Bill limiting transgender students’ school bathroom use passes Ohio Legislature in 24-7 vote

Bailey Johnston
Thu, 21 Nov 2024 06:09:20 +0000
Campus, Instagram Page, News, Politics, ACLU, Adam Bird, American Civil Liberties Union, bathroom, bathroom ban, bathroom bill, bathroom use, Ben Johnson, birth certificate, campus, campus desk, changing room, gender identity, gender-inclusive bathroom, gov mike dewine, government, House Bill 183, identity, Jerry Cirino, K-12, Kent Smith, locker room, nongendered bathroom, Noor Pasha, ohio general assembly, Ohio government, Ohio house, Ohio legislature [and 18 more]

Single-occupancy, gender-inclusive restrooms, located in rooms 878T and 880T of Dreese Laboratories and other locations across campus, will be unaffected by Senate Bill 104. This bill, also known as “the bathroom bill,” passed Wednesday and bans transgender students from using multi-occupancy bathrooms that do not align with their sex assigned at birth. Credit: Bailey Johnston | Lantern Reporter

The Ohio Senate passed a bill mandating students use bathrooms that correspond to their sex assigned at birth, which could force many transgender students to use bathrooms that don’t align with their gender identities.

Passed Nov. 13 in a 24-7 vote, the Republican-backed Senate Bill 104 includes the Protect All Students Act — or Sec. 3319.90 — which demands K-12 public schools and universities designate bathrooms and other facilities, such as locker rooms, changing rooms and showers, for “exclusive use” by biological male or female students.

The bill states this ban does not apply to family bathrooms and rooms, emergency situations, children under 10 years of age and/or those with disabilities who require assistance. The ban also does not apply to “single-occupancy” bathrooms and facilities.

The Ohio House added House Bill 183 — a bathroom ban bill — into SB 104 and passed it before going on hiatus in June.

Now, Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine has until Nov. 24 to either veto the bill or sign it into law, according to the Ohio Capital Journal.

Ohio State Representative Adam Bird (R-New Richmond), creator of the Protect All Students Act, said SB 104 focuses on student safety in private spaces.

“This legislation has always been about protecting students, and I think that’s something we should all be able to agree on,” Bird said in an Ohio House of Representatives news release. “Many Ohioans don’t want their local schools to allow opposite-sex access to restrooms or locker rooms. The Protect All Students Act will provide clarity and a unified approach for school leaders statewide.”

Ohio State Sen. Jerry Cirino (R-Kirtland) — joint sponsor of SB 104 — said the bill was originally an “enhancement to the College Credit Plus Program,” which allows high school students to enroll in college classes to earn dual credit, according to the Ohio Department of Education & Workforce website.

In an interview with The Lantern, Cirino said over the summer, the Ohio Senate passed the original bill to the House as a part of the legislative process for approval; subsequently, the House amended SB 104 to include the bathroom bill.

“We passed Senate Bill 104; I think it was in May or June of this year,” Cirino said. “It passed the Senate unanimously, so then we sent it to the House. The House, before they broke for the summer, added what is commonly referred to as ‘the bathroom bill’ to our original 104. Because it was originally a Senate Bill — my bill — when the House amended it, it had to come back to us in the Senate to concur with their changes.”

The bathroom bill amendment to SB 104 will increase student safety in private facilities by protecting them from opposite-sex interactions, Cirino said.

“This bill affects all students,” Cirino said. “It’s the non-trans students that we’re looking to protect. Bathrooms, restrooms, showers, changing areas — people are highly vulnerable in those environments, and they need to be safe and need to feel safe. That goes for everybody.”

Cirino said this bill establishes parameters for Ohio schools and universities, requiring them to label bathrooms and facilities for exclusive male or female use. He said with SB 104, students can only use the labeled facility that aligns with the sex stated on their birth certificate.

“K-12 schools, all state-chartered schools, all the way up to universities and community colleges, now have to clearly label their facilities as male or female, and the determination is what is on your birth certificate when you were born, or shortly thereafter, when you were born,” Cirino said.

SB 104 does not require students to submit their birth certificate to educational institutions for bathroom access. Still, Cirino said he feels a “verification process” should be implemented for students who are the subject of complaints about using restrooms that don’t appear to align with their biological sex.

“Unless a school system normally would require [a birth certificate] to verify that they’re in their district and that sort of thing, our bill does not require that,” Cirino said. “But if somebody makes a complaint — let’s say, hypothetically, a girl makes a complaint that there was a boy in their bathroom, and they make that complaint to the administration. At that point, there should be a verification process.”

Ohio State Sen. Kent Smith (D-Euclid) said in an interview with The Lantern those in support of SB 104 did not address the broader implications this ban has on both transgender and cisgender students.

“They kept trying to say, ‘We need to protect girls against predatory men in their bathrooms,’” Smith said. “The other argument was, ‘It’s not gender reverse, it’s gender affinity.’ I have friends that have transitioned. When I met them, they were female, and now they’re a male, and they look like a man. But if you want to send that individual now into a woman’s bathroom, they wouldn’t talk about that when voting on the bill.”

Smith said SB 104 is “discriminatory at its core” and maintained his opposing stance on the bill.

“This is a largely embarrassing and shameful moment for the Ohio General Assembly, and I’m proud that I voted no,” Smith said.

According to SB 104, this ban also extends to the maintenance or creation of unisex bathrooms and facilities on college campuses that can be used by more than one person at a time.

“No institute of higher education shall construct, establish, or maintain a multi-occupancy facility that is designated as nongendered, multi-gendered, or open to all genders,” the bill states.

Notably, Ohio State’s American Civil Liberties Union Action Team calls DeWine to reject the bill and not sign it into law.

“The Action Team, as well as the ACLU of Ohio, strongly urge Governor DeWine to veto this bill in order to protect the privacy of transgender youth in Ohio,” Noor Pasha, a fourth-year in political science and president of the Action Team, said in an email. “SB 104 will create harmful and unsafe environments for transgender and gender non-conforming individuals, blatantly ignoring that this community experiences higher rates of sexual violence in bathrooms than cisgender individuals.”

Cirino said SB 104 was not created to target transgender students, and though he feels empathy toward the trans community, he said the bill intends to prioritize student safety within school spaces.

“There is no animus in this bill toward the transgender folks,” Cirino said. “I empathize with people who are going through either dysphoria or some sort of identity crisis, and we wish them the best and hope they can get themselves together. But we do not need to endanger and make [people] uncomfortable — particularly in this case, girls —? by allowing men to come into their restrooms and locker rooms and shower facilities.”

Ben Johnson, a university spokesperson, said in an email Ohio State is “reviewing” SB 104 and emphasized the university’s dedication to fostering inclusivity.

“We are reviewing the legislation and are committed to a welcoming environment for all members of our community,” Johnson said.