My alma mater Oberlin, and all colleges in Ohio (private colleges included) is going to be forced to ban trans students from using bathrooms aligned with their gender.
The Ohio legislature just passed House Bill 183, a ban on colleges allowing trans students to use bathrooms designated for their gender – that is, trans women can’t legally use women’s rooms, and trans men can’t legally use men’s rooms.
The Ohio legislature has successfully overturned vetos on anti-trans bills before, so it’s unlikely the governor can successfully veto this.
Making the bill even more spiteful, it also bans multi-gender or “anyone can use” bathrooms.
The only loophole this leaves for Oberlin, as far as I can tell, is that building “family” bathrooms that aren’t multi-occupancy (which I think means, they can only have one toilet) is still permitted.
But even if Oberlin and other colleges build plentiful “family bathrooms” so trans students always have a nearby bathroom to use – and most colleges won’t do that, I suspect – it’s still an assault on trans people’s dignity, just like having segregated bathrooms was an assault on Black people’s dignity.
To quote a well known cartoonist: Well, this sucks!
It’s a ban on trans students using the correct bathroom at ALL SCHOOLS in the state, public or private, not just colleges if my quick scan of the bill is correct.