Hate Crimes Act
What This Bill Does
HB 306 — the Ohio Hate Crimes Act — would create enhanced criminal penalties for crimes motivated by bias against a victim's race, color, religion, national origin, disability, or sexual orientation. While the bill represents progress for hate crime legislation in Ohio, it notably excludes gender identity from its protected categories — leaving transgender Ohioans without the same protections afforded to other targeted communities.
Why This Is Classified as 'Mixed'
HB 306 is a step forward for Ohio's LGBTQ+ community in that it includes sexual orientation as a protected category — Ohio currently has no hate crimes statute covering bias based on sexual orientation. However, the deliberate exclusion of gender identity is a significant gap. Transgender individuals — particularly trans women of color — face disproportionately high rates of violent hate crimes nationally. A comprehensive hate crimes law should protect all vulnerable communities.
What's Missing
- Gender identity is excluded — transgender, nonbinary, and gender-nonconforming Ohioans are left unprotected
- The FBI's Hate Crime Statistics report shows anti-transgender bias crimes have increased steadily since 2015
- The Human Rights Campaign has tracked at least 300+ violent deaths of transgender and gender-nonconforming people since 2013
- Ohio currently has no comprehensive state hate crime law — this bill addresses part of the gap but not all of it