Following the passage of a ban on gender-affirming treatment for minors, Ohio residents are requesting emergency funds to leave the state.
After Ohio’s Senate formally passed a ban on gender-affirming treatment for transgender adolescents, at least 68 people in Ohio have requested emergency funds to leave the state.
House Bill 68, which forbids trans and non-binary minors from accessing gender-affirming treatments and from competing in girls’ and women’s sports, was overridden by the Ohio Senate on Wednesday (January 24).
The Ohio Senate voted 23 to 9 to do the same and pass the bill, which will become law in 90 days, in response to the Ohio House’s earlier this month vote to override the Republican governor’s veto.
For trans people and their families living in Ohio, who had fought vehemently for the bill to be blocked, the vote is an earth-shattering blow.
Names from concerned families have now flooded local transgender advocacy group TransOhio, which earlier this month established an emergency fund to offer financial assistance to families looking to relocate or go to get gender-affirming treatment.
68 people and seven trans adults had contacted NBC News in the days leading up to the Senate to ask for money for emergency relocation, according to Dara Adkinson, director of the TransOhio board.
Adkison told the news source that “their government is forcing them to uproot their lives.”
They are closing out all of their affairs, selling their homes, and changing jobs and careers. They are shutting down their businesses and abandoning their physician offices.
It is so violent that the government is currently subjecting these families, who genuinely love their children, to such severe personal and societal pain.
Governor DeWine reiterated his veto of the bill prior to Wednesday’s vote. He did so after taking the time to speak with transgender and non-binary youth, their families, and health professionals to discuss the effects of gender-affirming care.
The Democratic minority leader had argued that the child’s parents should make medical decisions rather than the state.
However, Governor DeWine’s argument—as well as those of Ohio residents, doctors, and educators—was ignored.
Republican Sen. Kristina Roegner, one of the bill’s co-sponsors, falsely asserted that there was “no such thing” as gender-affirming care and that you “can’t affirm something that does not exist” when speaking to the Senate on Wednesday.
Major health organizations, such as the American Academy of Pediatrics, American College of Physicians, American Medical Association, World Medical Organization, and others, have all endorsed gender-affirming treatment, which has been extensively available across the US for more than ten years.
Ohio is the 22nd state to have passed legislation limiting access to gender-affirming care for trans minors, and the 24th to limit the participation of trans girls and women in women’s school sports teams.
