Earlier this week we looked at the state of the child trans protection measures shaping up in Ohio, as well as their legislative efforts to protect women’s sports. An ambitious legislative package designed to achieve those goals had been vetoed by Governor Mike DeWine. The House easily overrode the veto with the question reaching the state Senate yesterday. Any concerns that support for the measure might falter were quickly put to rest. The chamber voted 24-8, mostly along party lines, to override the veto and allow the law to take effect in April. Ohio’s trans advocates are crying “transphobia,” of course, and the Associated Press is wringing its hands in dismay.
Ohio has banned gender-affirming care for minors and restricted transgender women’s and girls’ participation on sports teams, a move that has families of transgender children scrambling over how best to care for them.
The Republican-dominated Senate voted Wednesday to override GOP Gov. Mike DeWine’s veto. The new law bans gender-affirming surgeries and hormone therapies, and restricts mental health care for transgender individuals under 18. The measure also bans transgender girls and women from girls and women’s sports teams at both the K-12 and collegiate level.
Officials expect the law to take effect in roughly 90 days. The Republican-majority House had voted to override the veto earlier this month.
If you read through the linked article you’ll notice that the Associated Press continues its pattern of buying into the entire transgender ideology whole-hog. They now speak of the phenomenon as if it’s the most normal thing imaginable and bemoan the Ohio legislature’s efforts to protect children.
They interviewed a woman named Kat Scaglione who has two sons who are “transitioning” into daughters and who is “devastated” by the legislation. She says that her family recently bought a new home in a school district that is more “welcoming” but she now fears they may have to move out of state. One of her children (who has already adopted a girl’s name) is receiving counseling and some “medications.” But he will not be able to begin hormone therapy in Ohio now and will have to travel out of state for surgery.
Scaglione said that her family feels as if “at any moment you may have to flee.” I seriously doubt anyone is trying to chase them out of the state. Far more likely, there are people who are simply trying to save her children from irreversible medical harm. The AP backs her up entirely, however. They quote a Republican state senator, saying that they “falsely asserted on the Senate floor that there is no such thing as gender-affirming care or a gender spectrum.” Notice that they aren’t even suggesting that the matter is up for debate. They simply claim that any assertion that biological gender is real and provable is “false.” That’s how far they have fallen down the rabbit hole.
This report also revisits the aspects of the Ohio bill that place restrictions on transgender medical “care” for adults. That’s the one section that I’ve had reservations about myself. There is no blanket ban imposed on such treatments for adults, but they do impose additional precautions and requirements before such procedures can begin. While the precautions make complete sense (such as a requirement that the patient undergo mental health screening and counseling before beginning), it’s still a case of the state telling consenting adults what procedures they can or can’t choose to undergo, or at least placing restrictions on them. Giving the state that sort of power may seem like a case of doing what’s in the person’s best interests, but it opens the door to any number of other potential abuses of personal freedom. Will they pass a law dictating whether or not adults can get tattoos or where tattoos can be located? If they can do this, why wouldn’t they be able to ban ear piercings? It’s a slippery slope because once you applaud the state for enacting a restriction you approve of, their next move may be one that negatively impacts you personally.