The Republican-controlled Ohio state House voted on Wednesday to override Governor Mike DeWine’s veto of a bill that would ban gender procedures for minors and prevent boys who identify as girls from competing in girls’ sports.
After a 65-28 vote, Ohio House Republicans will now send the vote to the Senate. State lawmakers must come up with three-fifths of both the House and the Senate to vote for DeWine’s veto to be overridden and for the bill to become law. During the vote, many Ohio House Democrats wore dark-colored clothing and colorful pins or rainbow earrings to show their support for the LGBTQ community and to protest the Republicans’ support of overriding the veto, Fox 19 reported.
Senate President Matt Huffman, a Republican, told NBC 4 that the state Senate will likely vote to override DeWine’s veto on January 24.
Ohio House Bill 68, which was passed by the Republican-controlled Ohio General Assembly, was made up of two acts: the “Save Adolescents from Experimentation Act” and the “Save Women’s Sports Act.” The bill would ban transgender procedures on minors, such as double mastectomies on girls who identify as boys, and other genital procedures for children with gender dysphoria. It would also prohibit biological boys from competing in girls’ sports across the state.
HB 68 passed mostly along party lines on December 13, with the Ohio House voting 62-27 and the Ohio Senate voting 24-8 to approve the legislation, but after issuing his veto on Friday, DeWine said he was concerned about the legal implications of signing HB 68 into law.
“I truly believe that we can address a number of goals in House Bill 68 by administrative rules that will have likely a better chance of surviving judicial review and being adopted,” DeWine said at a press conference, ABC News reported.
DeWine defended his veto, arguing, “Ultimately, I believe this is about protecting human life.”
“Many parents have told me that their child would not have survived, would be dead today, if they did not receive the treatment they received from one of Ohio’s children’s hospitals,” the governor added. “I’ve also been told by those who are now grown adults that, but for this care, they would’ve taken their life when they were teenagers.”
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Last Friday, DeWine signed a limited executive order banning transgender surgeries on children, saying in the order, “Although I vetoed … House Bill 68, I stated clearly in my veto message that I agreed with the General Assembly that no gender-transition surgeries should be performed on anyone under the age of 18, and I directed agencies under my purview to draft rules to ban this practice in Ohio.”
The House’s vote to override DeWine’s veto of bans on gender procedures and boys competing in girls’ sports was praised by conservative leaders.
“Today, the Ohio House did the right thing by overriding the veto of HB68,” wrote Ohio Secretary of State and U.S. Senate candidate Frank LaRose. “We cannot, in good conscience, allow children to be subjected to irreversible medical procedures. And it is not safe or fair to allow boys to play girls’ sports. A majority of Ohioans agree with these common sense principles.”
Logan Church, the political director of CatholicVote, in a statement shared with The Daily Wire celebrated the House’s vote and said his organization will continue to urge the state Senate to follow through.
“CatholicVote is overjoyed to see the Ohio House of Representatives override Governor Dewine’s veto of House Bill 68,” said Church. “Dewine has turned his back on the values of Ohio families, but we are grateful to have safeguards such as this to protect the future of Ohio’s children.”