Ohio trans bathroom ban bill is now on its way to House floor vote

Watch a previous NBC4 report on H.B. 183 in the video player above.

COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) -- A bill to ban transgender students from using restrooms aligned with their gender identity is heading to a vote in the Ohio House of Representatives after advancing at the statehouse on Wednesday.

House Bill 183 passed with a vote of 10 to 5 out of the Higher Education Committee on Wednesday, and would prohibit schools from allowing trans students to use a bathroom that doesn't correspond with the gender assigned to them at birth. The bill states institutions are required to set separate facilities based on a student's "biological sex," meaning "the sex listed on a person's official birth record."

The legislation drew more than 110 opponents to submit testimony against it last fall, including Cam Ogden, a trans college student who said they were sexually assaulted on campus and now uses the women's restroom to avoid running into those who attacked them.

"Addressing this committee, I feel that same fear again. I'm afraid of how you will choose to treat me and the other students here today because we're transgender," said Ogden. "Across the state, transgender youth are afraid of you."

Rep. Adam Bird (R-New Richmond), one of the bill's primary sponsors, previously told NBC4 he has been contacted by constituents and school superintendents who requested such legislation. Bird said he doesn't "view this as controversial," and thinks "parents of all political backgrounds want their children to be safe in the restroom."

Bird said he collaborated with lawmakers to refine the bill's language, including adding an exemption for custodians or an individual responding to an emergency to enter a restroom that does not align with their identity. The newest version of the bill would also prohibit the construction or maintenance of any all-gendered restrooms in schools.

Brendan Shea, an Ohio Board of Education member who was one of 33 proponents to submit testimony in support of the bill last fall, agreed the bill is "an issue of safety," and pointed to a precedent set by the board when it approved a resolution in December 2022 that rejected proposed federal protections for LGBTQ+ students.

“It’s an issue that distracts from academics,” Shea said. “I too often hear from concerned parents, constituents and administrators. It’s a distraction for them. Enacting H.B. 183 will help take that difficult situation off their plate.”

Still, Beryl Brown Piccolantonio, a former Gahanna-Jefferson School Board president who was appointed to the House's fourth district seat earlier this year, testified in October the Gahanna board was concerned the legislation "would hurt some of our most marginalized and vulnerable students" and "impact our staff who are already under significant pressure and stress."

H.B. 183 also prohibits schools from letting students share overnight accommodations with students of the opposite "biological sex." Institutions would still be allowed to offer single-use facilities and the bill would not apply to children under 10 being assisted by a family member, or to someone helping a student with a disability.

Minna Zelch also testified in October and said her trans daughter has been using the women's restroom for years without incident. Zelch said statistics show, in cases where harassment or assault does take place, the trans person is more likely to be the victim, not the perpetrator.

"Putting aside for the moment the fact that God also made intersex people, who happen to represent a much greater percentage of the population than transgender people and are conveniently ignored in all of these arguments, a human being’s very existence is not something that should ever be up for debate," said Zelch.

However, Rep. Beth Lear (R-Galena), the bill's other primary sponsor, said during the bill’s first hearing that modern education teaches children's feelings should be "constantly affirmed," including feelings of identity regardless of whether they are "rooted in reality."

"Boys cannot become girls, and girls cannot become boys," Lear said. "The modern issue of gender is not a social construct, but the idea you can change your gender is."

The legislation marks the first statewide proposal in Ohio aiming to restrict bathroom use by trans students. However, the debate has been elevated to a federal court in Ohio after Dayton-area parents and students sued a school district for allowing trans students to use communal restrooms consistent with their gender identity.