Attorneys for the two 12-year-old trans girls who sued Ohio’s law banning gender reassignment surgery for minors have appealed the decision of a Franklin County judge who upheld the law on Tuesday. Republican Attorney General Dave Yost, who welcomed the decision in the lawsuit against House Bill 68, said he was glad the case was moving forward. But the head of the leading advocacy group for trans Ohioans in the state said they were “furious” about the decision.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio filed the appeal with the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals shortly after Judge Michael Holbrook’s decision was released.
“I’m pleased. I was concerned that they would leave the matter at this trial court level, which would have no precedential value,” Yost said. “Now we’re going to get a review by the Court of Appeals and the Supreme Court. And I’m very optimistic that Judge Holbrook’s well-reasoned decision will ultimately stand and House Bill 68 will continue to be the law.”
HB 68 combined the ban on gender reassignment surgery for minors with a ban on trans athletes in girls’ and women’s sports. Holbrook ruled that this did not violate the state’s single-subject rule for legislation.
“I’m beyond disappointed. I’m pretty angry,” said Dara Adkison, executive director of TransOhio. “If you were to say this is a group other than transgender people, I think there would be a whole different outcry. To say this is a single issue that lumps together all sorts of unrelated tasks to discriminate against some small minority group is just abhorrent.”
In his ruling, Holbrook also wrote that HB 68 does not violate the Freedom of Health Care Amendment in the Ohio Constitution. However, Yost said this litigation will have implications for other states.
“More useful is the very extensive body of evidence that we’ve created here that other states can now import – the expert medical testimony that belies some of the medical associations that insist that everyone agrees that this is accepted science. Well, no, it’s not,” Yost said. “I think those testimony will be very helpful in legally determining in other courts what the truth of the matter is.”
But Adkison strongly disagreed.
“I think there is a consensus among all the major accredited medical associations. There is no consensus among fascist extremist groups who like to say they are medical associations that are not accredited or endorsed or peer reviewed,” Adkinson said. “I’m not shocked by those two types of organizations that don’t necessarily fit together, but I would go with the major ones that have been around forever, both nationally and internationally, and that say they know what the best practices are for gender-affirming care for adolescents.”
The American Medical Association, the American Psychiatric Association and the American Academy of Pediatrics oppose the ban on gender reassignment surgery for minors. In this case, the state has included the testimony of Dr. James Cantor, a Canadian clinical psychologist and neuroscientist who has written that puberty blockers are neither safe nor reversible, and Dr. Stephen B. Levine, a clinical professor of psychiatry at Case Western Reserve University, who has written that there are many risks associated with gender reassignment surgery for minors.
The girls’ families had argued that the law would deny them access to necessary medical care. Governor Mike DeWine used that argument when he vetoed the law in January. Republican lawmakers quickly overrode his veto. The law was set to take effect in April, but Holbrook ordered it blocked pending trial.
