House Democrats urge DeWine to veto trans athlete, healthcare ban

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COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) – On Wednesday night, the Ohio Statehouse passed House Bill 68: a bill with two provisions that address transgender athletes and minors. One day later, lawmakers are already looking ahead to next steps.  

The first part of the bill is the ‘Saving Adolescents from Experimentation,’ or ‘SAFE’ Act. That part bans minors from receiving gender affirming care, like hormone replacement therapy and reconstructive surgery. 

Speaker of the Ohio House Jason Stephens (R-Kitts Hill) said it is a bill that empowers parents. 

“Anytime you can give parents more information and more control with what their children are doing, it’s very important,” Stephens said.

Opponents argue that the bill takes parents out of the equation.

“It’s very clear that this bill is actually putting government between parents and medical providers,” Ohio House Minority Leader Allison Russo (D-Upper Arlington) said.

Russo said not only does this bill “violate parental rights” but called it a “very cruel bill,” that “endangers the lives of trans youth and children.” Lieutenant Governor Jon Husted (R-Ohio) disagrees.  

“We want to be sure children aren’t being misled, parents aren’t being misled, children aren’t being harmed,” Husted said. “Some of these decisions can be irreversible and so we need to make sure there are protections in place, and we’ll review the legislation and see where it is.” 

“Every single children’s hospital in the state opposed this and Ohio’s home to the best children’s hospital in the country,” Russo said. “If you are supporting a bill that children’s hospitals and every major medical organization opposes, you’re on the wrong side of an issue.” 

The ‘Save Women’s Sports Act,’ which bans transgender athletes from participating on teams that align with their gender identity, is the other part of the bill.  

“It is targeting, and it is discrimination against a very small subset of children and their families,” Russo said. “I think it’s just one more example of these anti-LGBTQ+ bills that is essentially state sanctioned bigotry.” 

According to the OHSAA, over the past eight years, 19 transgender girls have participated in women’s sports. Regardless, Stephens and Husted agree, the legislation is still necessary.   

“We’ve worked really hard in this country for girls and women to have an equal opportunity when it comes to sports and athletics,” Stephens said. “I think it’s important for kids of all ages to have a fair competition.”
 

Stephens said he thinks the Save Women’s Sports Act sends an important message.  

“It says that we believe that it’s a very important part of development and it needs to be something that girls shouldn’t be participating in competitive sports with boys,” Stephens said.  

In a letter, House Democrats are urging the governor to veto the bill. Russo said the bill will impact minors’ mental health. Gov. Mike DeWine (R-Ohio) has put an emphasis on building up the state’s mental health infrastructure.  

“When you look at the impact of this bill on a small population of children’s mental health and their ability to get gender affirming care, it seems to make sense that it would be aligned with the governor vetoing this,” Russo said.  

Ohio is not the first state to pass either of these bills; while the Save Women’s Sports Act has held up, the SAFE Act has been struck down in some courts across the country.  

“We’re a little bit unique in that the circuit court that we fall under has had some troublesome decisions in this space,” Russo said. “But the combination of these two issues into a single bill, I think, sets up a potential scenario where this does not survive in the court system.”


Stephens said he’s sure the bill will be challenged.

“Hopefully we’ve done our job as the legislature to write that in a way that does stand up to court scrutiny,” Stephens said.

If DeWine does sign the bill, it will take effect 90 days after he does. If the governor vetoes it, last night’s votes in the House and Senate suggest that lawmakers would be able to override that decision. 

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