Ohio Governor Mike DeWine signed legislation Wednesday requiring students from kindergarten through college to use school bathrooms and locker rooms matching their biological sex, adding Ohio to a growing list of states restricting transgender bathroom access.
The Protect All Students Act extends to private schools and prohibits transgender students from sharing overnight accommodations with students of the opposite biological sex. The measure comes amid intensifying national debate over transgender rights, following last week’s statement from the U.S. House speaker reserving Capitol building single-sex bathrooms for “individuals of that biological sex.”
“Common sense is on a winning streak in America today,” said Aaron Baer, president of the Ohio-based Center for Christian Virtue. “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 American Civil Liberties Union, which condemned the legislation when it passed the Ohio General Assembly two weeks ago, criticized the new restrictions. “At every level of government, trans Ohioans face a wave of attacks,” the organization said Wednesday. “Such efforts are blatantly discriminatory and deeply cruel.”
Jocelyn Rosnick, policy director for the ACLU of Ohio, had earlier called the measure “a cruel invasion of students’ rights to privacy.”
Ohio becomes at least the thirteenth state to enact such restrictions. Governor DeWine’s office declined to comment on the signing.
