The issue of kids undergoing irreversible, experimental transgender care and letting transgender kids play in girls’ sports has grown exponentially in recent years. As a result, many states have created legislation to protect kids and female athletes from these harmful policies.
Of course, liberal activists push back against these laws at every chance to push so-called “fairness” and “inclusion.”
An Ohio law that prohibits children from undergoing so-called “gender-affirming care” and bans “transgender” athletes from girls’ sports can go into effect, a judge ruled on Tuesday.
"Upon careful review and consideration of the evidence, the Court finds the Health Care Ban reasonably limits parents' rights to make decisions about their children's medical care consistent with the State’s deeply rooted legitimate interest in the regulation of medical profession and medical treatments," Franklin County Court of Common Pleas Judge Michael Holbrook wrote in his decision.
Predictably, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) said they’d appeal the ruling.
The bill originally passed the Ohio state legislature in December 2023. As Townhall covered, Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine initially vetoed the bill, which Townhall covered.
At the time, DeWine said that if the bill were to become law, “Ohio would be saying that the state, that the government, knows better what is medically best for a child than the two people who love that child the most, the parents.”
A spokesperson for the governor added that DeWine met with families that were “both positively and negatively affected” by this type of care.
This week, Tristan Vaught, co-founder of Transform Cincy, which works to provide free wardrobes to “transgender and gender non-conforming youth between five and 25 years old," told WCPO that he does not support the ruling and that parents of "trans" kids don’t understand why they can’t make these decisions for their children.
"It completely flips their world upside down right now," Vaught, who reportedly goes by they/them pronouns, said. "You're now having to plan. What does the future look like for my child, for trans teens right now."
Parker Elswick, a “transgender” teen, told ABC 6 that hormone therapy changed his life for the better.
"I’m really just disappointed because I know how much this is going to affect people like me, and I have the privilege of being grandfathered in, but I know other people do not have that privilege," Elswick said.
"I think the court got it right," Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost told the outlet. "You know, this is not an anti-trans bill. This is simply protection against irreversible changes, irrevocable decisions for children."
"The more useful part is the very extensive evidentiary record that we created here that other states will now be able to import," said Yost. "The expert medical testimony that put the lie to some of the medical associations that are insisting that everybody agrees this is settled science. Well, no, it's not."