Chloe Kim
BBC News
Back in 2021, a rally gathered in front of the Ohio Statehouse to oppose the ban on transgender players.
Overriding the governor’s veto, the state legislature of Ohio has outlawed transgender medical procedures involving children and placed restrictions on transgender athletes on college sports teams.
The Republican governor of the state, Mike DeWine, had opposed the legislation, arguing that decisions should be made by health professionals.
However, after the state House voted also this month by 65-28, the Ohio Senate overrode his veto by 24-8.
In 90 days, the moratorium will go into effect.
There are currently laws in more than 20 Republican-led states that limit or outlaw transgender children’s medical treatments.
According to Ohio law, specialists are prohibited from prescribing hormone therapy, gender transition surgery, or puberty blockers to minors, who in the state are considered to be under the age of 18.
House Bill 68, a law, mandates that mental health professionals obtain the consent of at least one parent in order to diagnose and treat any gender-related conditions in children.
If health professionals break the law, their licensing board may take legal action against them.
As long as doctors agree that stopping the treatment would be harmful, a provision in the measure permits those who are already going through it to continue doing so.
Additionally, it forbids transgender athletes from competing on girls’ and women’s sports teams at the collegiate level, from kindergarten (five-year-olds) to 12th grade (17 to 18-year-olds).
Republican state senator Kristina Roegner advised other lawmakers at the hearing on Wednesday that it was foolish to try to change one’s gender.
Democratic state lawmaker William DeMora referred to the act as “anti-science and hateful.”
Mr. DeWine vetoed the bill in December, which was unusual for a Republican governor of one of America’s most conservative-leaning states.
He stated that “the parents who have seen that child go through agony” should make these decisions, not the state of Ohio.
However, Mr. DeWine’s fellow Republicans used their supermajority to override him, claiming that the legislation was required to protect children.
Mr. DeWine offered what was interpreted as a compromise measure in response to conservative backlash over his veto.
In some hospitals and clinics, he issued an executive order forbidding gender-transition surgeries for kids. According to medical experts, such activities are not taking place in the state.
The bill’s critics have suggested that they will file legal challenges, as other states have done in Arkansas, where a federal judge overturned an Arkansas law alleging that it violated children and families’ right to due process.
The state is suing the ruling in opposition.
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