The Ohio Senate passed legislation last week that prohibits physicians from performing gender reassignment surgeries and prescribing puberty blockers to minors. The bill also requires all Ohio schools to only allow athletic teams by sex.

House Bill 68 was originally passed in the House 65-28, and passed in the Senate 24-8.

Gov. Mike DeWine, a Republican, originally vetoed the bill on the premise that the government shouldn’t be involved with the decision.

DeWine said, “Families are basing their decisions on the best medical information that they can get. The decision to move forward should only be reached if a child, if a child’s parents and the medical team all agree that is the right decision,” per an Ohio press briefing.

However, the Senate overrode the veto on Wednesday, passing the bill 24-8. It will become Ohio law in 90 days.

Rep. Gary Click, who initially sponsored the bill, spoke after the veto override. “It is far from over,” he said. “This achievement is testimony to the idea that we can change minds, change opinions, and face opposition even within the Republican Party and still win.”

House Bill 68 privileges parents’ decisions

With this bill, courts can’t deny or limit a parent’s decision on the following:

• Raising their child as their biological sex.

• Not allowing their child to receive gender transition services.

• Not giving consent to their child receiving gender-affirming mental health services.

This section of the bill comes after a court in Hamilton County, Ohio, in 2018 transferred custody of a 17-year-old transgender from the teen’s parents to his grandparents after they “refused to call him by his chosen name” and to begin cross-sex hormone treatments, as reported by CNN. The parents were given visitation rights.

Related

The bill lists reasons for prohibiting sex-switching procedures on minors

After the bill goes into effect, physicians will not be legally allowed to perform gender reassignment surgeries on minors or prescribe them puberty blockers or cross-sex hormones.

A section at the end of the bill references studies claiming most children experiencing gender confusion or dysphoria “come to identify with their biological sex in adolescence or adulthood,” and performing nonreversible surgeries in that time period has high levels of risk.

The bill added, suicide rates among post-transitioned individuals is higher than the background population, and few clinical trials and long term studies have been published “evaluating the risks and benefits of using these drugs for the treatment of such distress or gender transition.”

The bill enacts the Save Women’s Sports Act

House Bill 68 also requires schools to separate teams by sex, adding if a student has been deprived of a spot on their original sex’s athletic team, they have the right to sue the institution.

While the bill prohibits biologically male students from joining female sports teams, it doesn’t “restrict the eligibility of any student to participate on any athletic teams or in athletic competitions that are designated as male or co-ed.”

Current Ohio policy requires transgender students to have undergone hormone therapy for at least one year prior to joining the team or to prove through “medical evidence” they don’t have greater physical advantages to the executive director’s office, according to the Ohio High School Athletic Association.

A list compiled by ESPN shows 24 states now have restrictive laws in place.

President Biden proposes a provision to Title IX

The Biden administration proposed a provision to Title IX in April 2023 that would prohibit schools and colleges from “enacting outright bans on transgender athlete,” per The Associated Press.

Related

The Department of Education issued a press release after President Joe Biden’s proposal, saying the provision would ensure equality for all students.

U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona said, “Every student should be able to have the full experience of attending school in America, including participating in athletics, free from discrimination. Being on a sports team is an important part of the school experience for students of all ages.”