Midwest
'Common sense': Top red state official rallies behind governor signing 'bathroom bill' into law
EXCLUSIVE: Ohio’s Republican lieutenant governor is defending his state’s recent enactment of a “bathroom bill” preventing biological males from using female bathrooms and says it is part of a cultural shift in the country where Americans are uniting on the issue.
“It’s a sad situation that in this time in life that we actually need to pass a law that says that boys should go to boys’ bathrooms and girls should go to girls’ bathrooms,” Ohio Lt. Gov. Jon Husted told Fox News Digital.
“But that indeed is the case because we have colleges and some high schools where they blurred the lines. And we need to make sure that there are safe places, particularly for young women, to go to the bathroom, be in a locker room, be in a safe place,” Husted said. “And it’s truly unbelievable that we had to pass a law to guarantee that. It’s just hard to believe that there are adults in this world who think it would be OK for boys, biological boys, to be in girls’ locker rooms.”
Husted was reacting to news that Ohio’s Republican Gov. Mike DeWine signed the Protect All Students Act, dubbed the “bathroom bill,” after the state Senate passed the bill 24-7 on a party-line vote.
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Lt. Gov. Jon Husted told Fox News Digital that Ohio’s bathroom bill is “common sense.” (Getty Images)
The bill applies to public K-12 schools and institutions of higher education. It requires schools to designate separate bathrooms, locker rooms and overnight accommodations “for the exclusive use” of either males and females, based on one’s gender assigned at or near birth, in both school buildings and facilities used for a school-sponsored event.
Husted told Fox News Digital the bill represents “common sense.”
“People really are just shocked that anyone thinks it’s OK that you would have a bathroom, that a biological male could go into a female bathroom and that you could have a locker room where a biological male could go into a female locker room,” Husted said.
“It’s just common sense in most people if you go around Ohio. That’s what everybody’s going to say to you is like, how can this really be? How can a high school do this? Well, I can assure them that I know that is indeed the case because the high school that my own daughters attend has bathrooms that boys and girls are allowed to be in at the same time,” he continued. “They have non-gendered bathrooms.”
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A person displays trans pride flags during the NYC Pride March on June 25, 2023. (Bing Guan/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
“That was something that the community fought against, that the school board then filed lawsuits so they could get variances to the building code to build bathrooms like this. And despite all of that opposition, they still went forward with it. But now we have a new law. We have a law in the state of Ohio that will protect against those kinds of things from happening.”
Ohio became the 12th state to pass an iteration of a bathroom bill and while critics like the ACLU and LGBT activist groups have voiced opposition and suggested they will challenge the law in court, Husted told Fox News Digital he is confident the bill will withstand any legal challenge.
“It’s on solid legal ground,” Husted said. “They went through the hearing process, went through the process of addressing all those questions before drafting the bill and passing it and sending it to the governor’s desk.”
“I’m 100% confident that this will stand any legal scrutiny… I want to reiterate this. It is unfortunate that we need to pass a law because the adults in the lives of these children and young women should be clearly standing up for them. They shouldn’t, we shouldn’t have to pass a law. This is common sense,” Husted continued.
Husted told Fox News Digital the bill is “about protecting the privacy of girls” and “trying to make sure that they have safe places to be” and said Americans across the United States, of both parties, are starting to unite as part of a “cultural shift” on the issue of protecting biological girls in schools and in sports.
“There absolutely was,” Husted said about the cultural shift. “Look, that was part of the last election that was run and there were hundreds of millions of dollars across the country in the presidential and congressional races spent on that. Donald Trump or Republicans would stand for you and not ‘they/them.’”
Gov. Mike DeWine speaks during a news conference, Dec. 29, 2023, in Columbus, Ohio. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)
“We all saw the ads. We all know that they were part of the conversation this last election, that people don’t believe that biological men should play women’s sports. They don’t believe that biological men should be in women’s locker rooms or bathrooms,” Husted said.
“That was clearly one of the major issues that divided Democrats and Republicans. Republicans are standing up for those protections. And I believe that you’re starting to hear even Democrats say, ‘Hey, maybe we ought to rethink this. Maybe we’re a bit out of line with this,’” he concluded. “And so I hope that in blue states that they can demonstrate that they want to protect women’s sports, they want to protect women in the privacy of bathrooms, in locker rooms. And this is exactly what I hope we’ll see across the country.”
Fox News Digital’s Michael Dorgan contributed to this report
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South Dakota Republican delegates rejected a push to censure Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) over the stalled SAVE America Act, exposing a fight within the GOP over how far the party should go to force through sweeping new voting restrictions.
