Gender-affirming care is a matter of life and death for trans youth

Mental health care providers would no longer be able to diagnose or treat gender dysphoria without jumping through needless hoops. The bill creates punishments for violations of these terms.

To make matters worse, the bill’s language equates gender dysphoria to psychopathology, highlighting the biases that infest House Bill 68.

The longer gender dysphoria goes untreated, the more likely a person is to attempt suicide.

The Trevor Project states that nearly 1 in 5 trans kids have attempted suicide. By denying Ohio’s trans youth the right to receive gender-affirming care, the state government would be contributing to the increasing rates of suicide among trans kids.

Finally, House Bill 68 would ban trans women from competing on sports teams that match their gender identity in collegiate athletics.

It would create separate teams based on a person’s sex assigned at birth. Here is a clear example of creating a solution for a problem that ceases to exist.

There are only six trans women competing in Ohio’s high school athletics, and even fewer in Ohio’s collegiate athletics.

The NCAA already requires trans athletes to have undergone hormone treatment for at least one year, and trans athletes hormone levels are monitored as a matter of athletic policy. Forcing an athlete to identify with their sex assigned at birth denies the very existence of trans people, and it adds to the hardship and discrimination they already face so much of.

Solutions to problems that do not exist

Creating legislation that perpetuates harm to LGBTQ+ people solves none of the issues our society faces. Instead, it furthers the culture war politics that plagues our state and our nation.

As House Bill 68 moved through the legislative process, it amassed opposition from Ohio students, parents, medical professionals, advocacy groups, religious leaders, and others.

House Bill 68 is a gross overreach of the government’s duties being pursued by a group that claims to support parents’ rights.

In Dewine’s own words, “These tough decisions should not be made by the government.”

With the possibility of a vote coming closer each day, I urge the readers to take action against this hateful bill. Contact your state representatives and senators to demand a “no” vote on the overriding of the governor’s veto of House Bill 68.

Zachary Graves is an honors political science student at Kent State University.