Ohio’s Republican-led House of Representatives has voted 65-28 to override Gov. Mike DeWine’s (R) veto of a bill restricting the rights of transgender youth. The state Senate is expected to do the same in a January 24 vote.
DeWine recently vetoed House Bill 68, a bill banning all gender-affirming medical treatments for minors (including medication) and banning trans females from playing on female scholastic sports teams. He stood by his veto in a statement he issued after Wednesday’s vote.
“I continue to believe it is in the best interests of children for these medical decisions to be made by the child’s parents and not by the government,” DeWine said, according to The Columbus Dispatch.
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State Rep. Beth Liston (D), a pediatrician, said she was struggling to “comprehend the arrogance of the people in this room” who voted in favor of the bans despite not being medical or mental health professionals. Gender-affirming care and social experiences are considered safe and essential to the well-being of trans youth by the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Medical Association, the American Psychological Association, and other major U.S. and world health organizations.
In a recent speech, state Rep. Beth Lear (R) suggested that adults supporting trans youth would be better drowned, citing the Biblical verse of Luke, chapter 17, verse 2: “It would be better for them to be thrown into the sea with a millstone tied around their neck than to cause one of these little ones to stumble.”
If the state senate overrides DeWine’s veto of H.B. 68, Ohio will become the 24th state to ban trans girls and women from playing school sports as their gender and the 23rd to ban trans minors from receiving gender-affirming medical care.
“To say trans rights are under severe assault in Ohio is a gross understatement,” Abhi Rahman, Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee Communications Director, said in a statement on Wednesday evening. “There is so much at stake as fundamental freedoms and rights are being decided in state legislatures across the country. One Ohio representative suggested supporters of trans kids be murdered. This is gross and emblematic of what Ohio Republicans have become. Ohioans deserve better.”
Last year, over 600 people testified against the bill, including LGBTQ+ advocates, medical professionals, families, and trans individuals. Many others protested in the legislature’s halls and could be heard on the state’s house and senate floors as lawmakers discussed the bill. Republicans said that the testimony didn’t sway their decision because a majority of Ohio voters support the bill.
A July poll found that 69.6% of Ohioans opposed allowing trans girls to play on female sports teams in K-12 schools and universities. An October 2022 poll found that 65.6% of Ohioans opposed doctors providing gender-affirming care to trans minors.
Despite his veto, last week Gov. DeWine issued an executive order that would severely restrict the rights of trans individuals to receive gender-affirming procedures, regardless of age.
