The Ohio House overrode a veto from their Republican governor on Wednesday when 65 representatives voted to end transgender child mutilation and ban men from invading women’s sports in the state.
Most Ohioans and most Americans say kids with gender dysphoria should not be chemically castrated or surgically mutilated and cross-dressing men should not be able to invade women’s sports teams. Ohio Republicans’ “Save Adolescents From Experimentation Act” would have outlawed both, but Gov. Mike DeWine recently vetoed the bill.
He justified his decision with Democrat rhetoric fueled by junk science and unreliable surveys that claim gender-confused kids will commit suicide without transgender mutilations, especially opposite-sex hormones. DeWine tried to prevent a veto override by signing an executive order that only prohibits mutilating children’s genitals and, unless adopted by the Joint Committee on Agency Rule Review, only lasts for 120 days.
The governor’s scrambling to save face did not sit well with state representatives nor their constituents.
“My staff just informed me that the calls to override the veto represent the highest organic input that we have ever received. In just over 24 hours we will fulfill their demand,” Rep. Bill Click, HB 68’s sponsor, wrote on X. “It’s hard to believe that we have to go to this much effort to keep kids intact and to protect women in their spaces,” Click noted on Wednesday.
Republicans in Ohio are not alone in their uphill battle to protect children from violent gender ideology. Red politicians control the state legislatures and the governor’s mansion in 22 states. Yet only 17 of those states have agreed to outlaw the castration and mutilation of minors.
Some legislatures are in the process of considering legislation but others, like Ohio, have to fight off vetos from Republican governors. For HB 68 to become a law, three-fifths of the state Senate must join the House in overriding DeWine’s veto.
