Ohio’s Republican Gov. Mike DeWine signed legislation Wednesday requiring educators to reveal a student’s gender identity to their families and allow parents to opt their kids out of lessons that touch on sexuality and gender.

DeWine quietly signed House Bill 8 into law Wednesday with little fanfare. Asked about the measure during a signing ceremony for a separate bill on Wednesday, DeWine said LGBTQ young people are “welcome in Ohio, welcome in our schools and we want to protect them.”

“The basis of it, for me, is that if you're a parent, you want to be informed about what’s going on in your child’s life. Parents are the best teachers — first teachers are the best teachers. It's very, very important. I think that's what was behind that.”

House Bill 8, known to its critics as the “Don’t Say Gay” bill because of its similarities to a 2022 Florida law, requires public schools to notify parents if classroom materials include “sexuality content,” defined as oral or written instruction, images or descriptions of sexual concepts or “gender ideology.”

The bill, which covers kindergarten through third grade classes, includes an exception for instruction that is related to “venereal disease education, child sexual abuse prevention and sexual violence prevention education.”

At least eight states have enacted laws that explicitly........

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