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Ohio lawmakers pass bill restricting transgender student access to bathrooms
The Ohio Senate on Wednesday approved a ban on transgender students using bathrooms that fit their gender identities and sent the measure to Republican Gov. Mike DeWine.
The Republican-backed bill applies to public K-12 schools and institutions of higher education. It requires the schools to designate separate bathrooms, locker rooms and overnight accommodations “for the exclusive use” of either males and females, based on one’s gender assigned at or near birth, in both school buildings and facilities used for a school-sponsored event.
The legislation would not apply to school employees, emergencies or people helping young children or those with disabilities, and schools would still be able to provide single-use and family bathroom facilities.
State Sen. Jerry Cirino, a Kirtland Republican, said the bill “is about safety and security.”
The ACLU of Ohio urged the governor not to sign the measure, which it condemned as a violation of the right of privacy of LGBTQ+ Ohioans that will make them less safe.
“We are closely considering next steps,” the ACLU said on social media.
“If allowed to go into effect, SB 104 will create unsafe environments for trans and gender non-conforming individuals of all ages,” Jocelyn Rosnick, the group’s policy director, said in a statement. “This bill ignores the material reality that transgender people endure higher rates of sexual violence and assaults, particularly while using public restrooms, than people who are not transgender.”
Transgender and gender-nonbinary teens who were subject to restroom or locker room restrictions had a higher prevalence of sexual assault, according to a 2019 study published in the journal Pediatrics. About 36% of surveyed teens reported sexual assault, the study found.
The Center for Christian Virtue commended legislators for passing the bill and called on DeWine to sign it. The governor has said he’s inclined to sign the bill, but will conduct a legal review first.
“Today is a huge victory for children and families in Ohio,” CCV Policy Director David Mahan said in a statement. “Amended SB104 is common-sense legislation that will guarantee the only people entering young ladies’ private spaces are female, not men claiming to be female.”
At least 11 states have adopted laws barring transgender girls and women from girls’ and women’s bathrooms at public schools, and in some cases other government facilities.
The laws are in effect in Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Tennessee and Utah. A judge’s order putting enforcement on hold is in place in Idaho.
Ohio House Republicans attached the measure to a proposal regarding Ohio’s college credit program for high school students before passing it in June, much to the chagrin of one of the Democratic state senators who had signed on as a co-sponsor.
Sen. Catherine Ingram, of Cincinnati, said she was taking her name off the bill.
Senate Democratic Leader Nickie Antonio said she couldn’t believe Republican leaders prioritized the bill on their first day back following the November election.
“There should be no exception to liberty and justice for all, yet here we are telling our children that there are people who are less-than,” she said. “This bill is not about bathrooms. It’s about demonizing those who are different, and our children are watching and listening to the fearmongering.”
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4,000 miners cut off from supplies in underground standoff over illegal mining in South Africa
Johannesburg — More than 4,000 miners locked in a standoff with South African authorities over illegal mining were believed to be sick and increasingly weak inside an abandoned mine shaft Thursday. South African police confirm the partly decomposed body of one miner had been brought to the surface from inside the Stilfontein mine in the country’s North West province Thursday morning.
Five of the unlicensed miners were pulled out alive Wednesday, all of them appearing frail and weak after apparently being underground for several months.
Illegal miners — known locally as Zama Zama — are often men from neighboring countries who come to South Africa without the paperwork necessary to find legal work. Many say they have no choice but to go underground and work in illegal mines to make a living.
EMMANUEL CROSET/AFP/Getty
South Africa’s abandoned gold mines are often targeted by illegal miners looking for gold and other minerals left behind by the previous commercial operations.
Khumbudzo Ntshavheni, a senior government official who holds the role of Minister in the Presidency, told journalists on Wednesday that authorities would not help the Zama Zamas in the Stilfontein mine, but would instead “smoke them out.”
“We will not send help to criminals. We are not sending help. We will smoke them out. They are not to be helped but persecuted. We didn’t send them there and they didn’t go down there for the good intentions of the country, so we cannot help them,” she said. “When they come out, we will arrest them.”
South African police and military forces leading the operation to detain the illegal miners and shut down the operation — dubbed Vala Umgodi (Close the Hole) — decided this week to block all entrances to the mine to prevent any more food being carried underground. More than 1,000 men have come to the surface and been arrested since the operation began several weeks ago.
EMMANUEL CROSET/AFP/Getty
Those who’ve resurfaced have said they were below ground for several months.
David Van Wyk, a mining analyst and researcher at the Bench-Marks Foundation, said Thursday on a local radio show that he believed Ntshavheni “should read the constitution, and the right to life is sacrosanct, regardless of who you are.”
“People have a right to a fair trial, and you can’t say they are criminal without a fair trial,” said Van Wyk.
Volunteers who have helped bring some of the weakened miners to the surface have also carried up letters up from those still underground. Many have said in the letters that they simply don’t have the strength to come up.
Some of the volunteers have reported a strong smell of rotting flesh underground.
Local community members have been protesting outside the mine, carrying placards reading: “Free our Brothers,” and shouting that family members have been trapped underground for months.
Just outside the mine’s entrance, several woman have been cooking food in large pots to offer to any miners who do come to the surface.
“I am working here, but I am not bothering any human,” said one of the Zama Zama, who wouldn’t give his name but said he was in the mine for several months. “I am just feeding my family.”
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4,000 miners cut off from supplies in underground standoff over illegal mining in South Africa
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4,000 miners cut off from supplies in underground standoff over illegal mining in South Africa
Jaleel White on his new book, “Growing Up Urkel” and life after “Family Matters”