Ohio House overrides Gov. DeWine's veto of gender-affirming care ban; Senate votes January 24

The Ohio legislature took a step toward banning gender-affirming care for trans minors Wednesday, with the House of Representatives voting to override Gov. Mike DeWine’s veto of a bill to this effect.

The Senate is set to vote on the override January 24. It’s expected to succeed in overriding the veto as well. Both chambers have veto-proof Republican majorities. The House vote was 65-28, along party lines.

DeWine vetoed the measure, House Bill 68, in late December. In addition to banning puberty blockers, hormone treatment, and gender-affirming surgeries (the latter are rarely performed on minors) for people under 18 who wish to transition, it bars trans girls and women from competing in female sports in public schools and colleges.

DeWine, a Republican, initially won praise for vetoing the bill. But he soon turned around and not only issued an executive order banning gender-affirming surgeries for minors but announced he’d directed state agencies to prepare administrative rules that set up significant barriers to all gender-affirming care for adults as well as minors. If the rules become final, they’ll essentially make this care inaccessible for all trans Ohioans.

After the House vote, DeWine stood by his veto. “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 in a statement,The Columbus Dispatchreports.

But the rules, as drafted, will make receiving care far more difficult for both young people and adults. For one thing, they will require a written care plan signed by an endocrinologist, a psychiatrist, and a medical ethicist (the latter position not defined in licensing procedures). Most of the clinics that treat trans people don’t have an endocrinologist or a psychiatrist on staff, and while major hospitals do, they’ll have to reconfigure and reassign staff, activists say. There will also be reporting requirements that threaten patients’ privacy.

The rules will be finalized after a period of public comment. Comments may be submitted until January 19 on the treatment rule and until February 5 on the reporting rule.

“When Gov. DeWine first vetoed the bill, I felt for the first time that someone actually listened to some of the voices that have been screaming for years,” Minna Zelch, the mother of a trans daughter, told the Dispatch. “Then with the new rules that were put out, we’re very concerned as well. Those rules impact my child too, who we thought was safe because she’s been a legal adult for a while now.”

Human Rights Campaign President Kelley Robinson issued this statement on the rules: “Governor DeWine said it himself when he vetoed HB 68: patients, parents and doctors should be making health care decisions, not politicians. These proposed regulations go against those very principles. We should be trusting parents to care for their children and doctors to provide best practice, lifesaving medical care. The legislature should leave the veto in place, and the DeWine Administration should rescind these dangerous regulations that would interfere with the health care decisions of all transgender Ohioans.”

Whatever happens with the rules, LGBTQ+ activists and others are condemning the House’s veto override vote. “MAGA extremists in the legislature have caved to Trump’s bullying and decided that politicians, not parents, should decide what health care Ohio’s youth have access to,” Robinson said in a press release. “The override is a clear attempt to earn the approval of Trump and rile up their base instead of doing what is best for Ohio families. But the battle isn’t over. We will continue to fight to see this horrible law overturned.”

“To say trans rights are under severe assault in Ohio is a gross understatement,” Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee Communications Director Abhi Rahman added in a written statement. 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.

“Ohio Republicans have made their dangerous priorities crystal clear as they wield their supermajority to legislate away fundamental freedoms. The only path to protect trans rights is to build Democratic power in the states. Trans rights are human rights, and we must fight and win power in the states to protect the rights and freedoms of every individual in this country.”

The DLCC is the Democratic Party committee that works to elect state legislators.