Good News: Judge Rules to Protect Children and Girls Sports in Ohio
An Ohio judge upheld a law this week protecting children from experimental, body-damaging “transgender” procedures and mandating single-sex teams for men’s and women’s interscholastic athletics.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio had challenged the law in court on behalf of two families with children suffering from sexual identity confusion, saying the ban would “cause severe harm to transgender youth.”
In a statement about the court victory, President of the Center for Christian Virtue (CCV) Aaron Baer said:
Today, Ohio is a safer state for women and children. The ACLU’s lawsuit has been exposed as absurd and nonsensical, and now our girls won’t be forced to compete against boys in athletics, and children’s hospitals can no longer perform dangerous and sterilizing procedures on kids.
CCV is a Focus on the Family-allied organization protecting religious freedom, free speech, parental rights and human life in Ohio.
In December 2023, the Ohio Legislature passed House Bill 68, which contains two provisions protecting “children from transgender ideology in medicine and sports.”
The first provision, labeled the Saving Adolescents From Experimentation (SAFE) Act, prohibits physicians from performing transgender medical interventions on minors – including surgeries, opposite sex hormones and puberty-blocking drugs.
The second provision, the Save Women’s Sports Act, states:
No school, interscholastic conference, or organization that regulates interscholastic athletics shall knowingly permit individuals of the male sex to participate on athletic teams or in athletic competitions designated only for participants of the female sex.
As previously reported in the Daily Citizen, the Ohio Senate overwhelmingly approved the measure in a 24-8 vote on December 13, 2023. The Ohio House of Representatives passed the SAFE Act on the same day in a 62-27 vote.
Two weeks later, Ohio Governor Mike DeWine vetoed the bill, but the Ohio Legislature overrode the veto by wide margins.
ACLU of Ohio immediately challenged the law, claiming that withholding disfiguring and harmful drugs, hormones and surgeries puts adolescents “at risk of severe and irreversible harm to their health and well-being.” The ACLU further alleged that the law violated Ohio’s Health Care Freedom Amendment.
The ACLU also claimed that the SAFE Act violated a rule in the Ohio Constitution which states, “No bill shall contain more than one subject, which shall be clearly expressed in its title.”
In April 2024, a judge placed a temporary restraining order on the law, barring it from going into effect. But on August 6, 2024, Franklin County Court of Common Pleas Judge Michael J. Holbrook overturned that ruling, allowing the law to take effect.
Judge Holbrook ruled, “The State of Ohio has a legitimate government interest in protecting the health and safety of its citizens,” adding:
Moreover, the medical care banned carries with it undeniable risk and permanent outcomes. Indeed, countries once confident in the administration of gender affirming care to minors are now reversing their position as a result of the significant inconsistencies in results and potential side effects of the care. Thus, there can be no doubt that the Health Care Ban is neither arbitrary nor unreasonable.
Holbrook said those dissatisfied with the Ohio General Assembly for protecting girls sports and children should vote to change the legislature – rather than using the judicial system to overturn the law.
He also found that the SAFE Act dealt with only one subject, as it “contains a common purpose or relationship; namely, the General Assembly’s regulation of transgender individuals.”
The judge’s decision highlights why Christians need to be engaged at the ballot box, electing those who will enact sensible policies to safeguard children.
There is abundant evidence that transgender medical interventions are harmful and do not help children struggling with sexual identity confusion. Powerful drugs, body-damaging hormones and irreversible surgical mutilations are not a good response to children struggling with mental health issues like sexual identity confusion. Children should be protected from this destruction.
And female athletes deserve fair competition – without boys and men robbing them of opportunities, victories, and the camaraderie that comes from participating in single-sex sports.
Kudos to Ohio for protecting children and for safeguarding girls and women’s sports.
Related articles and resources:
Focus on the Family: Transgender Resources
ReFOCUS with Jim Daly: Addressing Gender Identity with Honesty and Compassion
#SaveGirlsSports – New Campaign Launched by Family Policy Alliance
U.K.’s Review of Child Gender Policy Reveals Profound Failures That U.S. Still Defends
The WPATH Files Exposes ‘Surgical and Hormonal Experiments on Children’
The WPATH Files – Transgender Interventions Are ‘Unethical Medical Experiments’
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