The following article was originally published in the Ohio Capital Journal and published on News5Cleveland.com under a content-sharing agreement.
The ACLU of Ohio and global law firm Goodwin have filed a lawsuit against part of a new law that bans gender-affirming care for transgender minors.
The lawsuit was filed Tuesday in the Franklin County Court of Common Pleas on behalf of two families whose 12-year-old transgender daughters would lose access to gender-affirming health care. The lawsuit asks that the court strikes down the portion of House Bill 68 that prevents gender-affirming care before it goes into effect April 24.
The plaintiffs are asking the court to issue a temporary restraining order to stop HB 68 from taking effect and to declare the gender-affirming care ban unconstitutional.
“The ban on gender-affirming care will cause severe harm to transgender youth,” Freda Levenson, ACLU of Ohio’s legal director said in a statement. “These personal, private medical decisions should remain between families and doctors; they don’t belong to politicians. We will fight in court to ensure that trans youth and their parents can access critically important, lifesaving healthcare without government intrusion.”
Gov. Mike DeWine vetoed HB 68, but Ohio House and Senate Republican lawmakers voted to override his veto. HB 68 prohibits transgender youth from starting hormone therapy and puberty blockers and has a grandfather clause that would allow doctors who already started treatment on patients to continue.
Gender-affirming care is supported by every major medical organization in the United States. Children’s hospitals across Ohio, the Ohio Children’s Hospital Association, and the Ohio Academy of Family Physicians all opposed HB 68.
“Families are now confronted with the extremely difficult decision of fleeing the state they call home to protect their children or allowing them to go without the care they and their doctors know is right for them,” Chase Strangio, Deputy Director for Transgender Justice at the ACLU, said in a statement. “HB 68 is government overreach point blank, and we are determined to reinstate Ohio families’ right to make personal medical decisions with healthcare providers – not politicians.”
The plaintiffs in the case are the Moe family and the Goe family. The Moe family lives in Hamilton County and their 12-year-old transgender daughter has a gender dysphoria diagnosis. The Goe family lives in with Franklin County with their 12-year-old transgender daughter who has a gender dysphoria diagnosis and is being monitored for the onset of puberty.
“HB 68’s restrictions on medical care for the transgender youth community not only defy medical consensus and expert judgment but eliminates a parent or caregiver’s fundamental right to make critical, informed healthcare decisions for them. Goodwin is proud to support the ACLU on this vital matter,” Allison DeLaurentis and Miranda Hooker, partners in Goodwin’s Complex Litigation & Dispute Resolution practice, said in a statement.
The ACLU says HB 68 violates four sections of the Ohio Constitution — the single-subject rule, the Health Care provision, the Equal Protection Clause, and the Due Course of Law provision.
Ohio is the 23rd state to ban gender-affirming health care for trans youth, according to the ACLU. Many of those states have faced legal challenges though.
Federalappeals judges on the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that Tennessee and Kentucky can continue banning gender-affirming care for trans youth while legal challenges against state laws continue. The 6th Circuit has jurisdiction over Ohio.
