CLEVELAND — A bill banning Ohio transgender students from using bathrooms that fit their gender identities is heading to Gov. Mike DeWine's desk. The legislation cleared the Ohio General Assembly on Wednesday with a majority vote in the Senate.
Ohio state Senator Jerry Cirino (R-Kirtland) is the sponsor of Senate Bill 104, requiring that public K-12 schools and institutions of higher education to designate separate bathrooms, locker rooms and overnight accommodations “for the exclusive use” of either males and females, based on one's gender assigned at or near birth, in both school buildings and facilities used for a school-sponsored event.
"We're going back to the way it was, which was a much safer environment," Cirino told 3News. "And I, for one, don't want my granddaughters who are involved in sports having to be anxious about, worried by, and intimidated by men coming in or boys coming in, whether whatever stage of transgender activities they are in, to be in the same shower, locker room, or bathroom with my granddaughters. I mean, that's absurd."
RELATED: Bill on school bathroom use by transgender students clears Ohio Legislature, heads to governor
The legislation would not apply to school employees, emergencies or people helping young children or those with disabilities, and schools would still be able to provide single-use and family bathroom facilities.
One of the senators who voted against the bill Wednesday was Sen. Kent Smith (D-Euclid).
“I think it's a horrible affront on some of the more vulnerable citizens of Ohio. It's certainly not anything that any of my colleagues should be proud of advancing," he said.
At least 11 states have adopted laws barring transgender girls and women from girls' and women’s bathrooms at public schools, and in some cases other government facilities.
Here is how other groups around Ohio are reacting to the passing of the legislation:
Elizabeth Katavich, Lead Advocacy Coordinator, LGBT Community Center of Greater Cleveland:
"I'm strangely disappointed, but not surprised. I think there's going to be many more anti-LGBTQ plus and anti-transgender bills that are just going to get passed, and I think from a mental health perspective, I think it's an understatement to say that transgender and gender diverse students are suffering from a mental health perspective. I think that they are experiencing an onslaught of extremely harmful discriminatory and negative legislation that is going to make their lives significantly harder and is only going to add to the stigma and discrimination they are experiencing."
Gary Daniels, Chief Lobbyist, ACLU of Ohio:
"We know this is going to have real-world ramifications for trans Ohioans out there. Many of these folks are already vulnerable in a variety of ways. Now we're setting up a system where we're going to have, oh, I don't know, bathroom police? How exactly is this going to be enforced and policed in a real-world manner in and across Ohio schools? Unfortunately, there has been a lot of bad days for trans Ohioans and it only continues to get worse via our statehouse.”
3News also spoke with Case Western Reserve University political science professor Justin Buchler for more on the federal implications of this bill, plus if it will compound transgender worries coming off the election of Donald Trump as president.
“A lot of the more contentious policies regarding gender at the moment are being debated at the state level rather than the federal level, and Donald Trump himself does not really have much interest in issues of gender. That's just not something that matters to him. He has a very constrained set of policy interests. He cares primarily about two things. He cares about trade, meaning he wants to impose tariffs, and he cares about immigration. Beyond that, he just doesn't care about very many policy issues. So to expect significant policy movement on matters relating to gender, I would not expect that.”