Ohio GOP Gov. Mike DeWine on Friday vetoed a bill that would have restricted gender-changing services for minors and barred transgender athletes from participating in girls’ and women’s sports after it passed the state legislature by wide margins.
“The consequences of this bill could not be more profound,” DeWine, 76, said in a press conference announcing his decision. “I cannot sign this bill as it is currently written.”
“Were I to sign House Bill 68, were House Bill 68 to become law, Ohio would be saying that the state, that the government, knows better what is medically best for a child than the two people who love that child the most: the parents,” he added.
The governor went on to say that his administration would propose rules in the coming weeks to regulate gender clinics and enhance protections for children, saying he especially opposed gender-reassignment surgery for minors.
“While I have reached a different conclusion on whether to sign this bill, I do share a number of these concerns and agree that action is necessary regarding a number of issues that they have raised,” DeWine said.
He then invited state lawmakers — a majority of whom in both legislative chambers are Republican — to collaborate with him in the effort.
DeWine’s announcement followed two weeks of deliberation after the state Senate voted 24-8 on Dec. 13 to send the legislation to his desk. The Ohio House of Representatives had passed the Saving Adolescents from Experimentation (SAFE) Act 64-28 on June 21.
Many Ohio Republicans, including US Sen. J.D. Vance, had expressed “hope” that DeWine would sign the bill.
“I believe Governor Dewine is a good man. I hope he does the right thing and signs this important legislation,” Vance posted on X Thursday.
Fifteen years ago, there were no pediatric gender clinics in the US, Reuters reported last year. Now there are more than 100, making politicians’ handling of the issue a critical concern for voters nationwide.
Public pressure to address the matter came to a head in March 2022, when Lia Thomas — who transitioned into a female after competing for three years as a male on the University of Pennsylvania’s swim team — won the NCAA’s Division I 500-yard freestyle title.
More than 20 states have passed laws to either restrict or totally ban gender-transition services for minors since 2021, including in Florida, where Gov. Ron DeSantis also signed a measure to bar transgender athletes from women’s sports.
The Sunshine State governor has touted the legislation during the 2024 Republican presidential primary as proof of his record of enacting conservative priorities.
Critics of transgender athletes participating in women’s sports point to advantages biological males have over female competitors, including greater strength, bone mass and muscle volume.
Proponents, such as LGBT and civil rights advocacy groups, have countered that such legislation discriminates against transgender individuals.
The trans issue has even split the GOP primary field, with other candidates — like former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie — echoing DeWine’s concerns that parents, not government officials, should have the final say.
“Republicans believe in less government, not more, and less involvement with government, not more government involvement in people’s lives,” Christie said during the Dec. 6 Republican presidential primary debate. “I trust parents.”
“The minute you start to take those rights away from parents,” he added, “you don’t know — that slippery slope — what rights are going to be taken away next.”