Ohio’s Republican-led legislature overwhelmingly backed a new bill that requires people to use restrooms according to the gender they were assigned at birth.
Supporters of the measure say it’s an important safety protection for women, although the ACLU has panned it as being anti-trans. But several higher education institutions tell Signal Statewide they haven’t seen any related problems on their campuses.
“The university’s administration has not been made aware of any issues regarding bathroom usage,” a University of Akron spokesperson said via email.
The legislation is part of the larger Senate Bill 104. It addresses a state program offering high school students the opportunity to take college courses.
The section regarding bathrooms was tacked on later. It would require schools – both higher education institutions and K-12 schools – to designate bathrooms and locker rooms for single-sex use based on students’ sex assigned at birth.
The measure provides detailed instructions on how to clearly designate men’s and women’s restrooms, though it doesn’t specify how schools should police this.
Gov. Mike DeWine is expected to sign it. Ohio would then join states such as Florida and Utah with similar rules.
Lawmakers passed the measure soon after the Nov. 5 election in which Republican candidates focused on several transgender issues. They say the bill responds to some parents’ concerns about students’ safety in shared bathrooms.
Several state Democrats and the ACLU of Ohio have condemned it as anti-trans. So, too, have groups such as the Ohio Student Association, a statewide group of college student organizers.
“It is incredibly unclear how schools would go about meeting these requirements,” they wrote on an Instagram post. “Will there be some kind of officer to determine whether one looks ‘enough’ like a certain gender? What about gender non-conforming, intersex, or nonbinary people?”
Tri-C says no incidents, Ohio State ‘committed to a welcoming environment’
Signal Statewide asked several colleges a few questions, including if campuses had any reported issues and if the institutions currently have any all-gender bathrooms.
Cuyahoga Community College in Cleveland, echoing the University of Akron, wrote that there have been no “incidents or problems reported to the Office of Institutional Equity.”
Tri-C also said they have no all-gender bathrooms on any of the college’s campuses. The college’s 410 total bathrooms fall into three categories: women’s, men’s, and single-use, also known as single occupancy.
That’s an important distinction to make, since this current bill specifies that schools cannot “construct, establish, or maintain a multi-occupancy facility that is designated as nongendered, multigendered, or open to all genders.”
Again, though, the bill doesn’t outline how the state would monitor this.
Other institutions offer little insight into transgender bathroom issues on their campuses
Northeast Ohio’s Kent State University offers an online map outlining what’s called “universal restrooms” across its namesake main campus.
When asked, though, Kent State simply said it will “comply with the bill once it is signed into law and enacted.”
Officials with Northwest Ohio’s Owens Community College, meanwhile, declined to comment while the measure remains a bill.
A similar sentiment was shared from the state’s flagship institution.
“We are reviewing the legislation and are committed to a welcoming environment for all members of our community,” an Ohio State University spokesperson said via email.
This story was updated Nov. 26 to reflect the number of total bathrooms at Tri-C and to clarify that public and some private institutions are affected by the bill.