Ohio Republican implies opponents of her trans bathroom bill should be drowned

Ohio Statehouse Site

Do you think trans kids should be able to use the bathroom that aligns with their identity? This Ohio Republican fallaciously says the Bible wants you drowned.

A proposed bill in Ohio seeks to ban students from using bathrooms that align with their gender identity. Disagree with that? Its Republican author says the Bible calls for your drowning.

“In Luke 17, Jesus says that if you cause one of these little ones of mine to stumble, it would be better for you to have a millstone hung around your neck and be thrown into the deepest sea,” state Rep. Beth Lear said while defending House Bill 183 in a committee hearing.

Lear also compared transgender people to animals in her defense of the discriminatory bill, continuing: “If I had a child who thought he was a bird, am I going to take him to a doctor who tells him the best thing to do is to let him explore being a bird? And oh, by the way, there’s a five-story building next door — why don’t you jump off and see if you can fly?”

The American Medical Association, the American Psychiatric Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry all agreeing that gender-affirming care is evidence-based and medically necessary not just for adults, but minors as well.

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Lear's bill, which has not yet left committee, would force students in public institutions to use restrooms based on their sex at birth. It is the latest attack on transgender rights by conservatives in Ohio, who recently voted to override Gov. Mike DeWine's veto of another anti-LGBTQ+ bill, House Bill 68, which seeks to ban gender-affirming care for minors in the state, as well as prohibits trans girls from participating in school sports teams aligned with their identity.

The Ohio House voted to override DeWine's veto Wednesday, despite the Republican governor issuing a separate executive order to ban gender-affirming surgeries on minors in the state. Gender-affirming surgery is already rarely — virtually never — performed on minors.

The Senate is set to vote on the override January 24, which is expected to pass, as Republicans hold the supermajority in both chambers. Lear reportedly used the language in HB 68 to update her anti-trans bathroom bill when presenting it to the committee.

Lear's comparison of healthcare to "child abuse" and her fearmongering over trans people in bathrooms didn't sit well with all of her constituents, including Democratic Rep. Joseph Miller, who in turn compared her to a segregationist.

“This is eerily reminiscent of discussions in the ’50s about how white women feared Black people in the same restaurant, the same bathroom,” he said, according to journalist Erin Reed. “It’s eerily similar to the racist policies that were had in the south.”