The following article was originally published in the Ohio Capital Journaland published on News5Cleveland.com under a content-sharing agreement.
Ohio has a handful of anti-transgender bills that are in various spots in the legislature — which won’t reconvene until January.
These bills have received much opposition from medical professions, hospitals, clergy, parents and members of the LGBTQ+ community.
House Bill 68 is the closest to becoming law — having recently passed the Ohio House and the Senate.
Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine has until Dec. 29 to either veto or sign the bill into law, said DeWine’s press secretary Dan Tierney. Even if DeWine vetoes the bill, a three-fifths vote of the members of the House and the Senate would override the governor’s veto.
HB 68 would prohibit doctors from providing gender-affirming care to trans youth, including puberty blockers and hormone therapy. It would also block trans athletes from playing women’s sports.
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.
State Rep. Gary Click, R-Vickery, introduced the bill and a recent amendment added a grandfather clause that would allow doctors who already started treatment on patients to continue.
Twenty-two other states have passed a law that blocks gender affirming care and 35.1% of trans youth ages 13-17 live in those states, according to the Human Rights Campaign.
“Sexuality content” bill
House Bill 8 would force educators to out students to their parents and require public schools to give parental notification before teaching “sexuality content.”
This bill passed the Ohio House in the summer and has had a couple hearings in the Senate Education Committee. State Reps. D.J. Swearingen, R-Huron, and Sara Carruthers, R-Hamilton, introduced the bill, also known as “Enact the Parents’ Bill of Rights.”
HB 8 defines sexuality content as “oral or written instruction, presentation, image, or description of sexual concepts or gender ideology.”
It also would require educators to notify parents about “any request by a student to identify as a gender that does not align with the student’s biological sex.”
Bathroom ban bill
House Bill 183 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 — banning transgender students from being able to use the facility that aligns with their gender identity.
It would also prohibit schools from allowing students to share overnight accommodations with the opposite sex.
The bill has had a few hearings in the House Higher Education Committee and was introduced by state reps. Beth Lear, R-Galena, and Adam Bird, R-New Richmond.
HB 183 wouldn’t prevent a school from having single-occupancy facilities and it would not apply to someone helping a person with a disability or a child younger than 10 years old being assisted by a parent, guardian, or family member.
The American Medical Association officially opposes policies preventing transgender individuals from accessing basic human services and public facilities consistent with gender identity.
Drag ban bill
House Bill 245 would ban drag performers from performing anywhere that isn’t a designated adult entertainment facility.
It also expands the definition of adult cabaret performances to include “performers or entertainers who exhibit a gender identity that is different from the performer’s or entertainer’s gender assigned at birth using clothing, makeup, prosthetic or imitation genitals or breasts, or other physical markers.”
The bill doesn’t stop at drag performers. It also includes topless dancers, go-go dancers, strippers and exotic dancers.
State rep. Angie King, R-Celina, introduced the bill which has only had sponsor testimony in the House Criminal Justice Committee.
Similar bills passing nationwide
This type of legislation isn’t unique to Ohio. More than 550 anti-LGBTQ+ bills — including more than 225 bills that would restrict the rights of transgender people — have been introduced nationally and 74 pieces of legislation have been enacted into law this year, according to the Human Rights Campaign.
Those bills include more than 125 gender-affirming care bans, more than 30 anti-transgender bathroom bills, more than 100 anti-LGBTQ+ curriculum censorship bills and 45 anti-LGBTQ+ drag performance bans.
