Columbus, Ohio —
What has become a contentious measure at the Ohio Statehouse, dubbed the “bathroom bill,” could be expedited with a last-minute vote.
Nickie Antonio (D-Lakewood), the minority leader of the Ohio Senate, stated, “There’s extreme mileage that people get out of attacking LGBTQ rights.”
Representative Jena Powell (R-Arcanum) stated, “We want to protect children, and this is the way to do that.”
For the “exclusive use of students of the male or female biological sex,” House Bill 183 would mandate that all schools and universities, whether public or private, from kindergarten through college, set aside certain spaces. Additionally, the measure “strictly prohibits the construction of any non-gendered or multi-gendered facility,” which could cover anything from restrooms to locker rooms.
Rep. Josh Williams (R-Sylvania) complained that boys shouldn’t be allowed in the ladies’ locker rooms since they can’t become girls.
Image – The Statehouse News Bureau
House Minority Leader Allison Russo (D-Upper Arlington) of Ohio stated, “We decided to spend our time focusing on bathrooms and I think it’s just a waste of taxpayer time and money.”
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Now, after being stuck in the Ohio House for over two months, members of the Ohio House finally took action during their penultimate summer session to change HB183 into Senate Bill 104, speeding up its passage.
I believe the majority of Ohioans would rather that we prioritize other matters concerning their children’s schools, and restrooms are certainly not one of them,” Russo stated. “Yet again, this body zeroes in on a select few kids and assaults them.”
“This is the easiest, most straightforward piece of legislation that we will probably vote on in the next five years in the state of Ohio,” Powell stated.
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The bill does contain certain exclusions regarding bathroom use:
In the presence of both the aided kid and the parent, guardian, or family member, the child must be under the age of ten;
Another person and the disabled person who is helping them;
- Any employee of a school or other institution whose profession requires them to use a locker room, changing room, or shower that is reserved for a different biological sex than their own; or
- To someone who enters a changing room, locker room, restroom, or shower room with the reasonable assumption that they are responding to a genuine emergency.
- Amid Democratic claims that the bill is anti-trans and detrimental to schools, Gov. Mike DeWine is patiently waiting for the policy to reach his desk.
“I’m for people, kids to be able to go to the bathroom with the gender assignments so that they have that protection,” claimed DeWine. “However, I will need to review the precise terminology.”
The policy has been moved into a Senate bill, so there will be no committee hearings in that house before a floor vote when it returns to session in November.
