Ohio GOP lawmakers cutting winter recess short to override veto of anti-transgender bill
Ohio Republican state lawmakers are cutting their winter vacation short by several weeks, with some even canceling scheduled fundraisers, to return to the capital to try to override GOP Governor Mike DeWine's veto of an anti-transgender bill. The legislation would have placed a ban on gender-affirming care for transgender children and banned transgender school athletes from competing.
"Gov. DeWine refused to sign House Bill 68 into law and vetoed it on Friday morning," News5Cleveland reports. "The bill would have banned trans youth from accessing gender-affirming care like hormone blockers, and also some mental health services for conditions like gender dysphoria, which can be life-threatening distress due to a person’s sex assigned at birth not matching their gender identity. It also would have barred trans middle and high schoolers from participating in athletics with cisgender peers."
Just hours after Gov. DeWine's veto, GOP "House leadership sent out a text to Republican representatives saying that Speaker Jason Stephens 'would like to act quickly to override the veto.' The message then asked if the lawmaker would support an override and if they would be available for a session on Jan. 10."
"Even lawmakers who had fundraisers scheduled, some out of town, plan to be back for the vote, many of them told WEWS/OCJ," News5 reported. "The plan was officially decided Tuesday evening to have a session on Jan. 10."
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It remains unclear if they will have the votes, but GOP state Rep. Josh Williams says they do.
“In the best interests of children, you don’t allow them to make life-altering decisions with a child’s brain; they cannot comprehend the long-term ramifications,” he said. Those decisions, however, are made only with parental consent.
"Ohio hospitals do not offer gender-affirming care to young patients without the consent of a parent or guardian," according to The Guardian.
“Parents are making decisions about the most precious thing in their life, their child, and none of us should underestimate the gravity and the difficulty of those decisions,” the governor said. “Many parents have told me that their child would be dead today if they had not received the treatment they received from an Ohio children’s hospital.”
The veto of anti-transgender legislation was a rare move for a Republican governor, but DeWine told reporters he worked hard to "get this right." That included sitting down and talking to people on "both sides," including transgender Ohioans, News5 added.
“It was just him as a person trying to understand me as a person so that he could make the best-informed position that he could for the good of the state,” transgender activist Aaron Demlow said.