The Ohio House GOP folded hundreds of changes into the two-year state budget Tuesday, including several non-fiscal items further legislating sex and gender issues.
One amendment lawmakers added in says the state will recognize 鈥渙nly two sexes, male and female, which are not changeable and are grounded in fundamental and incontrovertible reality,鈥� according to the text of .
鈥淚t conforms with federal law, and it鈥檚 common sense we codify that into law and put this behind us,鈥� Rep. Brian Stewart (R-Ashville) said Tuesday afternoon. 鈥淚t鈥檚 like saying the world is round instead of flat, and we think it was warranted to be in the code, so we can put that kind of discussion behind us.鈥�
The wording of that amendment is identical to a recent federal executive order signed when President Donald Trump first reassumed the role.
When asked why the provision was put in the state鈥檚 fiscal document, House Speaker Matt Huffman (R-Lima) echoed Stewart on the need to end debate over sex and gender, saying putting a provision in the budget 鈥減revents months and months鈥� of it.
鈥淚t鈥檚 accepted science that there are two genders. If there鈥檚 some exception to that, I don鈥檛 think that means that those folks are going to lose their rights,鈥� Huffman said Wednesday.
The amended language under consideration refers directly to sex, rather than gender, though. A tiny fraction, less than 2%, of people worldwide are born with intersex traits鈥攎eaning they have a combination of male and female chromosomes or mixed genitals and other sex organs, according to the Cleveland Clinic.
鈥淭hose folks should come in and testify about the bill, then, the folks at the Cleveland Clinic you鈥檙e talking about,鈥� Huffman said.
As , HB 96 bars any state agencies from flying flags that are not the official state, American or POW MIA flags. Under another change, public libraries statewide are prohibited from having sexual orientation or gender identity content where minors would easily be able to view it.
House Minority Leader Allison Russo (D-Upper Arlington) said she thinks the broader budget is 鈥渢errible.鈥�
鈥淭his is a bunch of red meat for some of their members and it鈥檚 a distraction from all the stuff that they aren鈥檛 actually doing,鈥� Russo said Wednesday.
House Finance committee members will continue to vet the amendments in hearings this week and early next, with a full floor vote tentatively scheduled Wednesday. Then, the budget heads to the Senate, with a deadline of June 30.
