Parents of LGBTQ+ teens are worried about their kids’ safety after the Ohio House passed a bill banning transgender students from using the bathrooms that align with their identity.
“I worry about the safety of my kids every day,” Sam Shim, parent of two transgender teens, said.
Both of his kids are in high school — and he is worried about how the newly passed bill will impact their lives.
“Kids like my own are going to be targeted even more so and they’re going to be alienated,” Shim said.
State Reps. Adam Bird (R-New Richmond) and Beth Lear (R-Galena) introduced House Bill 183, which requires all public schools and all colleges to mandate that students can only use the bathroom or locker room that matches their sex and gender assigned at birth.
“Many Ohioans are wondering why we even have to do a bill like this because it is such a common sense issue,” Bird told me in an interview.
Close to 11 p.m. on Wednesday, H.B. 183 was added to the uncontroversial and unrelated Senate Bill 104 as an amendment on the House floor.