The state law banning gender transition treatments for minors is on trial in a Franklin County court. House Bill 68 didn’t take effect in April at the order of the judge hearing this case. But whatever the outcome, the case is likely to go on to the Ohio Supreme Court.
The lawsuit was brought by two transgender teens represented by the American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio. The plaintiffs say the law denies trans minors medically necessary health care and violates the state’s single subject rule. The state says that treatment is too risky for children to undergo, and Attorney General Dave Yost argued Judge Michael Holbrook went too far in halting the law before it took effect in April.
On the first day, the mother of one of the two plaintiffs testified under the pseudonym Gina Goe about her 12-year-old trans daughter, who’s identified as a girl since before kindergarten but has not disclosed her status to most people. She said her daughter was desperate and in distress before her transition but is now "thriving". And she said her daughter isn’t on puberty blockers yet but it’s been discussed with doctors.
“She has said that she absolutely wants and needs those to exist as who she is in this world," Goe said, becoming emotional under questioning from David Carey, an attorney from the ACLU of Ohio. "She has consistently shown us who she is for years. She knows herself to be a girl and she's confident in that."
Goe said her family has started coming up with options to leave the state for medical treatment if HB 68 is upheld.
In defending the law, Amanda Narog from the Ohio Attorney General’s office argued it protects kids and their parents from treatment with risky puberty blockers and other decisions that will have lifelong impact.
“Having children and intimacy in a committed relationship - these are far more basic human rights than the right to medically alter your body to align with your internal self-identity," Narog said.
On day two, the father of the other trans girl who is a plantiff in the case testified. Experts who have testified for the state so far include Dr. Jack Turban, a nationally-known researcher and professor of gender psychiatry and Cincinnati Children's Hospital endocrinologist Dr. Sarah Corathers.
The state plans to call Dr. James Cantor, who has said gender dysphoria is best addressed by mental health interventions and not puberty blockers that can pose harm, and Caroline Miller, a mother who claimed she was "bullied" into allowing gender transition care for her child in Missouri. That child has said publicly Miller told their story without consent and has praised their counselor.
House Bill 68 was passed by the Republican-dominated legislature as the Saving Adolescents from Experimentation or SAFE Act in December. The bill combined both the ban on gender-affirming care for minors and prohibited trans athletes from competing in girls' and women's sports. Gov. Mike DeWine vetoed the bill, saying he'd met with parents who'd told him "their child would be dead today if they did not receive this treatment". He also proposed rules for state agencies in dealing with and reporting gender-affirming care. Republican lawmakers overrode his veto in late January. The ACLU sued, and Holbrook put the law on hold just before it took effect in April.
The trial is expected to last five days. Whatever the outcome, an appeal is likely, and the case is expected to go to the Ohio Supreme Court. The court is split 4-3 toward Republicans, but three seats are on this fall's ballot.
