A fourth hearing was held on Wednesday for HB 183, a bill in the Statehouse to ban trans individuals from using multi-person restrooms and locker rooms in Ohio’s schools–kindergarten through college–that correspond to their gender identity.
Members of the state Higher Education Committee heard testimony from Reps. Beth Lear (R-Galena) and Adam Bird (R-New Richmond), the bill’s sponsors. The hearing occurred just a few hours before their full House session to override Governor Mike DeWine’s veto of HB 68, the bill that would ban gender-affirming care.
Reps. Lear and Bird introduced key changes and additions to HB 183, including:
- Renaming the bill the “Protect All Students Act.” It is still solely about bathrooms.
- Changing the definition of “biological sex” to have the exact same language as HB 68.
- Banning all colleges from constructing, establishing or maintaining a multi-occupancy facility that is designated as “nongendered, multigendered, or open to all genders.” Multiple colleges in Ohio maintain these spaces currently and HB 183 would force their redesignation.
The 40-minute hearing featured dueling Bible verses, rampant transphobia and some bizarre anecdotes.
Here are 20 of the most memorable quotes from the hearing.
1. “The bill’s title is now the ‘Protect All Students Act’”
-Rep. Lear. That’s right. This bill called the “Protect All Students Act” isn’t about guns. Or mental health. Or food insecurity. The “Protect All Students Act” is about bathrooms.
2. “This redefines the definition of biological sex to the definition used in House Bill 68.”
-Rep. Bird, openly admitting the coordinated effort to align all of Ohio’s anti-trans bills
3. “Why are you doing this?”
-Rep. Casey Weinstein (D-Hudson), asking as plainly as he could.
4. “I’m telling the truth that this is something I’m hearing from superintendents and constituents around Ohio.”
-Rep. Bird, presenting no data to inform why this bill was being brought forward.
5. “The vast majority of courts have ruled that excluding transgender students from using facilities consistent their gender identities is in fact unlawful discrimination.”
-Rep Richard Brown (D-Canal Winchester), an attorney who has practiced law for 35 years.
6. “I believe this is an issue that is important to a growing number of Americans and a growing number of Ohioans, a growing momentum in our country and in our state for bill language like this.”
-Rep. Bird, responding with his sense of Republican priorities in response to Rep. Brown’s legal concerns.
7. “There’s a song that’s based off of Matthew:25 and it basically says, ‘Whatsoever you do to the least of my people, that you do onto me.” How do you jibe this bill with the teachings you proclaim?”
-Rep. Joe Miller (D-Lorain), trying a different approach
8. “Thank you for bringing up the Christmas season and what the Bible has to say. In Luke:1, Jesus says that if you cause one of these little ones of mine to stumble it would be better for you to have a millstone hung around your neck and be thrown into the deepest sea. There are also concerns that Jesus has for children and in Genesis, He said he created them male and female.”
-Rep Lear, with dueling Bible quotes, albeit confusing ones as Jesus didn’t make an appearance in Genesis. I’m a gay Jew from New Jersey and even I know that.
9. “Do you see how we’re not separating church and state in this General Assembly? How do you feel about this bill’s religious backing and forcing the religious backing onto those in our society who may not subscribe to the Old and New Testament?”
-Rep. Miller.
10. “I don’t think we talked about what the Bible said during our testimony.”
-Rep. Bird, responding to Rep. Miller with a statement that is flat-out wrong. In the October introduction of this bill, Rep. Lear quoted the Bible extensively as motivating the creation of this bill.
11. “This bill doesn’t prescribe to the institution what the punishment will be. That’s on them.”
-Rep. Bird, responding to a question on what universities are meant to do with those who use a bathroom that corresponds to their gender-identity and not the birth certificate issued to them on or near the time of birth.
12. “We have a situation from one constituent who wanted to remain nameless so I’m not going to name this person who has a mixed-race child. Her son is very talented athletically. In his rural school, there has been an explosion of females identifying as male and using the male facilities. He has been warned by coaches and teachers that he should no longer use the male multi-occupant facility because one of those females identifying as male could accuse him of something. So he is one of the ones being forced to go into teacher’s bathrooms and nurse’s bathrooms.”
-Rep. Lear, telling a bizarre story in response to a question about what data informed this bill.
13. “The young men at one of my high schools who had two girls stay in their cabins at band camp did not feel safe. They felt violated and vulnerable.”
-Rep. Lear, pivoting to another anecdote as a source of data.
14. “We’re erasing women.”
-Rep. Lear, repeatedly and unprovoked.
15. “This is eerily reminiscent of discussions in the 50s about how white women feared Black males.”
-Rep. Miller
16. “I don’t see this bill as being racist.”
-Rep. Bird, perhaps missing the point Rep. Miller was trying to make.
17. “People who are confused about their gender.”
-Rep. Lear, in how she repeatedly refers to transgender individuals. At no point during the hearing did Rep. Lear use the word transgender, even when directly asked if she believed transgender people exist.
18. “My joint sponsor and I feel that this is of such importance that all schools need to be included.”
-Rep. Bird, admitting that private universities stood in opposition to this bill, but including them regardless. Reps. Bird and Lear repeatedly asserted that they consulted with colleges on these revisions, but would not specify which ones other than The Ohio State University, only admitting that they were all public institutions.
19. “If I had a child who thought he was a bird, am I going to take him to a doctor who lets him explore being a bird and by the way, there’s a 5-story building next door, so why don’t you see if you think he can fly.”
-Rep. Lear, in response to whether transgender people exist.
20. “That’s offensive.”
-Rep. Weinstein, concluding the meeting. 🔥
IGNITE ACTION
- Contact the members of the Higher Education committee to make your views known on HB 183.
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