Bathroom bill moves closer to law in Ohio
Transgender advocates decry committee vote
An Ohio House panel on Wednesday advanced legislation to ban transgender students from using school bathrooms that align with their gender identity.
House Bill 183 would require K-12 and college students to use bathrooms and locker rooms that match their sex at birth. It also prohibits schools from letting students share overnight accommodations with the opposite biological sex.
House Speaker Jason Stephens, Rkitts Hill, declined to say when the bill will be up for a vote by the full House. But transgender Ohioans and their advocates are pessimistic about the outcome after Republicans enacted a new law to restrict gender-affirming care for minors.
“It’s just disappointing to see after primaries and everything that the statehouse is still so focused on targeting a small minority population, instead of dealing with any of the other plethora of issues going on in the state,” said Dara Adkison, a board member for Transohio.
The bathroom bill is the latest effort by lawmakers to police the lives of transgender Ohioans. House and Senate Republicans voted to override Gov. Mike Dewine’s veto of House Bill 68, which prohibits doctors from prescribing hormones, puberty blockers or gender reassignment surgery before patients turn 18. It also bans transgender girls from playing in female high school and college sports teams.
The measure is slated to take effect later this month, but a lawsuit from the American Civil Liberties Union may delay or block it entirely.
Ohio joins national transgender bathroom debate
Under House Bill 183, K-12 schools and universities could still offer singleuse and family facilities. The restrictions don’t apply to school employees, emergency situations or people assisting young children or someone with a
disability. The bill’s sponsors have said it will protect children and compared gender dysphoria to a child’s delusions of being a bird.
Other states have enacted similar bans, and a fight over the issue played out last year in Ohio federal court. Parents
sued Bethel Local School District in Tipp City, contending the school board improperly allowed students to use bathrooms aligned with their gender identity. A judge dismissed the complaint and ruled the district’s policy could stay in place.
The bill passed committee on Wednesday along party lines, but Rep. Gayle Manning, R-north Ridgeville, encouraged her fellow Republicans to remove universities from the equation.
“We’re talking about adults,” Manning said. “The universities are similar to a city with the number of students that they have and the number of buildings that they have. Because of that, we could end up with frivolous lawsuits that will increase the cost of tuition.”
Haley Bemiller is a reporter for the USA TODAY Network Ohio Bureau, which serves the Columbus Dispatch and other affiliated news organizations across Ohio.