DeWine Hits Panic Button as Ohio's House Plans to Override Veto of Bill Banning 'Gender-Affirming Care'

Ohio's House is cutting short their winter vacation to attempt to override Governor Mike DeWine's veto of a law that would have banned so-called "gender-affirming" care of children and kept males out of female sports.

Friday, DeWine carried through on his promise to veto House Bill 68. This commonsense bill would have prevented children from being encouraged to identify as something they are not and stopped hormone treatments and pro-trans propagandizing disguised as mental health services. There was no good reason for his actions.

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One of the reasons he articulated in his veto statement was very close to being false.

“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 better than the two people who love the child the most — the parents,” DeWine said Friday morning. "These tough, tough decisions should not be made by the government."

In fact, Ohio's premier center for the pharmacological abuse of children, Cincinnati Children's Hospital, actively cuts parents out of the decision to mutilate their kid. It also happens to be a major donor to DeWine's campaign.

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As the call was going out to Ohio GOP representatives to clear their calendar and assemble on January 10 to attempt to override DeWine's veto — Ohio's House has 67 Republican and 32 Democrat members, and 60 votes are needed to override the veto — DeWine tried to tamp down the enthusiasm for an override by issuing an executive order that bars the surgical mutilation of kids who've been deluded into thinking they are another sex.

The problem is twofold. First, no clinic in Ohio currently performs genital mutilation. That may change in the future, but it doesn't exist right now. And there are reasons for thinking this hideous practice may have hit its high water mark.

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Second, a Mike DeWine executive order isn't worth very much. A state law, on the other hand, has staying power.

DeWine spoke with families ahead of his veto, and he said none of them advocated for transition surgery for their children. Health care leaders have also said they don't recommend the procedure for minors.
Still, the governor said his order will "take this issue off the table."
“There’s a broad, broad consensus against surgeries for minors, so let’s put that into a law so we can move on and talk about other things," he said during a news conference.

Instead of stopping this "gender-affirming care" nonsense, DeWine created a process to move it forward.

DeWine also announced Friday that his administration proposed rules to collect data on treatment for transgender Ohioans and prevent "fly-by-night" clinics that don't provide adequate mental health counseling. To achieve that, the rule would require a comprehensive care plan for transgender adults and children that ensures they see an endocrinologist, psychiatrist and bioethicist.

Really? Adding more quacks to the mix suddenly makes everything better?

This is just a cheap attempt by DeWine to camouflage doing nothing as taking action. There is a very good chance that the House and Senate will override DeWine's veto. Fortunately, DeWine is term-limited, and the coming repudiation of his veto will put him on the way to being the lamest of lame duck for the next two years.