A bill that would have restricted healthcare access for transgender and gender expansive youth in Ohio was vetoed by the governor last week. Now, after cutting their winter recess short, Republican lawmakers in the state are flocking back to the capital to override the decision — a move representative of the larger GOP crusade against LGBTQ rights nationwide.
Last Friday, Republican Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine struck down House Bill 68, which would have prevented doctors from providing puberty blockers, hormones and gender affirmation surgeries to patients under the age of 18, and barred transgender girls and women from playing on female sports teams in high school and college, according to The Columbus Dispatch. In contrast, the bill would also have permitted physicians to perform surgeries on intersex children, a procedure advocates flag as often medically unnecessary and nonconsensual.
