The state of Ohio is getting closer to outlawing gender-affirming medical care for minors and preventing transgender students from playing women’s and girls’ sports.
Republicans-backed legislation that would fundamentally alter the daily lives of LGBTQ youth in Ohio passed the state Senate on Wednesday in spite of strong opposition from educators, parents, and medical professionals who view the legislation as cruel and possibly fatal.
A comprehensive bill that would prohibit gender-affirming care for minors and prevent transgender student athletes from competing in girls’ and women’s sports was approved by state senators by a vote of 24 to 8. Sen. Nathan Manning of Northeast Ohio, the lone Republican, voted “no” alongside Democrats.
On Wednesday night, the Republican-controlled House approved a few amendments made by the Senate and forwarded the bill to Republican Governor Mike DeWine for final approval. DeWine has not indicated if he intends to sign it. He had previously voiced doubts regarding the sports prohibitions, arguing that it was best for individual sports organizations to make such decisions.
The governor’s office will not comment on the legislation until it has been carefully examined, according to DeWine’s spokesperson, Dan Tierney.
The bill would forbid minors in Ohio from obtaining gender reassignment surgery, other hormone therapies, or puberty blockers, all of which would further align a minor with their gender identity.
A clause that would have required children receiving gender affirming care to cease treatment or leave the state in order to receive it was changed by an amendment that was added this week. The most recent iteration of the bill permits any minor who resides in Ohio and is presently receiving care to complete that care.
Despite the fact that these treatments have been around for more than ten years and are supported by many major medical associations, more than twenty states have passed laws restricting or outlawing them since 2021. These states are the target of lawsuits, but the courts have rendered conflicting decisions.
A federal judge in Arkansas overturned the country’s first law, citing a violation of transgender youths’ and their families’ due process rights related to the care ban. While such legislation is currently permitted or is soon to go into effect in seven other states, courts have blocked its enforcement in three of those states.
Additionally, the proposal would forbid transgender girls and women from playing sports for girls’ and women’s teams and mandate that public K–12 schools and universities create separate teams for male and female students.
Transgender athletes are prohibited from participating on K–12 and collegiate sports teams in at least 20 states. A proposed rule from President Joe Biden’s administration, which is expected to be finalized early in the new year, would overturn those bans. The groundbreaking federal gender equity law known as Title IX, which was passed in 1972, is violated by the rule, which was unveiled in April.
The proposal would make it more difficult for educational institutions to prohibit, say, a transgender elementary school girl from participating in girls basketball. However, it would also give schools the freedom to create rules that forbid trans athletes from participating on teams with higher levels of competition, provided that those rules are intended to maintain equity or avoid sports-related injuries.
Proponents argue that prohibiting transgender athletes from participating in girls’ and women’s sports preserves the integrity of those sports and ensures fairness, and that Ohio’s transgender care measure is about protecting children because they cannot provide “informed consent” for gender-affirming care and may be pressured to make decisions that they later come to regret.
Hundreds of opponents, including educators, parents of transgender children, mental health and medical professionals, faith leaders, and transgender people themselves, have testified against the bill, calling it cruel, life-threatening for transgender youth, and founded more on fear than scientific evidence.
Additionally, parents claim that the bill completely destroys their freedom to choose the best medical care for their transgender children.
However, a Republican senator from Lima, Matt Huffman, stated on Wednesday that approving the bill would be equivalent to endorsing policies that forbid parents from physically abusing or providing illegal drugs to their kids.
“There is no doubt that a child’s parents are the ones who make the majority of their decisions. However, in some cases, it’s critical for the government to intervene and safeguard the child, according to Huffman.
However, Toledo Democrat Sen. Paula Hicks-Hudson contended that the bill would only harm young transgender people.
“We acknowledge that the trials and trauma that our youth must endure are of a great variety. Sadly, this legislature is going to add even more trauma to that,” Hicks-Hudson stated earlier on Wednesday during a committee meeting.
Samantha Hendrickson is a statehouse news initiative corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America program. Report for America is a nonprofit national service initiative that places journalists in local newsrooms to cover stories that receive little media attention.
