LOVELAND MAGAZINE

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Tag: non-binary people

  • Ohio law banning gender-affirming care and trans athletes heads to Gov. Mike DeWine’s desk

    Ohio law banning gender-affirming care and trans athletes heads to Gov. Mike DeWine’s desk

    COLUMBUS, Ohio — DECEMBER 13: Advocates for the trans community protest outside the Senate Chamber while inside lawmakers debated and passed HB 68 that bans gender-affirming care for transgender youth and bars transgender kids from participating on sports teams, December 13, 2023, at the Statehouse in Columbus, Ohio. (Photo by Graham Stokes for Ohio Capital Journal. Republish photo only with original article.)

    BY:  – Ohio Capital Journal

    A bill that would block doctors from providing gender-affirming care to trans youth and prevent trans athletes from participating in Ohio women’s sports is going to Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine’s desk.

    The Ohio Senate passed House Bill 68 in a 24-8 vote Wednesday afternoon and the Ohio House concurred with the Senate amendments in a 61-27 vote Wednesday night. DeWine now has 10 business days to sign or veto the bill.

    “We await a final bill to review before offering formal comment,” DeWine’s press secretary Dan Tierney said in an email Wednesday afternoon.

    State Senator Nathan Manning, R-North Ridgeville, was the lone Republican who joined Senate Democrats in voting against the bill.

    HB 68, introduced by Rep. Gary Click, R-Vickery, would block doctors from providing gender-affirming care to trans youth, including puberty blockers and hormone therapy.

    The bill would ban physicians from performing gender reassignment surgery on a minor, but many opponents have testified that no Ohio children’s hospital currently performs gender-affirming surgery on those under 18. An amendment was added to HB 68 Wednesday that added a grandfather clause that would allow doctors who already started treatment on patients to continue.

    Gender-affirming care is supported by every major medical organization in the United States. Children’s hospitals across Ohio, the Ohio Children’s Hospital Association and the Ohio Academy of Family Physicians all oppose HB 68.

    House Minority Leader Allison Russo, D-Upper Arlington, said she hopes DeWine will listen to the medical professionals who oppose the bill.

    “The bill is so cruel on so many levels but at the end of the day this violates parents rights to make decisions about their children’s own healthcare,” she said. “It’s putting the government in the middle of families and their healthcare providers.”

    Twenty-two other states have passed a law that blocks gender affirming care, according to the Human Rights Campaign.

    Gender-affirming surgery for minors is not common with less than 3,700 performed in the U.S. on patients ages 12 to 18 from 2016 through 2019, according to a study published in August in JAMA Network Open. It’s unclear how many of those patients were 18 when they underwent those surgeries.

    Ohio House Speaker Jason Stephens, R-Kitts Hill, said the bill empowers parents.

    “The important part is protecting children and making sure parents know what’s going on,” he said.

    State Senator Bill DeMora, D-Columbus, called HB 68 a disgusting piece of legislation.

    “Current hospital policies ensure gender-affirming care for minors who seek it is safe, medically necessary, and appropriate,” DeMora said in a statement. “It’s clear that this bill is targeting youth already at an increased risk of suicide and violence, and subjecting them to even more risk.”

    He took a moment to speak directly to transgender people during the Senate session.

    “Your life has meaning and purpose,” DeMora said. “You are seen, valued and loved.”

    Trans athlete ban

    House Bill 6 — which prevents trans athletes from participating in Ohio women’s sports — was rolled into HB 68 back in June. The would prevent males from playing female sports, but everyone would still be able to play on co-ed teams.

    There were only six transgender high school female student athletes in Ohio, the Capital Journal previously reported in the spring.

    If a trans girl wants to play on a team with cis girls in Ohio, she must go through hormone treatments for at least one year or show no physical or  physiological advantages, according to the Ohio High School Athletic Association.

    Twenty-three states have passed similar laws in regards to transgender athletes since 2020, according to ESPN.

     COLUMBUS, Ohio — DECEMBER 13: An advocate for the trans community protests outside the Senate Chamber while inside lawmakers debated and passed HB 68 that bans gender-affirming care for transgender youth and bars transgender kids from participating on sports teams, December 13, 2023, at the Statehouse in Columbus, Ohio. (Photo by Graham Stokes for Ohio Capital Journal) 

    “It is two bills, so much for single subject,” Senate Minority Leader Nickie J. Antonio, D-Lakewood, said.

