Ohio House Bill 96

This dangerous anti-LGBTQ+ bill has been passed by the Ohio House and Senate.

Author

Shane Blackheart
June 27, 2025

This is not my atypical newsletter, but it was too important to not sound the alarm about. I’ve only seen two, three places now reporting on this bill in Ohio, House Bill 96, and all three are local queer organizations. Not a very wide reach.

I dug into this bill myself, despite not knowing much about ‘legalese’ or ever having dug into something like this before, but you don’t need to know anything fancy to understand this vaguely-worded bit of legislation. It’s so vague, in fact, it’s even more dangerous for it. It’s also painfully ignorant, and many I’ve interacted with in the past few hours have wondered just how these people were even elected to govern; they don’t seem to understand very basic science.

There is a lot more to this bill that is alarming, including taking funds from schools to give to a new Browns stadium (because that’s what tax payers really care about, not public schools!), but I’m going to focus on what I understand for the sake of being as accurate as possible. I can’t pretend to understand things addressing finances because I have dyscalculia, so I won’t address those. You can, however, look at the bill for yourself in its entirety here.

First, Ohio is only recognizing sex assigned at birth, male or female. You can get in trouble for stating otherwise on documents, I imagine. I may need to change my state ID back. (Someone brought to my attention that Equality Ohio has stated they were able to strike down this part, but I haven’t been able to find any details or any confirmation of that other than Equality Ohio’s self-reported statement.)

Sec. 9.05. (A) As used in the Revised Code: (1) "Boy" means a juvenile human male. Am. Sub. H. B. No. 96 136th G.A. 15 (2) "Female" means a person belonging, at conception, to the sex that produces the large reproductive cell. (3) "Gender identity" means an individual's internal and subjective sense of self, disconnected from biological reality and sex and existing on an infinite continuum, that does not provide a meaningful basis for identification and cannot be recognized as a replacement for sex. (4) "Girl" means a juvenile human female. (5) "Male" means an individual belonging, at conception, to the sex that produces the small reproductive cell. (6) "Man" means an adult human male. (7) "Sex" means the biological indication of male and female, including sex chromosomes, naturally occurring sex hormones, gonads, and nonambiguous internal and external genitalia present at birth, without regard to an individual's psychological, chosen, or subjective experience of gender. (8) "Woman" means an adult human female. (B) It is the policy of the state of Ohio to recognize two sexes, male and female. These sexes are not changeable and are grounded in fundamental and incontrovertible reality.

Libraries will be required to hide all LGBTQ+ material away from public facing places where people under 18 could see it. This means my book, Everything Is Wonderful Now, will be hidden in the back of the library. Every LGBTQ+ book will be hidden, even children's books.

Sec. 3375.47. A public library created under Chapter 3375. of the Revised Code shall place material related to sexual orientation or gender identity or expression in a portion of the public library that is not primarily open to the view of persons under the age of eighteen.

This one is ridiculously disgusting. Ohio will defund youth homeless shelters if they support transgender youth. Ohio legislators, Brian Stewart especially (a primary sponsor of this bill), care more about how a child or teen identifies than making sure they aren't dying on the street.

YOUTH HOMELESSNESS Of the foregoing appropriation item 440672, Youth Homelessness, $250,000 in each fiscal year shall be distributed to the Star House for its Drop-In Centers and its Carol Stewart Village, or its other expansion projects, to provide services to homeless youth. Of the foregoing appropriation item 440672, Youth Homelessness, shall be used to address homelessness in youth and pregnant women by providing assertive outreach to provide stable housing, including recovery housing. No funds shall be distributed to youth shelters that promote or affirm social gender transition, in which an individual goes from identifying with and living as a gender that corresponds to the individual's biological sex to identifying with and living as a gender different from the individual's biological sex.

Medicaid funds cannot be used for any mental health services that even just support someone transitioning or their gender identity. This is vague as hell. Since my psychiatrist supports my transition, which is heavily documented, I could lose access to her and my psychiatric medications by proxy.

SECTION 333.13. SOCIAL GENDER TRANSITION To the extent permitted by federal law, no funds appropriated in Section 333.10 of this act shall be distributed for mental health services that promote or affirm social gender transition, in which an individual goes from identifying with and living as a gender that corresponds to the individual's biological sex to identifying with and living as a gender different from the individual's biological sex.

Please talk about this. Please sound the alarm. It's on governor Mike DeWine's desk right now to be signed. He's a Republican and historically has caved to pressure from the Trump administration.

I sent an email to DeWine's office addressing these points with facts and personal relatability. It only took a few minutes. I also mentioned how the vague nature of these points can be interpreted too widely, which could lead to further discrimination.

We only have until June 30th to contest this. You can send a message asking DeWine to veto this bill here.

I am frightened. I won’t pretend I’m not. This bill is extremely dangerous in the way it has left too much room for interpretation. By targeting homeless children and teens especially, it shows the absolute cruelty Republicans will resort to. These people do not have hearts. They do not care for anything other than what might line their pockets with money.

If you are transgender or you are a parent of a transgender child who lives in Ohio, or in another state that is unsafe for transgender people, there is a handy map here that shows which states have enacted ‘shield laws’ protecting transgender rights, which makes it a little easier to know where to go if you are considering relocating.

By the time you read this, there may have been some updates. There may be good news or the worst may have passed. I truly hope this shameful time in America goes by quickly and we make it through this. Until then, I’ll leave you with a bit of queer joy that made me smile today. Even through the bad, we have to find time to pause and experience community. Sometimes just seeing queer joy can be enough to keep you going.

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