Ohio House Votes To Override Republican Governor’s Veto Of Ban On Sex Changes For Minors

The Ohio House of Representatives voted Wednesday to override Republican Gov. Mike DeWine’s veto of a bill that would ban physicians from performing sex-change medical procedures on minors.

DeWine vetoed House Bill 68 on Dec. 29, claiming that after speaking with families with transgender children he felt that signing it would “be saying that the government knows better what is medically best for the child than the two people who love that child the most, the parents.” Elected officials in the state House, however, voted 65-28 to override the governor’s veto, sending the bill to the state Senate for a final vote.

“By a vote of 65-28, the Ohio House has voted to override the Governor’s veto of HB 68,” Republican state Rep. Gary Click posted on X, formerly Twitter, following the vote.

The vote came just days after DeWine announced that he had signed an executive order banning only transgender surgeries for minors, saying that he “never disagreed” with lawmakers’ concerns about minors obtaining this kind of medical intervention. The Republican governor also said that the state’s Department of Health and the Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services are in the process of proposing several new requirements for consulting medical experts before getting transgender medical procedures.

House Bill 68 also included legislation barring male athletes from competing in women’s sports, but DeWine claimed that he focused on the transgender procedures for minors, instead, when vetoing. DeWine has said in the past that he does not think that the government should get involved in the transgender athlete debate.

The governor also received donations totaling over $40,000 between 2018 and 2023 from multiple Ohio children’s hospitals that support transgender medical treatments for minors to the Mike DeWine and Jon Husted Transition Fund, which allows candidates to spend donations for “transition activities and inaugural celebrations.”