Colleges, K-12 schools, and other education institutions across Ohio will require people to use bathrooms that match the gender they were assigned at birth when a new state went into effect Tuesday, Feb. 25.
The “Protect All Students Act” passed with overwhelming Republican support before Gov. Mike DeWine signed it in November.
Supporters say it’ll keep people safe in private spaces. The American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio, meanwhile, called it a “cruel invasion of students’ rights to privacy” and said it goes against transgender people.
The law affects both private and public college campuses. That’s because its language essentially includes all higher education institutions registered with the state. It’s the same wording lawmakers used for an anti-hazing law passed several years ago.
“While we will comply with the legal requirements, this does not diminish our support for every member of our diverse community,” Oberlin College officials wrote in a campus-wide letter in December.
The law doesn’t outline how schools should enforce it outside of updating signage, though State Auditor Dave Yost recently threatened the Columbus City School Board with legal action if they didn’t follow the law.
Ohio is now one of more than a dozen states, including Florida and Utah, with these types of laws in place.
University of Cincinnati updates signs ahead of ‘bathroom bill’ law
Photos of new signs labeling bathrooms for “biological men” and “biological women” at the University of Cincinnati circulated on social media over the weekend.
The News Record, a student news organization, reported the university updated the language on former “single occupancy” and/or “gender neutral” bathrooms last week before the law took effect.
This move also impacts places such as residence halls as well as locker and changing rooms. Groups representing the state’s public two- and four-year schools estimated the change would cost between $30 and $100 to update one sign.
As the legislation made its way through the Statehouse last year, several Ohio colleges told Signal Ohio they hadn’t noted any related problems.
“The university’s administration has not been made aware of any issues regarding bathroom usage,” a University of Akron spokesperson said via email.
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