Ohio Legislature passes bill requiring school bathroom use based on biological sex

CNA Staff, Nov 14, 2024 / 14:40 pm

The Ohio Legislature approved a bill on Wednesday that would require students in public K–12 schools to use bathrooms that correspond to their sex rather than their subjective “gender identity.” 

The 74-page S.B. 104 would “enact the Protect All Students Act regarding single-sex bathroom access in primary and secondary schools and institutions of higher education.” 

The Protect All Students Act would require K–12 schools to designate all bathrooms and locker rooms that are accessible by multiple students to be exclusively for use by either male or female students. 

The bill does not allow schools to “knowingly” permit students to use a bathroom designated for the opposite sex.

Republican Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine has previously indicated that he will sign the bill. DeWine declined to comment further until he reviewed the bill in its final form, the governor’s spokesman, Dan Tierney, told CNA.

The Republican-backed bill defines “biological sex” as “the biological indication of male and female … without regard to an individual’s psychological, chosen, or subjective experience of gender.” The bill points administrators to the individual’s birth record to prove biological sex.

The bill also prohibits multi-gender or non-gender facilities but allows family and single-use bathrooms. The bill does not apply to people who need assistance to use the bathroom, school employees, or emergency situations.

The bill also prevents males from sharing overnight accommodations with females but does not prohibit single-occupancy accommodations at student request.

Jocelyn Rosnick, policy director for ACLU of Ohio, condemned the bill in a statement, saying that it would “create unsafe environments for trans and gender non-confirming individuals of all ages.” 

“We are incredibly disheartened by the Ohio General Assembly’s continuous attacks against transgender and gender non-conforming individuals across Ohio,” Rosnick stated. 

“Senate Bill 104 is a cruel invasion of students’ rights to privacy, which could result in unwarranted governmental disclosures of private, personal information,” she claimed.

David Mahan, the policy director for Ohio’s Center for Christian Virtue, in contrast called the bill’s approval “a huge victory for children and families in Ohio.” 

“Amended S.B. 104 is commonsense legislation that will guarantee the only people entering young ladies’ private spaces are female, not men claiming to be female,” Mahan stated. “We call on Gov. DeWine to sign S.B. 104 into law to protect the privacy of women and young girls.”

The Catholic Conference of Ohio added that it supports single-sex bathrooms. 

“As Catholic schools in Ohio are included in the bill and already uphold single-sex bathroom and locker room access in all facilities, we did not get involved in Senate Bill 104, formerly House Bill 183, through public testimony,” added Michelle Duffey, associate director for communications of Catholic Conference of Ohio.

“Yet, we support students in K–12 schools knowing that only those of the same biological sex can use a boys or girls bathroom or locker room,” she continued. “Additionally, the bill permits accommodations for students to use single-occupancy facilities in a school.”

State laws for public K–12 schools in more than a dozen states require bathroom use to align with sex. Utah and Florida, meanwhile, require all government facilities to have designated male and female bathrooms with bathroom use based on sex.

This story was updated at 4:50 p.m. ET on Nov. 14, 2024, to include the statement from Catholic Conference of Ohio.