On March 26, 2026, the Ohio House of Representatives passed House Bill 249, the "Indecent Exposure Modernization Act," by a vote of 63-32 — nearly party-line, with only one Republican (Rep. Jamie Callender of Concord) voting no. Sponsored by Rep. Angie King (R-Celina) and Rep. Josh Williams (R-Sylvania Twp.) with 42 Republican cosponsors, the bill creates a new offense of "unlawful adult cabaret performance" restricting performances deemed obscene to adults-only venues. But the bill's language modifications extend far beyond drag shows, redrawing the line of what constitutes criminal exposure in ways that critics say could criminalize ordinary women's clothing.
Key Changes
The bill modifies Ohio's public indecency statute by replacing the term "private parts" with "private area," defined as genitals, the pubic area, buttocks, or the female breast below the top of the areola — whether nude or covered by an undergarment. Mothers who are breastfeeding are exempt.
The critical word "undergarment" is left undefined. Because the new statute criminalizes exposure of "private areas" even when covered by an undergarment — and does not define what constitutes an undergarment — the law's reach is ambiguous by design.
Critics' Concerns
Equality Ohio warned the bill was "vague and could subject cheerleaders, artists and anyone wearing a sports bra to criminal charges." By replacing "private parts" (which requires actual exposure of specific body parts) with "private area" (which includes completely covered regions), criminal liability would no longer depend on visibility of body parts — effectively policing what women wear rather than what they expose.
Potential scenarios under the new language include:
Pattern
West Virginia passed a similar law in March 2026. Substack writer Andra Watkins — who covers Project 2025 and Christian nationalist legislation — analyzed the Ohio bill as part of a broader pattern connecting informal religious dress codes to legally enforceable modesty standards, tracing the legislative lineage from evangelical purity culture through state-level criminalization.
Center for Christian Virtue Connection
The Center for Christian Virtue (CCV), Ohio's largest Christian public policy organization, praised HB 249 as "common-sense legislation." CCV hosted Kevin Roberts — head of Project 2025 — as a keynote speaker at their Essential Summit. The SPLC lists CCV as a hate group. The ACLU of Ohio warned the bill "shifts power from the individual to the observer to decide how that individual's identity should be expressed."
Rep. Mark Sigrist (D-Grove City) called the bill "performative neutrality" masking discrimination: "Let's be honest about what this bill does. It singles out our neighbors and tells them: you are different, and you are not welcome in our community."