DeWine, however, represents the kind of GOP legislator who is actually following through on small-government, “pro-life” policies to Jordan Evans, a trans woman living in New Hampshire who ran for office in the Republican Party. She thinks it makes sense that DeWine may make reference to his position against abortion while rejecting a moratorium on gender-affirming treatment because she also feels that doing so would be the polar opposite of being “pro-life.”
According to Evans, trans youth are being exposed to language by anti-trans politicians that might give them the impression that there is something fundamentally wrong with them or that they are mutilating themselves by seeking gender-affirming care, and that just isn’t true.
“There are folks out there who are making their job, their political rocket, off of these children’s tails,” she said, adding that “not only are these children stuck having these same types of inner dialogues where they feel misunderstood and alone.” “I want them to survive and succeed. Therefore, I even see this as a life-or-death situation.”
Evans also identified as a Democrat as of 2022, but the party’s anti-trans rhetoric has steered her toward liberal politics.
DeWine has also ordered state agencies to gather and share information on trans adults and minors seeking gender-affirming care, which won’t start until 2025, and to mandate that hospitals that provide the care adhere to specific regulations, such as having a multidisciplinary care plan. These proposals have been criticized by Equality Ohio as departing from the principles DeWine expressed in his filibuster, which called for the authorities to refrain from making family medical decisions.
DeWine noted that trans minor surgeries are not really performed in the state and that he had spoken with families of trans children as well as several children’s hospitals in Ohio that offered gender-affirming care.
These proposed policies, according to Jerrica Kirkley, co-founder and chief medical officer at the transgender health company Plume, “had effectively eradicate care for several trans folks in the state of Ohio” by burdening healthcare professionals with impossible regulations.
According to Kirkley, it is burdensome to require medical care plans to be approved by a clinical ethicist and to report any gender dysphoria diagnoses to the state within 30 business days. Also, any patient receiving gender-affirming care under the draft rules must undergo a minimum six-month mental health evaluation.
