Drag artists and performers testified alongside other Ohioans against Ohio House Bill (HB) 249 Wednesday afternoon before members of the House Judiciary Committee.
The bill, “The Enact the Indecent Exposure Modernization Act,” would ban drag and gender performances outside of “adult cabaret” venues or in any public venue where a minor may be present.
Several notable drag performers testified against the bill, including Andrew Levitt, who performs in drag as Nina West.
The bill’s conservative Christian sponsors – Rep. Joshua Williams (R-Oregon) and Rep. Angie King (R-Celina) – have been vocal supporters of anti-LGBTQ+ legislation at the Ohio Statehouse, including the state’s blanket ban on health care for transgender youth.
Since 2023, at least 14 states have pursued similar bans on public drag and gender performance, including Tennessee – where the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear a federal court appeal and allowed the ban to remain in place.
‘Obscene’ performances already illegal
Rep. Williams was notably absent from portions of the hearing. While present, he repeatedly pressed Ohioans with the same question regarding obscene performances:
“Why do you think drag performers should be able to engage in simulated masturbation, simulated sex, in front of a minor?” he asked Levitt, who pointed to current Ohio law – which already bans obscene performances.
Under current Ohio Revised Code 2907.01, material is considered obscene if “the average person, applying contemporary community standards, finds it appeals to prurient interest, portrays sexual conduct in a patently offensive way, and lacks serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value.”
ACLU of Ohio’s Gary Daniels told lawmakers that performances that meet the definition of obscenity are already banned under two separate statutes: Disseminating Matter Harmful to Juveniles’ (2907.31) and Pandering Obscenity (2907.32).
“If this is what concerns supporters of this bill, you have at least two laws that explicitly target this type of behavior that people have been mentioning as a concern,” Daniels said. “Both of which, again, specifically, explicitly reference performances.”
“The bill is unneeded,” he told lawmakers. “The behavior that people are already talking about and say they’re concerned about is specifically covered under these two areas of Ohio law.”
Targeting transgender Ohioans in daily life
During the bill’s second hearing, public testimony from conservative Christians indicated that anti-LGBTQ+ hate groups and conservative Republicans intend to use the bill to target and criminalize transgender Ohioans – restricting their access to public gendered facilities like gendered dressing rooms or locker rooms.
The bill’s second hearing also featured public testimony in support of the bill from two anti-LGBTQ+ hate groups: Mission America and the Columbus-based Center for Christian Virtue (CCV), which is a primary driver of anti-LGBTQ+ legislation at the Ohio Statehouse.
HB 249 specifically bans “performers or entertainers who exhibit a gender identity that is different from the performer’s or entertainer’s biological sex using clothing, makeup, prosthetic or imitation genitals or breasts, or other physical markers…”
However, a section of the bill that substitutes the phrase “private part” for “private area” would help criminalize trans and gender-non-conforming people who use gendered public facilities to change clothing during ordinary daily life.
During previous public testimony, CCV policy executive director David Mahan conflated transgender people who use gendered public facilities like dressing rooms and locker rooms with drag artists who perform on stage at public entertainment venues.
He cited a separate anti-transgender incident that occurred in 2022, when Greene County resident Janell Holloway filed a lawsuit after she saw a nude transgender woman using the public locker room at a YMCA in the rural community of Xenia.
Ultimately, a municipal court judge found the transgender person not guilty of public indecency, but Mahan said HB 249 would help change that legal outcome for other transgender people going forward.
“This bill would prevent judges from being able to do that in the future,” Mahan said.
‘Touching on the real target’
The incident speaks to larger concerns around policing gender in public spaces
Melody Wojno – who performs drag as Maelstrom West – provided extensive public testimony, taking questions from both Democratic and Republican committee members.
While attempting to ask Wojno a question about the incident at the Xenia YMCA, Williams misgendered the transgender person involved in the case.
Wojno corrected him repeatedly.
“If we’re forced to be respectful, you should be too, Representative,” she said.
After falling silent for several seconds, he responded:
“You will not compel speech from me.”
“I think we’re finally touching on the real target. This is a bill disguised as a drag ban that targets trans individuals,” Wojno said following the interaction. “Those other things are performances. My life is not a performance.”
Director of public policy Planned Parenthood Advocates of Ohio and Planned Parenthood of Greater Ohio Danielle Firsich also testified against the bill.
During a fiery exchange with Williams and Rep. D.J. Swearingen (R-Huron), Firsich pointed to recent allegations of child sexual abuse against Rep. Rodney Creech (R-West Alexandria), who is a co-sponsor of the bill.
“I also don’t want to be lectured about when it comes to what is obscene and what is not to children,” Firsich said. “You have a man who was just put back on his committees, who was accused of sexual misconduct with a minor who is a sponsor on this bill.”
Creech was accused of crawling into bed with a minor while erect and partially clothed. He has since denied the allegations, calling them “political in nature.”
Further, Firsich called attention to the bill’s second primary sponsor, Rep. Angie King (R-Celina), who protested an LGBTQ+ Pride event alongside members of neo-Nazi group the Aryan Freedom Network in 2023.
Anti-transgender laws in Nazi Germany
Historians note that transgender people were targeted, imprisoned and killed using similar public and sexual decency laws in Germany under Nazi rule.
Holocaust historian and author Dr. Jake Newsome pointed to state restrictions around drag and gender non-conformity as an indicator of fascist political ideology.
During the Weimar era, public and public decency laws already existed in Paragraph 183 of German Criminal Code, which forbade “sexual self-determination.” However, the rule was rarely enforced, and trans and gender-non-conforming people maintained intricate social support networks and a rich cultural community.
With the public support of groundbreaking Berlin-based sexologist Dr. Magnus Hirschfield, some transgender people were issued “transvestite passes” by law enforcement, allowing them to move freely through daily life while “crossdressing,” despite laws restricting the behavior.
After German Chancellor Adolf Hitler revoked the certificates in 1933, Nazi officers increasingly used Paragraph 183 to arrest and imprison transgender people accused of violating both public nuisance statutes and sexual decency laws at their own discretion. 🔥
Ignite Action
- The Buckeye Flame’s Ohio LGBTQ+ legislation guide for 2025 can be found here.
- To register to vote or to check your voter eligibility status in the state of Ohio, click here.
- To find contact information for your Ohio state representative, click here.
- To find contact information for your Ohio state senator, click here.
- If you are a young LGBTQ+ person in crisis, please contact the Trevor Project: 866-4-U-Trevor.
- If you are an transgender adult in need of immediate help, contact the National Trans Lifeline: 877-565-8860
- To learn more about Jake Newsome’s work as a public historian, or to purchase his book, “Pink Triangle Legacies: Coming Out in the Shadow of the Holocaust,” click here.
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