Transgender students in Ohio will be barred from using multiperson bathrooms aligning with their gender identities at public and private K-12 schools and colleges, under legislation signed into law last week by Gov. Mike DeWine.
The Protect All Students Act — effective Feb. 24, 2025 — requires that students must use facilities such as restrooms, locker rooms and overnight accommodations that are aligned with their sex assigned at birth. The ban applies to schools and any related school-sponsored activities.
“We are grateful to the Governor for doing what is right and what is best for all Ohio students in kindergarten through college,” said Ohio Rep. Beth Lear, who sponsored the bill. “The Protect All Students Act will keep our children safe from exposure to the opposite sex while in private spaces.”
Ohio has become the 14th state to enact such bathroom bans for transgender students in K-12.
Equality Ohio, a nonprofit that advocates for LGBTQ+ rights in the state, released a statement denouncing S.B. 104’s enactment, saying that the law endangers trans students’ safety.
“We are deeply disappointed that Governor DeWine has allowed this dangerous bill to become law that puts vulnerable trans youth at risk for abuse and harassment,” said Dwayne Steward, executive director at Equality Ohio, in a statement.
Bathroom use based on gender identity remains a controversial issue for schools nationally. Earlier this year, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to consider a case about an Indiana school district’s policies barring transgender students from using bathrooms aligning with their gender identities.
Some school administrators and attorneys had hoped that case, if addressed by the Supreme Court, could have settled the question of whether transgender students are entitled to Title IX federal anti-sex discrimination protections when accessing facilities that differ from their sex assigned at birth.
According to the first nationally representative survey data on transgender students, released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in October, about 3% of the nation’s high school students are transgender, and another 2.2% say they are questioning their gender.
The survey also found that transgender and questioning students had higher rates of skipping school and of experiencing bullying and poor mental health — and the lowest rates of school connectedness — when compared to their cisgender peers.
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