    She sent a letter to Senators urging them not to pass the bill on Monday.

    “This bill strips rights away from parents and bans children’s access to evidence-based healthcare,” Antonio said in a statement after the bill passed the Senate. “Physicians need to be able to have comprehensive care discussions with patients and their families, but this bill puts them in an impossible position.”

    Hundreds of people submitted opponent testimony against the bill last week during a marathon Senate Government Oversight Committee meeting.

    “We don’t make laws just for the hundreds of people that come and testify,” Senate President Matt Huffman said when asked about this. “We make laws for over 11 million people.”

    Opponents speaks out and protest

    LGBTQ+ advocates who oppose HB 68 had a press conference Wednesday morning to speak out against HB 68 —  arguing families shouldn’t have to decide whether it’s safe to stay in Ohio.

    “Ohio is home and I will not be legislated to leave,” said Densil Porteous, Executive Director of Stonewall Columbus.

     COLUMBUS, Ohio — DECEMBER 13: Advocates for the trans community protest outside the Senate Chamber and repeatedly shouted “shame” when they heard that lawmakers had passed HB 68 that bans gender-affirming care for transgender youth and bars transgender kids from participating on sports teams, December 13, 2023, at the Statehouse in Columbus, Ohio. (Photo by Graham Stokes for Ohio Capital Journal) 

    This bill will make it more challenging for trans and non-binary people, said Dara Adkison, a member of TransOhio.

    “HB 68 will cause people to leave Ohio and no one should be forced from their home for any reason, but especially not because of extreme laws undermining their freedom and safety,” Adkison said.

    Mallory Golski, the civic engagement & advocacy manager for Kaleidoscope Youth Center, spoke in place of a high school student who couldn’t attend the event because they had school tests to take.

    “The people who this bill targets are teenagers,” Golski said. “They are young people who shouldn’t have to make a decision about whether they should show up to school or show up to the statehouse to convince lawmakers of their inherent dignity.”

    She knows many transgender kids who are happier when they receive gender affirmation or care.

    “Taking that away from trans minors would be a detriment,” Golski said.

    Evangelical Lutheran Deacon Nick Bates and father of a 13-year-old nonbinary child said bills like HB 68 force trans children and adults back into hiding.

    “Sadly, HB 68 and other bills targeting trans and non-conforming youth take this peace, comfort and joy up the chimney like the Grinch stealing the Christmas tree,” Bates said.

    Follow OCJ Reporter Megan Henry on Twitter.

    Megan Henry
    MEGAN HENRY

    Megan Henry is a reporter for the Ohio Capital Journal and has spent the past five years reporting in Ohio on various topics including education, healthcare, business and crime. She previously worked at The Columbus Dispatch, part of the USA Today Network.

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  • “An attack on all trans people,” transgender youth speak out against Ohio legislation

    “An attack on all trans people,” transgender youth speak out against Ohio legislation

    Nathan Alvarez, 15, stands outside Kaleidoscope Youth Center on June 23. He is worried about a bill that would require K-12 schools and colleges to mandate that students could only use the bathroom or locker room that matches their sex assigned at birth. (Photo by Megan Henry, Ohio Capital Journal) Ohio Capital Journal talked to three transgender youths who are concerned about these bills and their potential implications.

    BY:  – Ohio Capital Journal

    Nathan Alvarez is used to people laughing or snickering at him when he uses the men’s bathroom.

    Despite that, the 15-year-old says his high school is one place he doesn’t have to worry about that happening because they have a couple of gender neutral bathrooms and anyone can use the men and women’s restroom.

    But a bill banning transgender students from being able to use the bathroom and locker room that aligns with their gender identity would change all that.

    State Reps. Beth Lear, R-Galena, and Adam Bird, R-New Richmond, recently introduced House Bill 183 which would require K-12 schools and colleges to mandate that students could only use the bathroom or locker room that matches their sex assigned at birth. HB 183 is still in House committee, awaiting sponsor testimony.

    “It would be hell (if the bill were to pass),” Alvarez said, who uses he/him pronouns. “Hearing about it disgusted me. Like it violently disgusted me.”

    HB 183 is one of a handful of anti-trans bills that have been introduced so far in the Ohio General Assembly.

