Ohio’s top doctors, LGBTQ+ advocates testify against trans athlete, healthcare ban

Watch a previous NBC4 report on H.B. 68 in the video player above.

COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) — Leading medical professionals spoke at the Ohio Statehouse on Wednesday against a bill banning trans minors from receiving certain healthcare and trans girls from taking part in female athletics.

House Bill 68 — the “Save Adolescents from Experimentation Act” — would bar healthcare professionals from providing treatment known as gender-affirming care to trans children in the state. Lawmakers amended the legislation to include House Bill 6, named the “Save Women’s Sports Act,” to prohibit trans girls from taking part in female athletics and override the Ohio High School Athletic Association’s trans student-athlete policy.

Former University of Kentucky swimmer Riley Gaines spoke in favor of the bill during a Nov. 29 proponent hearing, testifying she competed against Lia Thomas, a trans swimmer from the University of Pennsylvania, in the 200-yard freestyle at the 2022 NCAA swimming championships. When the two tied for fifth place, Gaines claimed NCAA officials opted to award the trophy to Thomas.

“The female athletes who objected to Thomas’ participation in women’s swimming were told to remain silent,” said Gaines. “Lia Thomas was not a one-off. Across the country and across various sports, female athletes are losing not only titles and awards to males but also roster spots and opportunities to compete.”

If signed into law, H.B. 68 would also allow an athlete to sue for relief or damages if they are “deprived” of an athletic opportunity by a trans girl, and prohibit a government or athletic association from taking action against schools that enforce the ban.

More than 290 opponents submitted testimony for the legislation’s opponent hearing on Wednesday, including Nick Lashutka, the president of the Ohio Children’s Hospital Association. He testified the bill “uses false information to strip away parental rights and impose non-scientific restrictions on pediatric health care specialists.” Lashutka said the state’s children’s hospitals follow standards of care to ensure effective care, and clinicians who provide gender-affirming care are no exception.

Children’s hospitals in Ohio “do not perform any surgeries on minors for the condition of gender dysphoria,” Lashutka noted, and said each patient within the gender clinic undergoes a rigorous mental health assessment to determine if the clinic is the right place for them.

H.B. 68 would discipline medical professionals who provide gender transition healthcare, like hormone replacement therapy and reconstructive surgery, to a minor. Rep. Gary Click (R-Vickery), the bill’s primary sponsor, argues Ohioans under the age of 18 are “incapable of providing the informed consent necessary to make those very risky and life-changing decisions.”

Lashutka noted, throughout the past 10 years, Ohio’s children’s hospitals have served about 3,300 individuals whose first appointment at a gender clinic took place when they were under the age of eighteen. The average age at their first appointment was 16 years old. Of those 3,300 individuals, only 7% were prescribed a puberty blocker and only 35% were prescribed hormones.

“While the majority of patients are never prescribed medication as minors, those who do take medication consider it lifesaving and crucial,” said Lashutka. “It is a dangerous precedent for government to dictate when medication is appropriate in pediatrics.”

Steve Davis, president and CEO of Cincinnati’s Children’s, argued H.B. 68 would hinder doctors and parents from collaboratively deciding the best treatment for their children, leading to untreated mental health issues and preventable deaths.

While the number of children diagnosed with gender dysphoria is quite small, Davis said these children are among the most vulnerable. An estimated 20 to 40% of homeless youth are LGBTQ, many of whom were forced out of their homes. Trans youth face significantly higher risks of suicide attempts and depression. Trans youth are more than eight times as likely to attempt suicide and six times as likely to be depressed.

Davis and Lashutka, along with Shefali Mahesh from the Department of Pediatrics at Akron Children’s Hospital, implored the committee to at least consider the following amendments if the bill continues advancing:

• Address the pediatric behavioral health crisis by removing “dangerous barriers” to mental health care for gender dysphoria.

• Enable physicians to provide comprehensive care information. “Restricting this information violates our right to free speech and sets a dangerous precedent,” the three argued.

• Include a grandfather clause for youth currently receiving hormone therapy, as seen in other conservative states that have enacted similar bans. “Some children currently receive hormone therapy via long-acting subcutaneous pellets,” the group said. “Asking a family to bring their child in for removal becomes highly impractical and likely not enforceable.”

• Allow for limited use of hormone therapy in rare and extreme situations where there is a documented mental health crisis as permitted in other states, and reserve surgical treatment for patients over the age of 18.

“Despite the mischaracterization of gender clinics across the state, our center for gender-affirming medicine has provided multidisciplinary and family-centered care to transgender youth through rigorous, thoughtful, evidence-based practices,” said Mahesh. “At Akron Children’s we care for over 320,000 unique patients each year. Only 0.0015% are under the care of our multi-disciplinary team in our Gender Affirming Care Clinic.”

Christopher Bolling, a retired general pediatrician from the Ohio Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics, testified on Wednesday H.B. 68 takes away the rights of parents to discuss all potential services with trusted healthcare providers. Parents, in consultation with their chosen healthcare providers, “should make decisions regarding their children’s healthcare, this is not something the General Assembly should decide on their behalf,” said Bolling.

Sean Miller, a 15-year-old trans Ohioan, said on Wednesday it is “degrading to have to come to the Statehouse and beg my elected officials to treat transgender people like me with basic respect and ask for basic Constitutional rights.” Sen. Nickie Antonio (D-Lakewood) said she has watched Miller grow up in the halls of the Statehouse, having to return again and again to testify against anti-LGBTQ+ bills.

“Laws like this are pushing proud Ohioans like me out of our homes,” said Miller. “I want to live in Ohio. But, if I do not have the right to choose to live in a body that fits who I am on the inside, I cannot.”

Maria Bruno, Equality Ohio public policy director, said H.B. 68 and the “Save Women’s Sports Act” have “no business being in the same bill.” Bruno argued the only community between these two proposals is that they “target the same small portion of the population — transgender kids.”

Bruno noted only three trans students were approved for participation in the 2023 spring sports season out of approximately 400,000 athletes in Ohio, meaning trans people make up 0.000035% of student-athletes in the state.

“This legislation takes that supportive environment away from kids who need it. And for what? The Ohio High School Athletic Association has a policy that works,” said Bruno. “Overruling a thoughtful, functional policy by a private regulatory body and replacing it with a total ban is an extreme government overreach.”

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to NBC4 WCMH-TV.