Breaking: Ohio Governor Signs Law Barring Students from Using Bathrooms Reserved for Opposite Sex

novembre 27, 2024

Ohio governor Mike DeWine signed a law on Wednesday that bars public-school students in the state from using bathrooms that don’t align with their sex.

The “Protect All Students Act” (SB 104) will bar transgender students from kindergarten through college at state public schools from using multi-person bathrooms reserved for the opposite sex.

The bill's co-sponsor, Republican state senator Jerry Cirino, defended the legislation on the grounds that it would protect vulnerable children. "It revolves around safety, security, and, I think, common sense. It protects our children and grandchildren in private spaces where they are most vulnerable."

DeWine has tried to carve a middle path on the trans issue. In 2023, he vetoed a bill that would have banned "gender-affirming care" for minors and blocked males from competing in women's athletics. He then tried to moderate by announcing plans to ban transgender surgeries for minors alongside additional provisions to monitor the transgender “treatments.” The Ohio state legislature later overrode the governor's veto of the original bill, and the law took effect in August.

“Common sense is on a winning streak in America today," said president of the Center for Christian Virtue Aaron Baer. "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 ACLU was one of the principal opponents of the bill and hoped for a veto from the governor. With Ohio, at least 14 states have now adopted measures aimed at preserving male-female separation in public school bathrooms. This also comes as Republican Congresswoman Nancy Mace introduced a resolution barring biological men from women’s restrooms on Capitol Hill as Congress prepares for its first openly transgender member in January.

"States have a duty to protect the privacy, safety, and dignity of women and young girls," said Alliance Defending Freedom Legal Counsel Sara Beth Nolan. "Yet certain advocacy organizations—and the Biden-Harris administration through its Title IX rule change—are demanding that states devalue women by eliminating longstanding, distinct private spaces for males and females."

The bill retains carveouts for emergency cases, such as for school employees when necessary, young children in need of assistance, and those with disabilities.

“Allowing males into women and girls' locker rooms and bathrooms is an invasion of privacy and can even be a threat to their safety," Nolan continued. "We commend Ohio Rep. Beth Lear, Rep. Adam Bird, and all those in the legislature who supported this critical bill, and Gov. DeWine for signing it into law."