The Governor explained his decision following a veto on the 28th of December 2023: “Ultimately, these tough, tough decisions should not be made by the government. They should not be made by the state of Ohio. They should be made by the people who love these kids the most, and that’s the parents. The parents who have raised that child, the parents who have seen that child go through agony, the parents who worry about that child every single day of their life.”

Christian groups have been appalled by the decision. They are hoping that the Ohio General Assembly, controlled by a Republican supermajority, can override the Governor’s veto with a three-fifths majority vote.

The President of the Centre for Christian Virtue, Aaron Baer, stated: “Mike DeWine has failed Ohio, and it’s our children who are going to pay the price. If the General Assembly does not override his veto, when we look back a generation from now at the thousands of kids who have been sterilised and harmed by dangerous and experimental transgender medical procedures, we will realise that those in power did nothing to stop it. The only people celebrating this veto today are progressive activists who recklessly proclaim children can be ‘born in the wrong bodies’ and the children’s hospitals that are profiting off the sterilisation and manipulation of children and parents.”

According to Senior Counsel Matt Sharp from The Alliance Defending Freedom – a conservative legal non-profit organisation representing female athletes in legal battles against legislation allowing biological males to compete in female sports: “DeWine betrayed voters. By vetoing the bill, he ignored the growing body of evidence about the damage that these drugs and surgeries inflict on children’s minds and bodies. And he dismissed the harm to women athletes who are losing spots on the podium and having their athletic opportunities stripped away by policies that allow men to compete on women’s teams.”

Following the backlash, Governor DeWine said he would introduce measures to ban transgender surgeries for children under 18 and push for stricter regulations and tracking for such interventions for both minors and adults. 

Source: https://www.christianpost.com/