Ohio House Passes Transgender School Bathroom Ban

The Ohio House passed a bill late on Wednesday night that would ban transgender students from using school bathrooms that align with their gender identity.

House Republicans added House Bill 183 to a separate bill, Senate Bill 104, which revises the state's college credit program, the Ohio Capital Journal reported. The bill then passed as amended in a 60-31 vote.

All House Democrats who were present voted against the bill, along with two Republicans, the newspaper reported.

The Senate must agree to the changes before the bill can head to Governor Mike DeWine's desk, but lawmakers are now on summer break.

It comes as Republican lawmakers across the country have sought to restrict transgender people's rights. As well as seeking to restrict access to bathrooms, measures include laws to keep transgender girls out of girls school sports, requiring school staff to notify parents if their student identifies in school as transgender, and barring school staff from being required to use the pronouns transgender students use.

The measure approved on Wednesday would mean that students in K-12 schools and colleges are required to only use bathrooms and locker rooms that correspond to their sex assigned at birth.

Schools can still offer single-occupancy facilities. The rule would not apply to those helping someone with a disability or parents, guardians and relatives assisting children under 10.

Proponents of the measure say it aims to protect children, but those opposed said it was an attack on the state's most marginalized students.

"This bill needlessly targets some of our most marginalized students," State Representative Beryl Brown Piccolantonio, a Democrat, said during a debate before Wednesday's vote, according to the Ohio Capital Journal.

"And worse than that, it targets a basic human function for which every single one of us deserves privacy. This is not what any of the children need."

However, Republicans argued the measure was straightforward.

"This is simple. This should not be complicated," State Representative Jena Powell said.

If the bill becomes law, Ohio would become the 13th state to bar transgender students from using bathrooms and facilities that align with their gender identity in schools, according to the nonprofit think tank Movement Advancement Project.

President Joe Biden's administration earlier this year issued a new regulation, set to take effect on August 1, that blocks blanket policies that bar transgender students from school bathrooms aligning with their gender identity.

The rule, issued in April, clarifies that Title IX, the 1972 sex discrimination law originally passed to address women's rights, bars discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity, too.

Republican state attorneys general from Tennessee, Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana, Virginia and West Virginia and an association of Christian educators sued to block the rule. A federal judge in Kentucky sided with the states earlier this month, ruling that it can't take effect in those states, Reuters reported.

Update 6/27/24, 7:45 a.m. ET: This article has been updated with additional information.