    Doctors wouldn’t be able to give puberty blockers and hormone therapy to trans youth, trans athletes wouldn’t be able to participate in women’s sports, educators would be forced to out students to their parents and require public schools to give parental notification before teaching “sexuality content” if these various anti-trans bills pass through the Republican-controlled Ohio Statehouse.

    OCJ talked to three transgender youths who are concerned about these bills and their potential implications.

    “It’s an attack on all trans people,” said Ko Rupert, who uses she/it pronouns. “They are all uniquely bad, but their uniqueness is important.”

    And it’s not just happening in Ohio.

    There have been more than 220 bills introduced nationwide specifically targeting transgender and non-binary people, according to the Human Rights Campaign year-to-date snapshot from May 23.

    Fifteen laws have been enacted banning gender affirming care for transgender youth and four additional laws have been passed that censor school curriculum like books, according to HRC.

    “It’s very hard to see what’s been already happening in other states and how the bills that they are trying to pass here in Ohio are not even that different,” Jaylah Hollins, 19 said. “I feel like it’s not really in the interest of Ohioans, but only in the interest of anti-trans lobbyists from out of state.”

    House Bill 8

    Hollins is going to start attending Columbus State Community College this fall for social work and hopes to one day work for an organization that helps transgender people.

    “Hopefully if these bills don’t pass, we can try and make Ohio a place where it can be a refuge for trans kids and trans adults,” Hollins, said, who uses she/her pronouns. “Ensuring that trans kids have access to medical care and that adults have access to the facilities that align with their gender identity shouldn’t be politicized in the first place.”

     An advocate for the rights of trans children and their parents holds up a sign. Photo by Morgan Trau, WEWS. 

    While she said all the anti-trans bills are harmful, House Bill 8 stands out to her as the most damning.

    State Reps. D.J. Swearingen, R-Huron, and Sara Carruthers, R-Hamilton, introduced HB 8 which would require public schools to give parents a heads up before teaching “sexuality content” and school staff would have to out students to their parents. HB 8 recently passed the Ohio House.

    “I feel like they don’t see it as putting children in harm’s way when it most likely is because you can’t expect a parent to be able to deal with knowing that their child is within an LGBT umbrella and not have to try and resort to what they may not see at the time as harmful approaches to their child’s identity,” Hollins said.

    She said these bills would prevent children from learning more about themselves and make them feel as though they deserved to be punished because of how they identify.

    “It won’t allow children to be able to understand others who are maybe different from them,” Hollins said. “It will encourage isolation and I think the most devastating would be suicidal ideation, especially with trans and non-binaries who already know that they are coming from families who are unaccepting of those identities.”

    She’s said she’s still debating if she’ll stay in Ohio after college.

    “It’s still hard for me to think about, but for me, I think I would want to stay in Ohio and fight for trans youth,” Hollins said.

    Rupert, a 20-year-old Ohio State University graduate student, is also worried about HB 8 and the stripping away of youth rights.

    “Young people can make decisions, can know their bodies and understand and have a deep relationship with their gender and sexuality and romantic orientations,” Rupert said.

    Alvarez tries to speak out against the anti-trans bills when he gets the chance and even recently appeared on Good Morning America. But he’s not old enough to vote.

    “It’s upsetting to know that there are adults making choices for people to make choices about me. And I don’t have a choice,” Alvarez, of Reynoldsburg, said. “It’s scary.”

    He hopes to move out of Ohio one day and relocate to Washington.

    Anti-trans and anti-LGBTQ bills

    House Bill 68, also known as the  Save Adolescents from Experimentation Act (SAFE Act), would prevent doctors from giving puberty blockers and hormone therapy to trans youth. It would also ban physicians from performing gender reassignment surgery on a minor.

    Many opponents, however, have testified that no Ohio children’s hospital currently performs gender-affirming surgery on those under 18.

    House Bill 6 would prevent trans athletes from participating in Ohio women’s sports and was woven into HB 68, which recently passed the House and now awaits Senate committee consideration.

    Follow OCJ Reporter Megan Henry on Twitter.

    ______________________

    Megan Henry
    MEGAN HENRY

    Megan Henry is a reporter for the Ohio Capital Journal and has spent the past five years reporting in Ohio on various topics including education, healthcare, business and crime. She previously worked at The Columbus Dispatch, part of the USA Today Network.

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