Students protesting new administrative rules and a bill concerning transgender healthcare and athletic eligibility held a protest in the Ohio Union Friday.
Around 40 students chanted and gave speeches, outlining a range of demands for the university. Members of Revolutionary Student Front, Ohio Youth for Climate Justice, Trans*Mission and Planned Parenthood Generation Action chanted, “There is only one solution, trans youth revolution” and “Trans liberation now.”
House Bill 68 prevents doctors from prescribing medical treatment to minors for gender dysphoria and prohibits transgender girls or women from participating in high school and college sports, according to previous Lantern reporting. Gov. Mike DeWine vetoed the bill, but the Ohio House voted to override the veto on Jan. 10.
DeWine also proposed administrative rules to regulate transgender care for adults and minors, such as requiring six months of counseling for those 21 and under before receiving transition treatment.
The seven demands created by the protesters were created on Jan. 12 and include a call for Ohio State to condemn all anti-trans bills that have been introduced in the Ohio Statehouse, the implementation of a gender-neutral bathroom in every building on campus, a plan to continue transgender health care at medical facilities and a request to continue to allow transgender women to participate in women’s sports.
Komencanto Eterna, a first-year master’s student in comparative studies, said the gathering functions as an “effective expression of our discontent with the way that things are currently going.”
“I think that there’s a lot of fear right now, and I want to channel that fear into a positive direction that can lead to different conceptions of how we can build power and be powerful as trans students on this campus,” Eterna said.
Max Oslejsek, a fourth-year in psychology, said he wants the university to take action against the legislation.
“We, as a collective, just want OSU to be responsive and to be transparent in their condemning of any kind of proposal that Mike DeWine is doing,” Oslejsek said.
Chris Booker, a university spokesperson, said in an email that “Ohio State is committed to the health and well-being of our students, student-athletes and medical patients. We will continue to comply with state law.”
Booker also said the university’s commitment to free speech and expression is “unwavering.”
“The university supports the right of our community to peacefully express their views and speak out about issues that are important to them,” Booker said.
Ava Brady, a third-year in political science who identifies as nonbinary, said society views transgender and gender-nonconforming people negatively.
“I live in a society that says I am mentally ill,” Brady said. “But it is the society that has failed. It is the society that is ill that says we are not allowed to get our life-affirming care, that we are not allowed to be our true selves.”
Reese Steiner, a fourth-year in English and co-founder of the Little Gay Bookstore, said it is more important than ever to speak up for trans youth.
“We have to fight back against these bills that are harming everybody in the community, and especially trans people,” Steiner said.
