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Topline
Ohio Governor Mike DeWine vetoed a bill banning gender-affirming care for children—becoming only the second Republican governor to reject a ban on transgender healthcare.
Ohio’s comprehensive bill would have banned all gender-affirming care for minors and banned all … [+]
Key Facts
The Ohio legislature passed H.B. 68 on December 18—a comprehensive bill banning all gender affirming care for minors and requiring grade schools, public colleges, and private universities to ban transgender students from participating on single-sex sports teams.
DeWine said he “cannot sign this bill as currently written,” and directed legislators to implement new rules only restricting more controversial aspects of transgender healthcare.
“Ohio would be saying that the state or the government knows better, than what is medically best for a child, than the two people that love that child the most—the parents,” DeWine said at a press conference announcing his decision.
Before making the decision, the governor said he “sought out people on all sides of the issue to listen to their concerns,” including physicians providing gender-affirming care and families of transgender youth.
Key Background
In the week following the H.B. 68’s passage, Governor DeWine visited children’s hospitals in Akron, Cincinnati and Columbus to speak with patients receiving transgender healthcare, as well as their families and physicians at the facilities, the Associated Press reported. He also spoke with doctors who oppose transgender healthcare for minors, and “detransitioned” patients who received care when they were minors, DeWine said on Friday. “I do agree that action is necessary regarding a number of issues that they have raised,” DeWine said. The governor came out in favor of banning gender-affirming surgery for children under age 18, and also said he would direct state agencies to collect comprehensive data on the effectiveness of transgender healthcare for both minors and adults. He also voiced support for banning “pop-up” clinics that he said sell patients on “inadequate or even ideological treatments,” often before they have had mental health counseling. “Those who had positive experiences all noted that they received significant counseling, therapy, and consultation as a family before discussing even the possibility of other treatments,” DeWine said. “Conversely—those who had negative experience said they did not receive adequate counseling.” DeWine said he hoped both sides of the issue would “collaborate, find common ground, and adopt rules to protect Ohio children.”
Tangent
A large section of H.B. 68 was dedicated to a thorough ban on transgender participation in sports teams. However, DeWine said he did not even begin to address the athletics ban before deciding on his veto. “I focused on the part of the bill that I thought affected the most people and most children by far, and did not even get to the other question,” DeWine said. Several other Republican governors have also vetoed similar bans on transgender athletes. Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb vetoed a transgender athlete ban, but the state legislature overrode the veto in May 2022. Utah Gov. Spencer Cox vetoed a similar ban on participation in high school athletics in 2022—noting that at the time of the bill’s passing, only four transgender students were competing in high school sports, and only one of those students was competing in women’s sports.
Contra
Before DeWine announced his veto on Friday, Ohio Lt. Gov. Jon Husted voiced his support for H.B. 68. “I support it for two main reasons: Men should not compete in women’s sports. Permanent medical decisions concerning gender should not be made when you are a child,” Husted wrote in a post on X. Husted, a former Ohio senator, secretary of state and house speaker, formed an early committee to run for governor in 2026—after DeWine is barred from running for reelection due to term limits. Ohio has not had a Democratic governor since former Governor Ted Strickland lost his reelection bid in 2011.
Further Reading
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