohibit transgender kids and adults from using the public bathrooms that align with their gender identity.
We oppose this discriminatory bill since it reminds us of the dark days of Jim Crow when bathrooms and even drinking fountains were segregated by race and this bill is based on the same kind of false narrative and flimsy evidence that those Jim Crow laws were based on.
We are also tired of members of this legislature passing off irrational religious bigotry as public policy and law. When will your need to impose your religion on others stop?
HB 183 has no factual basis and no data to justify a ban is needed. Most anecdotal stories are made up. The numbers of teachers and people of faith who have been arrested and charged for abusing children far out distance any reported crime due to Trans people using the bathroom that aligns with their gender identity. I am more fearful of a child being alone with a priest or minister than using a bathroom with a Trans person.
Representative Lear and Bird also failed to note which religious conservative lobby group they copied and pasted this ridiculous proposal from. There is a reason these proposals all look alike.
We can also promise that the people who introduced this bill and at least three members of this committee have never met a Trans kid and has never talked to the Trans community but they seem to want to discriminate against Trans people anyway. I’m sure it is easier to discriminate when you never talk to them.
Our members would also like to know who will enforce this ban and how will it be enforced. Will birth certificates be required to be shown or will a school official be designated as a genital checker? Will you have a parent sign a form so their child can have a genital check? If there is no enforcement mechanism then this proposal is just for show. In fact it would be used to out Trans kids and bully them.
Adding on an unfunded mandate on public schools and colleges that you barely help fund is also something to consider.
In a recent TV interview, a member of this committee said that educational policy should only go toward the academic progress of students and we shouldn’t be introducing social issues into the classroom. How does HB 183 advance academic progress? It doesn’t but it sure introduces social issues into the classroom. How will this bill improve the dismal school ranking the state has received recently.
Why don’t Trans kids deserve to be protected too?
We ask you to vote no on HB 183.
Toledo, July 1, 2023 — The Secular Humanists of Western Lake Erie are very disappointed in the ruling on June 30 by the US Supreme Court in the 303 Creative LLC v. Elenis case. It is wrong that religious beliefs now trump all other rights to full public business accommodations and allow discrimination of people in a protected class.
The court said that requiring the graphic designer to make wedding websites for same-sex couples was an unconstitutional violation of her first amendment rights because the creation would be seen as an endorsement of something her religious beliefs prohibit.
We don’t believe requiring business owners not to discriminate against customers in protected classes makes the person or business endorse something against their religious beliefs. At the end of the day they can still not approve of same-sex marriages. If a business can’t bring itself to serve customers from the protected classes then they need not be a public business.
We are also concerned about the unprecedented protection the court granted to a religious person. They ruled on a case that didn’t include any actual harm. The plaintiff wasn’t creating wedding websites when she filed the lawsuit and there is some question that the LGBT customer written about in her case was made up. Secular people who claim their religious freedom was violated, like for example challenging 10 Commandment statues on court house lawns, are dismissed because the mere presence of the religious item or text isn’t an actual harm according to federal courts.
The plaintiff agreed in court that she would sell her services to LGBTQ people, just not wedding website designs. So her religious beliefs are not absolute. How does making a sign for a gay man not also seem to endorse his sexual orientation?
The decision was capricious and arbitrary and gave special rights to religious people that are not allowed by anyone else. The Christian Nationalists have been bent on subverting decades of church and state legal decisions.
The US Supreme Court set back religious freedom for many years.
For further information on this decision see: Supreme Court rules website designer can decline to create same-sex wedding websites
About Secular Humanists of Western Lake Erie
The mission of the Secular Humanists of Western Lake Erie is to provide a supportive local community for humanists and other nontheists, while promoting an ethical, reasonable, and secular approach to life through education, community service, outreach, activism, and social events.
We envision a Northwest Ohio and Southeast Michigan where secular people are respected and integrated in broader society, live values of reason and compassion, and enjoy a friendly humanist community.