South Dakota Republicans voted down a proposed censure of Thune at the state party convention Friday after a resolution accused him of blocking President Donald Trump’s election agenda.
The measure had advanced out of the party’s Resolutions Committee, but failed before the full convention.
The resolution targeted Thune for what it called “his failure in regards to the SAVE America Act,” a Republican-backed bill that would impose strict proof-of-citizenship and photo ID requirements to vote.
Voting rights advocates have warned the bill could block millions of eligible Americans from registering, especially people who do not have easy access to passports, birth certificates or documents matching their current names.
Trump has sharply escalated pressure on Republicans to pass the bill. This week, he abruptly canceled a planned signing ceremony for a bipartisan housing affordability bill, tying the unrelated legislation to his demand that Congress first pass the SAVE America Act.
“Today’s Housing News Conference and Signing is hereby cancelled until such time as we pass the desperately needed SAVE AMERICA ACT, which I consider to be a National Emergency,” Trump wrote.
The censure push reflects growing anger among Trump allies who want Senate Republicans to change or bypass filibuster rules to pass the bill. A filibuster is a Senate procedure that usually requires 60 votes to move most legislation forward. Republicans do not have those votes.
“We don’t have the votes, either to proceed to a talking filibuster nor to sustain one if we got one,” Thune said last week. “That’s just a function of math. There isn’t anything I can do about that.”
For pro-democracy advocates, the fight is not simply about Thune. It is about a broader Republican effort to turn Trump’s election denialism into federal policy. Noncitizen voting is already illegal and exceedingly rare.
But the SAVE America Act would use that false crisis to create new barriers for eligible voters.
The South Dakota vote shows the limits of MAGA pressure even in a deep-red state. Delegates were willing to debate punishing their own Senate majority leader, but ultimately rejected escalating the internal fight.
Still, the episode underscores how central voting restrictions have become to the Republican agenda ahead of the midterms.
MUKWONAGO — Just two and a half years after launching her business, Emily Koltermann has transformed a simple idea into a growing Wisconsin brand found on the shelves of local supermarkets.
Koltermann, founder of Bulk Butter, created the company after searching for a healthier alternative to traditional sweet spreads.
“Bulk Butter is a lower sugar, better-for-you sweet treat,” she said. “We start with a natural peanut butter base and add in different fun inclusions. Think of your favorite treat or candy bar added to a jar of nut butter, minus all the added sugar plus additional protein.”
Unlike many commercial nut butters, Bulk Butter starts with natural peanut butter that contains no added sugar, salt, oils or emulsifiers. From there, Koltermann adds creative mix-ins that turn the spread into a dessert-inspired snack.
“Our best seller is our Monster Cookie,” she said. “We start with just a natural peanut butter base, blend it with white chocolate and then add toppings to both the top and bottom to make for a better-for-you sweet treat.”
Koltermann said the idea was born during her years as a nationally competitive bodybuilder. While training, peanut butter remained a staple in her nutrition plan because of its healthy fats, even though many people mistakenly assume lower-calorie foods are always healthier.
Watch: Wisconsin entrepreneur builds success with Bulk Butter
From Bodybuilding to Business: Wisconsin Entrepreneur Builds Success with Bulk Butter
“A lot of people think that lower calories equate to better for you than higher calories,” she said. “But as a competitor, I had peanut butter in my plan all throughout prep. We need those healthy fats as individuals for energy, fuel and proper body function.”
After competitions, she would celebrate with a simple indulgence.
“I love peanut butter, so after competing, I would take a spoonful of peanut butter and dunk it into chocolate chips. That was my little sweet treat,” she said. “So, I thought, put it in a jar, and I kind of ran with it.”
At the time, Koltermann was balancing national bodybuilding competitions with a full-time corporate job but wanted something more fulfilling.
“I felt very unfulfilled in the corporate life, so I wanted to find something that was fulfilling while also being passionate about it,” she said.
Building the business meant long days and even longer evenings.
“I knew nothing about the whole business background, and I wanted to just jump in on something and go 10 toes to the ground,” she said. “I was working my 9-to-5 job. In the morning, I would go to the gym, train, get my cardio in, work from 9 to 5, and then after work I would go to farmers markets to launch my product.”
That hard work has paid off. What began as a farmers’ market venture has grown into a regional brand, with Bulk Butter now available in numerous local supermarkets across Wisconsin.
For Koltermann, the company’s success is rooted in offering something different.
“We wanted to find a product that was lower in sugar and didn’t have all the added oils that most nut butters do,” she said. “We took a twist on your natural nut butter and added fun inclusions. We’re very different from your standard nut butter.”
Bulk Butter: Nut Butter Treat | Handcrafted & Small-Batch
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