Gov. Nearly all of Mike DeWine’s Democratic colleagues supported the bill, but some LGBTQ and child health advocates opposed it. The legislation DeWine vetoed would have prohibited trans children from participating in girls’ sports and restricted access for transgender children under the age of 18 to some gender-related medical procedures.
“In the end, I think this is about preserving lives,” DeWine said, describing “gut-wrenching decisions that should be made by parents” and informed by doctors and medical experts, “Some parents told me their child may be dead now if they did not receive this care.”
DeWine argued that these decisions should be made by the parents who are closest to their children rather than the state.
Clinics in Ohio have emphasized that they do not perform gender-reassignment procedures on children. DeWine, however, stated that he wants to create state regulations to make sure that Ohio’s minors are not subjected to gender transition surgery.
Ohio politicians’ remarks regarding House Bill 68
The bill was passed earlier this month by Conservative Republicans who control the Ohio House and Senate. Many Republican lawmakers believed that children under the age of 18 shouldn’t be allowed to receive therapies that they might later regret. Some also openly questioned the science of gender-affirming care.
Sen. Terry Johnson (R-McDermott) stated that some treatments being given to transgender youth now could have negative effects 10, 15, or 20 years from now.
Johnson declared, “I stand here today and declare that I don’t feel comfortable with the scientific evidence.”
However, the first legislator who was openly queer to hold the position of Senate Minority Leader disagreed. Sen. Nickie Antonio (D-Lakewood) stated that she is anticipating the day when she will no longer believe that the LGBTQ community is the target of the legislature’s war.
“There isn’t a closet big enough to send us all back to, as I’ve already told you all. We’re certainly staying,” Antonio declared.
The bill’s sponsor, Rep. Gary Click (R-Vickery), who is also a Baptist pastor, said the legislation is required “because health organizations have found it difficult, if not impossible, to self-regulate in areas that are so obviously driven by politics.”
Support for the bill was vastly outweighed by criticism.
Agencies and witnesses who testified in favor of the bill were vastly outnumbered by those who did not. Families of trans kids and trans people themselves who expressed regret over choosing to receive sex reassignment treatments were among the supporters of the policy who testified.
Some claimed that their spiritual or religious beliefs, such as those of the Catholic Conference of Ohio and Ohio Values Voters, led them to support the bill. It is difficult to change a child’s sex, according to John Stover of Ohio Values Voters. He testified that a person can only have one type of DNA at birth, either male or female, and that no amount of surgery can change the DNA of an unborn child. Children under the age of 18 are too young, according to him, to have gender-altering surgery.
According to Nick Lashutka, president and CEO of the Ohio Children’s Hospital Association, 65% of adolescents who receive treatment at their facilities are not given any prescription medications, and their facilities do not perform any surgeries on them for gender dysphoria. Additionally, he claimed that all gender dysphoria treatments require parental consent and that this policy “uses misleading information to strip away parental rights and impose pseudoscientific-based limitations on pediatric health care professionals.”
The legislation was also criticized by medical professionals and institutions, such as Nationwide Children’s Hospital, Cincinnati Children’s, and Akron Children’s Hospital.
Parents and Transgender activists were among the more than 240 individuals who testified against the bill. The policy may be psychologically damaging to trans children who are already at a higher risk of suicide than cisgender children, according to testimony from the Ohio Psychiatric Physicians Association, Ohio Psychological Association, and various similar organizations.
In court, related regulations are being contested.
Children under the age of 18 are now prohibited from receiving gender-affirming care in at least 22 different states. However, courts have overturned those rules in at least six of them, claiming that they violate the 14th Amendment’s promise of equal protection under the Constitution. Laws prohibiting such treatment, according to some courts, even violate a parent’s right to choose their children’s care.
It’s entirely possible that this act would have ended up in court if it had been passed into law.
This might not be the bill’s final action.
Ohio lawmakers might be able to override the veto. The policy was approved with a supermajority that was veto-proof. However, overriding a veto is different from voting to pass legislation, so some politicians may object to the idea of defying the governor. It is not anticipated that politicians will reconvene until mid-January.
Lt. Governor Jon Husted, who is vying to take the place of the term-limited DeWine in 2026, expressed the same opinion of HB 68 on social media on Thursday. Husted declared: “Men shouldn’t participate in women’s sports. When you’re a child, you shouldn’t make permanent medical decisions about gender. I’m hoping Ohio can pass the SAFE Act.”
