In an incredibly disappointing and disturbing move, Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine vetoed a law on Friday that would have banned so-called "gender-affirming care" for minors. That ran contrary to states like Florida and Texas, which have already moved to protect children from medications and procedures that range from sterilization to mutilation. 

With Republicans like DeWine, who needs Democrats? Not that anyone should have expected anything different. We are talking about the same guy who embraced insane COVID-19 mitigation measures well into Joe Biden's presidential term. 

So what was DeWine's excuse this time around for showing his spine is made of soft serve? He claimed that while he had concerns about "gender-affirming care" for minors, we simply needed more "longitudinal studies" before taking action against it. 

Governor DeWine is calling for "longitudinal studies." We have that. We gave it to him. It shows this is devastating to kids. Europe went through this 20 years ago and is stopping it. Kids will be hurt by his actions today.

— Aaron Baer (@aarbaer) December 29, 2023

There are a lot of things that drive me insane about modern society, and one of those things is the over-complication of incredibly simple subjects. While I respect Aaron Baer, who helped garner support for the law, pointing out that longitudinal studies already exist, misses the point a bit. 

Ask yourself, why does anyone need a study to tell them that chemically sterilizing a young boy is wrong? Or that giving a young girl a double mastectomy to "affirm" a delusion they almost certainly would have grown out of is barbaric? No one should need a study to know that we shouldn't be blocking puberty for perfectly healthy children. 

Further, no amount of expert opinion is required to understand that mutilating a child is not only physically dangerous, with numerous long-term factors, but it's a moral abomination. What have we become as human beings, that the most credentialed among us pretend otherwise? 

I suspect that DeWine knows better, but I also suspect that he's too much of a coward to go against what he views as the predominant public opinion. To be clear, there's little evidence it is given polling shows most Americans hold more conservative views on transgenderism, but DeWine is exactly the kind of Republican who thinks that whatever he hears on CNN or MSNBC is the safe political path. 

That brings to me a question I've asked before: With allies like this, what's the point? What's the point of continuing to put Republicans in office if they are going to govern based on the opinion page of The New York Times and not any real conviction? I'd like to say I have a positive answer to that, but I don't. Until something changes, anger at the GOP is completely justified.