Election consequences: Ohio restricts use of school bathrooms

November 30, 2024

Homophobic Governor Mike De Wine

By Julie Carr Smyth and Geoff Mulvihill

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Transgender students in kindergarten through college in public and private schools in Ohio will be banned from using multi-person restrooms that match their gender identity under a measure Republican Gov. Mike DeWine signed this week.

DeWine signed the bill in private and despite objections from Democrats, teachers unions and civil rights groups who had hoped his objections to a ban on gender-specific care for minors last year would prevail and trigger another veto. He did not comment on the signing.

The law takes effect in 90 days.

The Republican-backed measure – called the Protect All Students Act – requires all schools, colleges and universities to provide separate restrooms, locker rooms and overnight accommodations “for the exclusive use” of either male or female students, based on their assigned gender or near birth, on campus and in other facilities used for school-sponsored events. The law does not contain any enforcement mechanism.

There are exceptions for school employees, emergencies and those caring for young children or people with a disability, and schools may offer individual or family restrooms.

“It’s about safety, security and, I think, common sense. It protects our children and grandchildren in private spaces where they are most vulnerable,” said Republican Senator Jerry Cirino, the bill’s sponsor.

Aaron Baer, ​​president of the Center for Christian Virtue, which sponsored the bill, said in a statement: “Common sense is on a roll in America today. No student should be forced to use the bathroom or locker room with a student of the opposite sex, and Ohio’s children will now be better protected because of Governor DeWine’s decision to sign this bill.”

The Ohio chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union was among the groups that pushed for a veto, condemning the bill as a violation of the privacy rights of LGBTQ+ Ohioans that would make them less safe.

LGBTQ+ advocacy and legal aid organization Equality Ohio said the law poses risks to transgender youth “or anyone perceived by authorities to be transgender.”

“We are deeply disappointed that Governor DeWine allowed this dangerous bill to become law that puts vulnerable trans youth at risk of abuse and harassment,” Dwayne Steward, executive director of Equality Ohio, said in a statement. The group said it would continue to “fight for a state that embraces and respects all of its residents.”

With DeWine’s signature, Ohio adds to the resistance felt nationwide by many Republican politicians, including President-elect Donald Trump, as transgender people have gained greater visibility and acceptance in recent years.

Twenty-six states have now passed laws resuming or banning gender-affirming care for transgender minors. The U.S. Supreme Court is scheduled to hear arguments Dec. 4 on whether Tennessee’s ban on such treatments can continue to be enforced. Any decision is likely to have an impact on policies in other states.

At least 11 states have enacted laws like Ohio’s that ban transgender girls and women from using girls’ and women’s restrooms at public schools — and in some cases at other state institutions.

And at least 24 states have laws dictating which sports competitions transgender girls and women can participate in.

Ohio’s bathroom law was debated for 19 months before it was approved by the Republican-led Legislature this month during Transgender Awareness Week. It was attached to a separate piece of legislation in the Ohio House that addressed the state’s College Credit Plus program, which allows high school students to earn college credit.

Trump campaigned heavily on transgender rights in the final weeks of his campaign against his Democratic rival, Vice President Kamala Harris. He vowed at a rally at Madison Square Garden to “keep men out of women’s sports” and ran campaign ads that read, “Kamala is for she/her. President Trump is for you.”

It is not clear what policies Trump might pursue after he takes office in January. But draft laws on gender issues are already in the queue for state legislatures that meet in early 2025.

In Texas, for example, measures are being proposed to ban the use of state funds to finance “sex reassignment” or sex reversal surgery, and to allow people ages 25 and younger who received gender-affirming treatment before the age of 15 to do so to sue their doctors for malpractice, among other things.

Democrats in the Republican-dominated legislature there have also introduced several bills that would protect people from discrimination based on “gender identity or expression.”

In Ohio, a law went into effect in August banning gender-specific care of minors and banning transgender girls and women from participating in girls’ and women’s sports competitions.

However, it was a rocky road. The measure only became law after lawmakers overrode DeWine’s veto. And after that, a judge suspended enforcement for about four months before approving it.

Smyth and Mulvihill write for the Associated Press.

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