Conservative lawmakers said they will use the bill to target transgender Ohioans who use public locker rooms
H.L. Comeriato at The Buckeye Flame, via The Advocate:
Members of the Ohio House voted Wednesday to advance the state’s ban on public drag and gender performance. Ohio House Bill (HB) 249 – which received three committee hearings rife with anti-LGBTQ+ and anti-transgender disinformation – will now head to the Senate. The bill passed the House by a vote of 63-30, largely along party lines: Rep. Jamie Callender (R-Concord) broke ranks to vote against the bill. If passed, “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. Public performances that meet the definition of obscenity are already banned under Ohio law.
Anti-LGBTQ+ language in the bill would disproportionately affect LGBTQ+ performers, heavily restricting “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 …” Additionally, a separate section of the bill that substitutes the phrase “private part” for “private area” would also help criminalize trans and gender non-conforming people who use gendered public facilities during daily life.
Targeting transgender Ohioans
HB 249’s primary sponsor – conservative Christian Rep. Josh Williams (R-Oregon) – said the bill would stop transgender Ohioans from using gendered public facilities like locker rooms to change their clothing. Williams repeatedly referenced an anti-transgender incident that occurred at a YMCA in Xenia, Ohio, in which a transgender person was sued after she attempted to change her clothing in a gendered communal locker room. The incident was not part of a drag or gender performance. Ultimately, a judge found the transgender person not guilty of public indecency. However, both Williams and David Mahan – policy executive director for Columbus-based anti-LGBTQ+ hate group the Center for Christian Virtue (CCV) – said the bill would prevent judges from ruling that way in future cases. The bill’s co-sponsor, Rep. Angie King (R-Celina), discussed the lawsuit at length ahead of the full House vote. Brown Piccolantonio told lawmakers the removal of the language would “[clarify] that the bill is not meant to target anyone with an appearance that does not match their sex assigned at birth by simply removing the language about dressing in a manner inconsistent with ‘biological sex.’”
In 2023, lawmakers in Arkansas gutted a similar drag ban bill, heavily amending it to exclude language targeting performers who exhibit gender identities different from the sex assigned to them at birth “using clothing, makeup, or other accessories that are traditionally worn by members of and are meant to exaggerate the gender identity of the performer’s opposite sex.”
Ohio House of Representatives passes vile anti-drag/anti-trans bill HB249.
See Also:
Them: Ohio House Passes Bill That Would Effectively Ban Drag
