State Representative Beth Lear (R) recently told AFR the bill was originally introduced by state Representative Kris Jordan (R), who tragically passed away just a couple of months into his term in 2023.
She picked it up and carried it after that because "we were seeing an increase in the number of boys and men who were using girls' facilities in schools and colleges."
Girls, their parents, and superintendents were asking the state for help because the Biden-Harris administration was supporting mixing boys and girls in private spaces.
"In order to have some power to say no to that, they were coming to their state legislators and saying, 'Please help,'" Rep. Lear accounted. "We did manage to get that bill passed as an amendment to another bill on the last day before summer break, on June 26th. So, it's over in the Senate waiting for them to come back in the fall."
When the time comes, the debate does not have to be long.
"House Bill 183 was added to a Senate bill that had already passed, Senate Bill 204," the representative detailed. "All they have to do in the Senate is bring it up in their session and vote 'yes, we agree to add the amendment,' or 'no, we don't.'"
"It could be very quick, and we pray that it is," Lear said.
The Protect All Students Act requires all public and chartered nonpublic schools, educational service centers, and institutions of higher education in the state to designate specified facilities for the exclusive use of students of either the male biological sex or the female biological sex.
Senate Bill 204 makes it an unlawful discriminatory practice under Ohio's Civil Rights Law to discriminate against an individual because of traits associated with the individual's race.
