COLUMBUS – On July 15, the Franklin County Court of Common Pleas will begin a five-day trial in a challenge brought by two Ohio families and their transgender daughters against Ohio’s ban on gender-affirming medical care charging the law with violating the Ohio state constitution.
Freda Levenson (she/her), Legal Director, ACLU of Ohio:
“Transgender youth, their families, and their doctors should be trusted to make life-saving medical decisions together, without government interference. Gender-affirming healthcare is safe, effective, and supported by every major medical society in our country. Our courageous clients need, and have a constitutional right, to access these well-established treatments. House Bill 68, which bans this care, is not just cruel, it is unconstitutional and must be struck down.”
Harper Seldin (he/him), Senior Staff Attorney, American Civil Liberties Union:
“Like families with transgender youth across the country, our clients are having their most fundamental freedoms threatened by a law that targets their children on baseless and discriminatory grounds. Gender-affirming hormone treatments serve as the foundation for the lives their children lead, and they are so essential to their well-being that their parents are contemplating uprooting their lives and leaving the only homes their children have ever known. We are committed to ensuring every state is a safe place to raise every family, and we look forward to exposing HB 68 as entirely unfounded and untenable under the Ohio state constitution.”
Near the end of the 2023 state legislative session, Ohio’s legislature passed House Bill 68, a law that prohibits gender-affirming medical care such as hormone treatments and puberty blockers for transgender youth. The law was vetoed by Governor Mike DeWine, saying decisions about this care “should be made by the people who love these kids the most, and that’s the parents.”
Miranda Hooker, Complex Litigation & Dispute Resolution Partner, Goodwin:
“The current House Bill 68 violates the Ohio Constitution in multiple ways keeping transgender youth from accessing the essential gender-affirming care they require. Through the temporary restraining order on the House bill, our clients will have the opportunity to ultimately win the case, creating the deserved chance for transgender youth to obtain safe affirming care.”
Soon after, the legislature overrode Governor DeWine’s veto and enacted HB 68 into law. On behalf of two transgender adolescents and their families, the American Civil Liberties Union, the ACLU of Ohio, and the global law firm Goodwin Procter filed a lawsuit in the Franklin County Court of Common Pleas in February 2024.
On April 16, 2024, the trial court entered a temporary restraining order, preventing HB 68 from being enforced while the case proceeds. On May 3, 2024, the trial court extended that temporary restraining order through the conclusion of the trial that begins next week.
Click here for more on Moe v. Yost.
