COLUMBUS, Ohio — In a press release Monday, the ACLU of Ohio announced that it was filing a lawsuit to challenge House Bill 68's prohibition on gender transition treatment for minors.
HB 68, also known as the SAFE Act, was vetoed by Gov. Mike DeWine, but that veto was recently overridden by the state’s House and Senate. The bill places a ban on gender transition treatment for minors and bars transgender athletes from competing in girls’ and women’s sports.
In the ACLU of Ohio’s announcement, they note they intend to file the lawsuit before the law is set to take effect — April 23, 2024 — in order to halt it.
“We are preparing litigation to defend transgender youth and their constitutional right to receive medically necessary healthcare,” said Freda Levenson, legal director at the ACLU of Ohio, in the release. “The use of gender-affirming hormone therapy to treat transgender minors is supported by every major medical association in our country. Transgender youth, together with their doctors and parents, should have access to evidence-based medical care just like anyone else. Families should be able to make these private, personal decisions based on the advice of their physicians, and free from interference by politicians. HB 68 is not only cruel; it violates the Ohio Constitution and must be challenged.”
The release states that hormone therapy as a treatment for gender dysphoria is backed the American Medical Association and the American Academy of Pediatrics, along with other medical organizations.
In a press release, the bill’s primary sponsor Rep. Gary Click, R-Vickery, responded to the ACLU’s announcement, saying it comes as no surprise.
“They have a storied history of inventing fictitious rights while opposing actual rights such as those enshrined in the SAFE Act,” he said in the release. “Children have a right to grow up intact. It is unfathomable that a so-called civil rights organization would sue for the right to sterilize children, amputate healthy body parts, cause irreversible damage, and set children on a path to an increased risk of suicide without parental consent.”
He argues the ACLU is filing in state court since the HB68 already has precedent in the 6th and 10th circuit courts. He said he is confident the attorney general will be able to defend the SAFE Act.