Ohio House votes to ban trans girls from female sports, trans medical care for minors

How Ohio's LGBTQ children experience life at school, what sports they play, and the kinds of medical care they can access will change if two pieces of legislation passed Wednesday by House Republicans become law.

Known as House Bills 8 and 68, these proposed laws would require schools to notify parents before sexual orientation or identity is discussed, immediately report students who question those identities, ban transgender girls and women from playing on female sports teams in high school and college and prohibit doctors from prescribing hormones, puberty blockers or gender reassignment surgery before age 18.

Republicans said these changes would protect children across Ohio, but Democrats said they amounted to state sponsored bullying of LGBTQ people.

Parental rights

Known as the Parents Right To Know Act, House Bill 8 passed 65 to 29 Wednesday and is headed to the Ohio Senate. Only one Republican, Rep. Jamie Callender, R-Concord, voted no.

Supporters said the legislation was about parental notification and would not ban the teaching of any book or subject.

"Many parents right now feel unwelcomed and disenfranchised, and that's what this bill is targeting," bill sponsor Sara Carruthers, R-Hamilton, said. "It's about bringing people together for the benefit of our kids."

Democrats disagreed, arguing that Ohio law already requires school districts to notify parents before teaching sex education and permits parents to opt out of book assignments, tests, and classes. And HB 8's broad language would effectively silence teachers from discussing the existence of LGBTQ people.

"I think that means that people like me... maybe they don’t feel part of the class," said Rep. Elliot Forhan, D-South Euclid, whose parents are lesbians. "Maybe they don’t feel like they are a part of the community. Maybe they don’t feel like they’re part of Ohio. Maybe that’s the goal."

HB 8 would expand notification requirements for schools to include "sexuality content," defined "as any oral or written instruction, presentation, image, or description of sexual concepts or gender ideology."

More: Opponents say Ohio's proposed parent's bill of rights is increasingly anti-LGBTQ

Democrats also objected to the new notification rules in this bill that removed teacher discretion on whether to withhold certain information from parents, like whether a child is questioning their gender identity.

"I’m worried that this amendment is not so much about the content ... but more so an outing of students when they don’t fit the mold," Rep. Jessica Miranda, D-Forest Park, said during a committee hearing.

Transgender medical care and women's sports

HB 68 originally dealt with what types of medical care transgender minors should be able to access, but the bill had a ban on transgender girls playing on female sports teams added to it in committee.

It passed 64 to 28 late Wednesday afternoon, Republicans Callender and Rep. Brett Hillyer, R-Uhrichsville voted no.

More: Ohio House panel OKs bill to ban transgender girls in women's sports, gender surgery for kids

HB 68 would make it illegal for Ohio doctors to provide anything beyond talk therapy for all transgender minors − even those on hormones and puberty blockers. Families wishing to continue those treatments would have to leave the state.

Transgender children who remained in Ohio would be screened for "comorbidities that may be influencing the minor’s gender-related condition," like depression, anxiety, sexual abuse and autism during gender dysmorphia therapy. And no surgical interventions would be permitted.

"Minors do not have the ability to provide informed consent to any of these dangerous procedures," bill sponsor Gary Click, R-Vickery, said before Wednesday's vote.

Parents of transgender children strongly disagreed during the committee process, saying the government should not be able to decide what is "medically appropriate for our kids."

For transgender student-athletes, HB 68 says the genitalia a child is born with determines what sports teams they can play on in high school and college. The Ohio High School Athletic Association currently allows transgender girls to join female teams if they submit bloodwork and proof of being on hormone therapy for at least one year.

The bill doesn't specify how an athlete's gender would be verified if called into question, but it would allow athletes and their families to sue if they believed they lost an opportunity because of a transgender athlete.

Anna Staver is a reporter for the USA TODAY Network Ohio Bureau, which serves the Columbus Dispatch, Cincinnati Enquirer, Akron Beacon Journal and 18 other affiliated news organizations across Ohio.

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This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Ohio House votes to ban transgender girls from female sports