Rep. Adam Bird emphasized that the legislation was designed to protect students, a goal that should be universally supported.
Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine signed a bill on Nov. 27 that prohibits students from kindergarten through college from using bathrooms that do not align with their sex.
Bird explained that the law also covers any location where school-sponsored activities are taking place. The law is scheduled to take effect in February 2025.
“Institutions of higher education, including state universities, community and technical colleges, as well as private nonprofit and for-profit career colleges, must clearly designate these facilities to ensure clarity for students and staff,” Bird stated.
He noted that Ohio is the 14th state to pass privacy legislation concerning student bathrooms.
DeWine did not provide a comment on the bill signing.
In January, the Republican-led state Senate overrode DeWine’s veto of a bill that prohibited gender-altering surgeries and hormone therapies for children under 18. It also banned students from participating on sports teams that do not align with their sex.
DeWine explained that he vetoed the legislation to prevent government interference in parents’ medical decisions for their children.
“Ultimately, these tough decisions should not be made by the government,” DeWine stated. “They should be made by the people who love these kids the most, and that’s the parents. The parents who have raised that child, the parents who have seen that child go through agony, the parents who worry about that child every single day of their life.”
Currently, 26 states have passed laws prohibiting transgender surgery for minors, while about 11 states have implemented bathroom laws.
During the 2024 presidential election campaign, President-elect Donald Trump targeted Vice President Kamala Harris’s support for government-funded transgender surgeries for illegal immigrants and prisoners through two ads.
One ad featured the quote, “Kamala is for they/them; President Trump is for you.”
Some Democratic strategists have acknowledged that this issue may have been more significant than initially thought during the election.
Fulks explained that the ad achieved two goals: portraying Harris as disconnected from the American people and suggesting that taxpayers would be funding transgender surgeries.
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