Election Consequences: Ohio limits school restroom use

November 30, 2024

Homophobe Gov. Mike De Wine

By Julie Carr Smyth and Geoff Mulvihill

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Transgender students from kindergarten through college at Ohio public and private schools will be banned from using multiperson bathrooms that fit their gender identities under a measure that Republican Gov. Mike DeWine signed this week.

DeWine signed the law out of public view and over the objections of Democrats, teachers unions and civil rights groups, which had hoped that his objections to a ban on gender- affirming care for minors last year would carry through and prompt another veto. He has not issued a statement regarding the signing.

The law takes effect in 90 days.

The Republican-backed measure — labeled the “Protect All Students Act” — requires all schools, colleges and universities to designate separate bathrooms, locker rooms and overnight accommodations “for the exclusive use” of either male or female students, based on their gender assigned at or near birth, on campuses and at other facilities used for school-sponsored events. The law contains no enforcement mechanism.

There are exemptions for school employees, emergency situations and people assisting young children or someone with a disability, and schools can offer single-use or family bathrooms.

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

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

The American Civil Liberties Union’s Ohio branch was among the groups that had lobbied for a veto, condemning the bill as a violation of the privacy rights of LGBTQ+ Ohioans that will make them less safe.

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

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

With DeWine’s signature, Ohio adds to the pushback that’s cropped up nationally among many Republican politicians, including President-elect Donald Trump, as transgender people have gained more visibility and acceptance in recent years.

Twenty-six states have now adopted laws restarting 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 ruling is likely to affect policies in other states, too.

At least 11 states have adopted laws like Ohio’s, barring transgender girls and women from girls’ and women’s bathrooms at public schools — and in some cases, at other government facilities.

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

Ohio’s bathroom bill was debated for 19 months before clearing the Republican-led Legislature this month during Transgender Awareness Week. It was tacked onto a separate piece of legislation by the Ohio House that related to the state’s College Credit Plus program, which allows high school students to earn college credits.

Trump leaned heavily into opposing transgender rights in the last weeks of his campaign against his Democratic rival, Vice President Kamala Harris. He vowed at a Madison Square Garden rally to “keep men out of women’s sports” and ran campaign ads saying, “Kamala’s for they/them. President Trump is for you.”

It’s not clear what policies Trump might adopt after he takes office in January. But bills relating to gender issues are already being queued up in state legislatures that come into session early in 2025.

In Texas, for instance, there are proposed measures to bar using state money to pay for “gender reassignment” or to reverse gender transitions, and to allow people 25 and younger who received gender-affirming treatment before the age of 15 to sue their doctors for malpractice, among others.

Democrats in the Republican-dominated legislature there have also introduced some bills intended to protect people from discrimination on the basis of “gender identity or expression.”

In Ohio, a law that bars gender-affirming care for minors and blocks transgender girls and women from participating in girls’ and women’s sports competitions took effect in August.

It took a rocky path, though. The measure became law only after the legislature overrode DeWine’s veto. And after that, a judge put enforcement on hold for about four months before allowing it.

Smyth and Mulvihill write for the Associated Press.