A Republican lawmaker from Ohio has introduced a bill to ensure that all people in state custody will be housed according to the state’s definition of “biological sex” – even though this is already the practice in Ohio.
Rep. Josh Williams (Sylvania Twp) introduced HB 796 on March 25. The bill has not yet been referred to committee.
The text of the bill would update the current wording of the Ohio Revised Code to require Ohio prisons to separate inmates by biological sex.
This definition “biological sex” was passed by the Ohio Legislature in 2024 as part of HB 68, the SAFE Act, which banned gender-affirming care for minors in Ohio.
Just a few weeks ago, a Kentucky legislator introduced it a bill similar to the one in Ohio, segregating incarcerated people in the state based on Kentucky’s state definition of “biological sex” and prohibiting the state Department of Corrections from providing gender-affirming care.
Fight for space
In Ohio, a transgender woman has been fighting for years to be placed in a women’s shelter. Riicara Janel Diorwho transitioned in 2011 and began receiving hormones in 2020, claims she was raped in a men’s prison and is now isolated from other inmates rather than being transferred to a women’s facility, which she repeatedly requested – and was denied.
Dior’s lawsuit seeking to be placed in a women’s prison is currently pending before the Ohio Supreme Court.
Sexual assault and the Trump administration
Ohio HB 796 comes just days after the Trump administration announced a federal investigation into the matter Maine and California placing transgender women in women’s facilities. This statement is part of President Donald Trump’s ongoing crusade against transgender people, which began on February 12, 2013 the first day of the second term when he issued a series of executive orders targeting the miniature, vulnerable number of transgender people in federal custody.
One of Trump’s executive orders ordered the housing of transgender women with men and instructed the federal government to roll back protections for transgender people under the Prison Rape Elimination Act. Fulfill this mandate wellbehind schedule last year, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) issued a private memo revealing plans to remove these protections in federal, state, and local prisons; prisons; and youth correctional centers.
In another order, the Trump administration banned the federal government from funding gender-affirming care for transgender people. In response, the ACLU filed a complaint class action lawsuit against the Trump administration – even though the government did it We have already started the exchange any transitional care including therapy and antidepressants in line with the recent policy published in February.
Although the Trump administration has done this repeatedly falsely found that transgender women pose a risk to cisgender women behind bars, data from: the Department of Justice itself shows that transgender people face significantly higher rates of violence than cisgender people incarcerated. Additional studies have repeatedly demonstrated that transgender people are routinely subjected to verbal, physical and sexual violence by prison staff and other inmates.
Although the Trump administration recently withheld data on transgender people based on reports on sexual violence – the latest data from the Department of Justice published in 2014shows that almost 40% of incarcerated trans people reported being sexually assaulted in the last year.
The draft laws coincide with political ambitions
Rep. Williams is currently a candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives and hopes to challenge incumbent Republican Marcy Kaptur to represent the Ninth Congressional District in northern Ohio if he can make it out of the crowded GOP primary.
In this 2025-2026 General Assembly, since he announced his candidacy, Williams introduced 99 bills as a primary sponsorcompared to 30 bills he introduced in the General Assembly in 2023–2024.
These 97 bills include various anti-LGBTQ+ pieces of legislation, including:
- HB 249 (the “Indecent Exposure Modernization Act”), which would ban drag and gender-related performances in public spaces where minors are present.
- HB 262 to designate “Natural Family Month” to honor only heterosexual marriages with children.
- HB 693 (“The First Affirming Families Act”) to provide protections for parents who reject their transgender children.
Williams has repeatedly made clear his feelings for transgender Ohioans.
“I truly believe that there are people who believe they are the opposite sex,” Williams said during the March 11 hearing on HB 693. “I think that’s a false belief, and I think that perpetuating that false belief is harmful to our society.” 🔥
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