Lawmakers in the Ohio House passed a bill banning students who call themselves transgender from using bathrooms and locker rooms of the opposite sex.
The bill, known as House Bill 183 (H.B. 183), was introduced by state Reps. Beth Lear (R) and Adam Bird (R) and was added to Senate Bill 104 (S.B. 104) as an amendment in a 60-31 vote, according to the Ohio Capital Journal.
In response to the bill that was signed on Wednesday, Lear stated that boys and girls should not be allowed to “be in locker rooms” and bathrooms together and “should not be sharing overnight accommodations.”
“Boys and girls should not be in locker rooms together,” Lear said in a statement. “They should not be in bathrooms together and they should not be sharing overnight accommodations.”
Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine (R) stated that he “would sign the bill.” The bill will move on to the Ohio Senate, where it will be reviewed when lawmakers return after November.
Under the bill, students in K-12 schools and colleges in the state who call themselves transgender would only be allowed to use the bathroom or locker room that corresponds with their assigned gender at birth.
The outlet notes that the bill “would not apply to someone helping” people with disabilities or parents helping “a child younger than 10 years old”:
The bill would not prohibit a school from having single-occupancy facilities and it would not apply to someone helping a person with a disability or a child younger than 10 years old being assisted by a parent, guardian, or family member.
During a debate on the House floor, several Ohio Democrats criticized the bill and described it as being “a made up problem.”
House Minority Leader Allison Russo (D) slammed Republican lawmakers for focusing on the “wrong” issues.
“Here we are, again, I think focusing on the wrong things,” Russo said. “There’s so many things that need to be done in our school districts and for schools and for our students. But this body continues, over and over again, to focus on the small group of children and target and bully children.”
In a post on X, Russo wrote, “We have school districts that can’t afford bus services for students and teachers for classrooms, but here we are after nearly 12 hours of session focusing on bathrooms.”
State Rep. Beryl Brown Piccolantonio (D) described the bill as targeting “some of” the “most marginalized students.”
Governors in states such as Louisiana and Mississippi have signed bills that prohibit students from using bathrooms in public schools, or at public facilities, that do not match their biological sex.
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