Senate Poised to Protect Children

Protecting kids. That’s what House Bill 68 is all about.

Saving girls’ sports and protecting all children from the life-long consequences of highly experimental, unproven, and inherently dangerous chemical treatments and surgical procedures.

The Governor’s veto of the Saving Adolescents from Experimentation (SAFE) Act was a truly puzzling and remarkably poor decision for parents, children, and families.

The bill that prevents radical sex change operations on children and keeps men out of women’s sports was something the Governor couldn’t support. The Lt. Governor, Attorney General, Auditor and veto-proof majorities of the Ohio General Assembly did support HB 68.

The House did the right thing by voting to override the veto on Wednesday – causing the state media to fall into a psychotic fit of rage. Our far-left media can't argue the facts so they resort to falsehoods and unhinged personal attacks.

The very first sentence in the column by the Cleveland Plain Dealer’s editorial board is a lie. No one is denying medical care to children. No one “would bar medical care for gender-questioning youth in Ohio.” That is completely false.

The column by the Columbus Dispatch’s editorial director is particularly nasty and libelous, with a headline deliriously claiming, “Ohio House didn't overturn DeWine's HB 68 veto to protect kids. They did it out of hate.” The vote was all about “control, ignorance and cruelty,” the editor shrieked.

This could be an Emperor's New Clothes moment when Ohio’s Democrats of good faith can join Republicans in recognizing how the state media have completely lost touch with reality.

The polls prove the vast majority of Americans agree with the intent of our safe, sane, and sensible legislation. 

Americans overwhelmingly favor protecting women’s sports and protecting kids from the medical horror show of mutilation with experimental surgeries and dangerous drugs.

• Washington Post: 68% of adults oppose access to puberty-blocking medication for transgender children ages 10-14 and 58% oppose access to hormonal treatments for transgender kids ages 15 to 17. 

• Harris: 61% oppose "gender-affirming" surgery for minors even with parental approval.

• Trafalgar Group: 78.7% say transgender surgeries and puberty blockers for minors should be illegal – including 84.6% of Independents and 53.2% of Democrats.

• Gallup: 69% say transgender athletes should only be allowed to compete on sports teams that correspond with their biological sex.

• McLaughlin and Associates: 77% oppose allowing males who identify as females to compete in college women's sports.

The House voted Wednesday because veto overrides must begin in the chamber where the bill originated. The Senate is now prepared to vote to override the governor’s veto during its first January session, scheduled for the 24th.

Meanwhile, countless newspaper editorials calling the bill anti-trans came out in support of the governor’s veto, even calling it pragmatic and wise.

What exactly is pragmatic or wise about the veto of a bill that allows counseling for children diagnosed with a behavioral disorder, and that even allows for the continued treatment of hormone therapy in certain cases, while preventing children from being subjected to experimental and irreversible surgeries that could maim them for life?

What exactly is pragmatic and wise about vetoing a bill that protects Title IX by keeping men out of women’s sports and boys out of girls’ locker rooms?

Did the governor consider the compelling testimony of young people, including Richard Anumene and Morgan Keller, who have suffered terribly and are now de-transitioning?  

Did the governor consider the testimony of Riley Gaines, who knows the threat brought by men who conveniently identify as women for athletic competition? The danger and serious injuries already suffered on the playing field and the psychological damage done in the locker rooms should be more than convincing.

Even today’s legacy newsrooms are beginning to acknowledge that surgeons are, in fact, performing these radical surgeries on children even here in Ohio, regardless of what excuses or denials you may hear coming from the editorial pages.

The left uses the term “trans” but we know these are children, children who suffer from a behavioral disorder, children whose immature and still developing brains are highly vulnerable to predatory suggestion, whether in person or on social media.

And in this leaked video posted on X by DailyWire.com we learn that patients in the gender-affirmation program at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital are as young as three.  Don’t believe me? Click on the link above and listen to the doctor in charge describe the treatments and ages of the children.

                                                          Excerpt from the Daily Wire Story Detailing Gender Affirming Care for Toddlers

Children as young as three. Let that sink in. Three.

What three-year-old has any clue about gender reassignment other than what predatory suggestions are put in his or her head?

In the article above, the doctor says if boy toddlers respond that they’d wear a tutu in dance class then those toddlers should be referred to gender-focused therapy.

For Christ’s sake, toddlers often put their clothes on backwards and can’t tie their shoes, but Cincinnati Children’s think they should be referred to gender therapy. If a TODDLER tells his mom that he’d like to be the Wicked Witch of the West for Trick-or-Treat, it doesn’t mean he is a girl or destined to be a drag queen. It might simply mean he just thinks it is a really scary costume, but not according to the brilliant medical minds in charge of the gender affirmation program.

There is nothing scarier than the thought of parents encouraged by these loons to refer their child to a gender affirmation program which doesn’t affirm their biological sex. The program should really be called gender confusion therapy.

Even European countries and scientists are beginning to realize the life threatening impact of this treatment, as detailed in this column by National Review:

Here’s more from the Media Research Center on the Children’s Hospital training video which highlights excuses for concealing details about their children.

How often did you ever read or hear about this, ten years ago, or even five years ago? Practically never. So, what changed? Here’s a reasonable assumption: Access to your children through social media platforms such as TikTok (owned by Communist China) and the emerging business model of the gender transition industry.

Remember when Planned Parenthood told us that Issue 1 on last November’s ballot and its language detailing the reproductive rights of individuals didn’t have anything to do with gender reassignment? That was a lie, and Planned Parenthood put its new business model to work, advertising “Gender-affirming care” at all of its “health centers” around Ohio immediately after the November election.

In 2020 Forbes detailed the emerging business model in this story and reported it is worth upwards of $200 billion.

Today, newspapers love to attack Republicans and accuse them of launching culture wars when, in fact, it is the Left that launched the initial and continued attacks in your son and daughter’s elementary school, in their college classroom, and now in their locker room.

In our first President’s Podcast of 2024, Senate President Matt Huffman talks about the senate’s upcoming response to the governor’s veto, and why protecting our children is worth fighting for.

John Fortney is Director of Communications for the Ohio Senate Majority Caucus