House Bill 68, which would have prohibited transgender athletes from participating in girls’ and women’s sports in high school and college in Ohio, was vetoed by Ohio Governor Mike DeWine on Friday.
According to the proposed legislation, it would be against the law for healthcare professionals to perform gender reassignment surgery on children under the age of 18 and to administer cross-sex hormones or puberty-blocking medication to them in order to help them transition. The bill also mandates that collegiate and high school sports teams be classified as male, female, or co-ed. House Bill 68 combines and revises the Save Women’s Sports Act and the Save Adolescents from Experimentation (SAFE) Act.
The veto message from DeWine read:
“In the end, I think this is about preserving human life. Many parents have admitted to me that if their child hadn’t received the care they received from an Ohio children’s hospital, they would not be alive today. Those who are presently adults have even told me that if not for this care, they would have committed suicide when they were teens. Everything they have experienced in life could always prepare them for this incredibly difficult journey, as so many of these young people and their families have even told me. None of us should underestimate the seriousness or complexity of the decisions that parents are making regarding their child, the most important thing in their lives.”
Kelley Robinson, president of the Human Rights Campaign, added in response to the veto:
“Lawmakers shouldn’t meddle in decisions that should be made by parents, their children, and their doctors,” according to Ohioans. Politicians shouldn’t make it more difficult for transgender children to feel loved and accepted; otherwise, families, schools, and physicians should all do everything in their power to do so. I’m grateful to Gov. DeWine for taking the time to consult with the residents of his state and deciding what is best for young trans Ohioans.”
If the governor vetoes a bill, according to Article II Section 16 of the Ohio Constitution, the bill is returned to the legislative chamber where it was originally introduced. To send the bill to the other house and get another three-fifths vote to repass, that house must vote by a vote of three out of five to pass it again. Without the governor’s consent, the bill becomes law if it receives a three-fifths majority vote in both houses. Since it was introduced in the Ohio House of Representatives, this bill will therefore be sent up there.
Different states that have been successful in enacting laws prohibiting gender-affirming care for children have run into legal challenges. On Tuesday, a federal judge in Alabama declined to halt an appeal from an Alabama law that made providing gender-affirming care for children illegal. A state judge also permitted Oklahoma’s restrictions on gender-affirming care for adolescents to go into effect in October.
