Ohio GOP State Rep. Bill Dean sole vote against closing spousal rape loophole: ‘That’s a great vote!’

The Ohio House of Representatives passed a bill to close a rape loophole by a margin of 74-1, with state Rep. Bill Dean (R-Xenia) being the only opposing lawmaker.

Current Ohio law allows people to rape their spouses with little consequence, which the bipartisan House Bill 161 aims to close. But Dean does not agree that a man can rape his wife.

“I personally don’t believe that a man, if he’s married and has physical relations with his wife, that can be considered rape,” Dean told USA TODAY. “I also know that if they’re living apart or they’re divorced and stuff sure, that’d be rape. I think this law can be used as a wedge between husband and wife and families and a husband and wife’s relationship.”

When confronted by journalist and The Rooster writer D.J. Byrnes, Dean called it “a great vote,” said “somebody had to vote no” and bizarrely asked Byrnes if he was a “pervert.”

State Rep. Bill Dean (R-Xenia), the only State Representative who voted against ending Ohio’s spousal exceptions to rape, called it “a great vote” while saying “somebody had to vote no” and that he didn’t believe a husband could rape his wife in their shared home. pic.twitter.com/FC4o0oLP9X

— The Rooster (@rooster_ohio) November 29, 2023

Dean was a licensed plumber for 30 years before getting elected to public office in 2016. He penned an abortion ban bill in 2019 and condemned the Issue 1 ballot measure — which enshrined reproductive rights into state law — as “dangerously vague.”

Last month, Dean also garnered attention during an anti-transgender piece of legislation where he essentially labeled himself a pervert.

During a debate on anti-trans legislation, Ohio State Rep. Bill Dean (R) says he knows why “men want to go into women’s restrooms.”

“I know because I am a man … It’s because they’re a bunch of perverts.”

Rep. Dean is ruled out of order as the crowd of bill supporters laughs. pic.twitter.com/eTkVeSHZ3K

— Heartland Signal (@HeartlandSignal) October 18, 2023