Mike DeWine’s feckless refusal to ban child mutilation must be quickly overruled
Jeremiah Poff
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Gov. Mike DeWine‘s (R-OH) veto of a bill prohibiting children from being subjected to cross-sex hormones, puberty blockers, and genital mutilating surgeries is arguably the most cowardly act by a Republican governor in recent memory.
Last week, the governor of a state where Democrats have been banished from any semblance of power in state government vetoed HB 86, which would have protected children in Ohio from transgender pseudoscience procedures that result in lifelong and irreversible damage to the human body. The bill also would have prohibited men who identify as women from competing in women’s sports programs, a policy that enjoys widespread public support.
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In his press conference announcing the veto, DeWine said that he had “listened” to a wide range of stakeholders, including doctors and parents who fell on either side of the debate over “gender-affirming care,” and ultimately decided that the best way forward on the issue is a vaguely defined executive branch regulation that could easily be repealed by a new administration instead of a bill passed through the legislative process and voted on by the people’s representatives.
There is absolutely no excuse for the governor’s veto, and his use of the euphemism “gender-affirming care” in his statements indicates that he has bought into the Orwellian language gymnastics that the transgender lobby and its allies in the medical industry have wielded as a cudgel against those who dare oppose the idea that procedures to alter the natural and normal functions of a healthy human body should be avoided.
Republicans hold veto-proof supermajorities in both chambers of the Ohio General Assembly and have an opportunity to rebuke DeWine for his shameful and cowardly veto by overruling the governor and enacting the bill into law.
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Overruling this veto must be the first priority for the state legislature when it returns to work this month. Restricting children from receiving these life-altering and irreversible procedures, as well as requiring that athletic competitions be fair for all participants, is a bare minimum policy for any Republican-controlled state.
By enacting this law, Ohio would join a growing list of states that have passed similar laws, including Florida, Texas, West Virginia, Indiana, Iowa, Missouri, and others. Republicans in the state legislature must act quickly to overrule DeWine’s veto. If they do not, voters would do well to remember in the state’s upcoming primaries.