BREAKING: Ohio judge upholds law banning child sex changes, protecting women’s sports

The ruling enables House Bill 68 (HB68), the Saving Adolescents from Experimentation (SAFE) Act, to be enacted more than three months after it was scheduled to go into effect on April 24, 2024.

The bill was passed in January 2024 after Ohio politicians heard from victims of childhood medical transition, including Prisha Mosely. Mosley, then 25, described the horrific physical and emotional impacts of the medical transition she started at 15 years old, including a double mastectomy and the lifelong impacts of taking testosterone, including constant pain and genital atrophy.

After HB68 passed, a lawsuit to thwart the legislation–funded by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU)– was filed on behalf of two families with transgender-identified children in March. Judge Michael Holbrook, who released Tuesday's decision, placed the bill on hold pending his ruling. This move was criticized at the time by Republican Attorney General Dave Yost, who argued that the bill should have gone into effect despite the lawsuit.

On today’s decision, ACLU director Freda Levenson said that the legal group will be “appealing immediately.”

The ACLU claimed that the bill would prohibit “medical care that is widely accepted to treat gender dysphoria, helping alleviate the distress of gender dysphoria and significantly improving patients’ mental health and well-being.” The ACLU’s assertions, however, are not backed up by evidence. England’s Cass Review of the medical transition of minors showed that not only is there no consensus on the best clinical approach to care, there is also poor to no evidence backing the medical transition of minors.

During a five-day trial, Judge Holbrook heard testimony from the two families supported by the ACLU, as well as a parent opposed to childhood medical transition, and several doctors and advocates.

HB68 states that Ohio “has a compelling government interest in protecting the health and safety of its citizens, especially vulnerable children.” It goes on to describe how “the vast majority of children who are gender nonconforming or experience distress at identifying with their biological sex come to identify with the biological sex in adolescence or adulthood, thereby rendering most medical healthcare interventions unnecessary.”

Chloe Cole, a now-famous de-transitioned woman, gave testimony in support of the bill. She celebrated today’s win in a post on X: “Big news in Ohio!! It’s been years in the making. HB68 that protects women’s sports and protects minors from the physical harms of gender ideology is now confirmed by the state of Ohio. I’m grateful to have had a small part in this case, testifying on behalf of my personal experience in Columbus.”

The ruling was condemned on X by Ohio activist group, TransOhio, who called the decision “a cruel farce and a slap in the face of what we know to be true…”

Tuesday's ruling concluded that HB68 “does not violate the Health Care Freedom Amendment,” or the Equal Protection Clause, Due Course of Law Clause, or Single Subject Rule.