Ohio: Trans people continue to exist

Ohio has been a battleground for the existence of trans people. Yet there have been victories, and trans people continue to exist.

2022

Erin Reed tweeted on October 12, 2022: "Happening now... The waiting room is overflowing in Ohio as people pack the building in order to speak out against a policy that will force teachers to misgender Ohio trans students and ban them from bathrooms statewide." And the next day: "Y’all I can’t overstate how big a victory we just won in Ohio for trans people was. We got a boardroom full of Republican school officials to vote AGAINST moms for Liberty anti trans policies. The activists speeches objectively swayed things. The anti-trans group was stunned." And on December 16, 2022: "Great news! Ohio Republicans couldn't agree on if genital inspections should be required to play school sports. The House and Senate disagreed, and powerful testimony from trans allies and athletes ensured the bill failed."

'Moms for Liberty' are extremists

"The Southern Poverty Law Center labeled the controversial right-wing organization Moms for Liberty as an “anti-government extremist group” in its annual report [published November 7, 2023]." — HuffPost

Oh hey: "Moms for Liberty outreach leader exposed as registered sex offender": Phillip Fisher Jr, who served three years in prison, volunteered at Philadelphia summit for rightwing parental rights group. Edward Helmore. The Guardian. 21 Nov 2023. According to the article, Fisher had "pleaded guilty in 2012 to a charge of aggravated sexual abuse involving a 14-year-old boy when he was 25..."

By the way, they seem to define "grooming" as any non-parent (like a teacher) interacting with a child in ways the parent might not have interacted, using language the parent might not have used, providing information the parent might not have provided. ("South Carolina school district reviews, returns dozens of books after ban attempt," CBS News, March 3, 2024):

"Another tweet [by Moms for Liberty] targets a school librarian profiled in a magazine article. "You want to groom our children and we're supposed to give you love?"

When asked what they meant by grooming, Justice replied, "Parents want to partner with their children's schools. But we do not co-parent with the government.""

2023

The Ohio legislation, House Bill 68, banning gender-affirming care for minors and trans girls' participation in girls' sports, is sponsored by Rep. Gary Click, a Republican. He supports conversion therapy for gay and trans people alike. He does not want people to be gay. He does not want people to be trans. He has associated with Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council.

The Washington Post reports ("Ohio governor vetoes ban on gender-affirming care for minors," Anumita Kaur, December 29, 2023, subscriber gift link):

"Hundreds of people testified in hearings on the legislation this year, with 87 people testifying during a state Senate committee hearing in early December that stretched past 11 p.m. A majority of them testified against the bill, and many of those who supported the ban flew in from out of state to testify.

* * *

The bill passed the Ohio Senate 24-8 and the House 61-27, largely along party lines in the Republican-controlled chambers, joining more than 20 states that have passed similar restrictions in the past two years."

On December 29, Governor Mike DeWine vetoed the legislation. He explained: "Were I to sign House Bill 68, or were House Bill 68 to become law, Ohio would be saying that the state, that the government knows better what is medically best for a child than the two people who love that child the most: The parents."

A three-fifths vote in the Ohio Legislature could override DeWine's veto. DeWine said he is asking his administration to develop administrative rules in the hopes of avoiding a veto override.

The New York Times (subscriber gift link) notes that if the veto is overridden, trans kids who are already receiving gender-affirming care will be able to continue to receive it, but trans kids who haven't started yet won't be able to start.

Erin Reed explains that 43 people submitted testimony in favor of the anti-trans bill, most of whom "came from out of state and included high profile right-wing figures like Riley Gaines and Chloe Cole." By contrast, 525 people submitted testimony for the other side, supporting trans people. These included

"leading representatives from most major medical organizations in the United States and Ohio, including the Ohio Children’s Hospitals. Others who testified included parents of trans youth in the state, the trans kids themselves, business leaders, therapists, and local activists. Significantly, even many detransitioners — individuals who previously identified as transgender but have since returned to a cisgender identity — spoke out against the bill."

Governor DeWine said he was most influenced, as Reed put it, by "his conversation with parents as well as testimony from directors and doctors of Ohio’s Children’s Hospitals, which rank #1 in the United States." However, he "announced his intention to use administrative processes to prohibit surgeries in the state and to gather data on transgender care for both youth and adults," and there's "potential for increased scrutiny of transgender adults in Ohio. The specifics of these administrative processes and rules are yet to be determined." So trans people must remain vigilant.

(Ohio Governor Mike DeWine Vetoes Trans Ban, "It Is Parents Who Know Their Child Best": The move is a stunning blow to proponents of gender affirming care bans and shows that there may be cracks in the Republican Party's strategy on targeting trans youth. Erin Reed, December 29, 2023. Please subscribe to Erin Reed to support her work.)

Update

DeWine signed an executive order that's a defacto ban on gender-affirming care for all ages, including adults. I discussed it in my article "How many anti-trans laws were proposed last week?" There's no paywall.

Jessica Kant says on Bluesky: "The criteria set out in DeWine's proposed regulations on gender-affirming care are so strict as to constitute a near-total ban for the majority of adults. It is the strictest set of rules currently being proposed anywhere in the United States." The new criteria for gender-affirming care providers in Ohio "most closely mirror the AHCA rules in Florida," and "the bioethicist requirement narrows down provision to an impossibly small number of providers, potentially down to a handful of university hospitals." Any sort of doctor-patient conversation about gender-affirming care that is remotely pragmatic or instructional in nature (like receiving it somewhere else) might be considered an "indirect referral," which is prohibited. Kant says: "What's most astonishing, frankly is that there is no type of care regularly provided outside of and largely including end of life care, that requires this level of oversight. This makes gender-affirming care uniquely regulated in medicine. It is the most basic definition of discrimination." Kant adds: "Bioethicists, while great, are not actually qualified to make this decision because the ethical dilemma is not in service provision at all, but in service denial. By requiring an ethicist, DeWine is creating an ethical dilemma that didn't exist." It's from the anti-abortion playbook: "DeWine is using the TRAP law handbook whereby pointlessly difficult regulations are placed on care that eliminate the majority of providers while intimidating and subjecting the remaining ones to monotonous and arbitrary scrutiny designed to force clinic closures."

Ohio's GOP-Controlled Senate Overrides Republican Governor's Veto, Bans Gender-Affirming Care: The new law bans gender-affirming surgeries and hormone therapies, and restricts mental health care for transgender individuals under 18. Samantha Hendrickson, HuffPost, January 24, 2024.

Stephanie Sy explains the override: "The new law bans gender-affirming surgeries, new prescriptions for puberty blockers and hormone therapy, and restricts mental health care for trans minors without a parent's or guardian's consent [emphasis mine]. Doctors who provide care in violation of the law can lose their medical license."
— Ohio becomes latest state to restrict gender-affirming care for minors, PBS, Jan 25, 2024