Ohio House passes bans on transgender student athletes and gender-affirming care for minors

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Minors in Ohio would be prohibited from receiving gender-affirming care and transgender student-athletes would be banned from participating in girls’ and women’s sports under a multifaceted proposal that cleared the state’s Republican-dominated House on Wednesday.

The measure folded together two contentious bills that could drastically change the way LGBTQ+ youth live in the state, and it has parents of transgender children scrambling to figure out how to care for them as the proposal heads to the GOP-led Senate.

These aren’t the first attempts at such proposals by Ohio’s Legislature — a gender-affirming care ban, which “Jeopardy!” champion Amy Schneider testified against, died in a House committee last year. A sports ban nearly made it through both the House and Senate last fall, but it fell short after being tacked onto an education overhaul bill that had mixed reviews among GOP legislators.

Here’s a look at the latest proposal and how it could affect Ohio’s transgender youth:

GENDER-AFFIRMING CARE BAN

Minors in Ohio would be prohibited from taking puberty blockers and undergoing other hormone therapies or receiving gender reassignment surgery in an effort to further align them with their gender identity.

Should the bill become law, doctors who violate it could lose their licenses to practice if they provide care other than verbal therapy for transgender children. Transgender children currently undergoing hormone therapies would have to stop treatment or leave the state to receive it elsewhere.

Bill sponsor Rep. Gary Click, a Northeast Ohio Republican and Baptist preacher, said the measure is about protecting children as they cannot provide “informed consent” for these surgeries and that they could be pushed into making choices they regret later in life.

But parents of transgender children say that their kids’ medical care is none of the Legislature’s business. They point out that major cosmetic surgeries for minors such as breast implants and liposuction are legal for minors in Ohio with parental consent.

Giles Roblyer, an attorney and father of a 12-year-old transgender boy, has worked with a team of doctors, therapists and endocrinologists for the nine years his son has expressed a gender identity different from the one he was assigned at birth.

And as a parent, Roblyer says he has the right to create that care team and make decisions for his child — just like he has the right to decide where his kids go to school, go to church or what they read.

“But with these bills, just for the parents of trans kids, they’re carving out a place where you have no parental rights whatsoever,” Roblyer said.

At least 20 states have now enacted laws restricting or banning gender-affirming medical care for transgender minors, and most of those states face lawsuits.

A federal judge struck down Arkansas’ ban as unconstitutional on Tuesday, and federal judges have temporarily blocked bans in Alabama and Indiana. Oklahoma has agreed to not enforce its ban while opponents seek a temporary court order blocking it. A federal judge has blocked Florida from enforcing its ban on three children who have challenged the law.

TRANSGENDER SPORTS BAN

The proposal would require K-12 schools as well as universities to designate “separate teams” for male and female sexes, but it explicitly bans transgender girls from participating in girls’ sports.

At least 20 other states have imposed similar bans at the K-12 or collegiate level.

Supporters say the proposal is about fairness and maintaining the integrity of women’s sports. But Republican lawmakers and those who have testified supporting the proposal have not been able to offer specific instances where transgender participation has been a problem in Ohio.

Opponents — including Democrats, teachers, physicians, faith leaders and transgender athletes themselves — describe the bill as cruel.

“This bill makes it impossible for trans and non-binary youth to be their authentic selves and still get the same opportunities to learn sportsmanship, self-discipline and teamwork,” said Melissa McLaren, a nurse and mother to Conner, a transgender 17-year-old girl who loves field hockey and the community that comes with it.

Opponents also say that the Ohio High School Athletic Association already has sufficient policies in place for transgender athletes. Those include requiring transgender girls to have completed at least one year of hormone therapy and to demonstrate that they do not “possess physical or physiological advantages over genetic females.”

No complaints against transgender athlete participation in sports have been brought to the high school sports governing body since it first implemented its transgender athlete policies in 2018, spokesperson Tim Stried said.

Republican Gov. Mike DeWine previously questioned the need for such a ban.

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Samantha Hendrickson is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.