Ohio bans gender-affirming care despite the governor’s veto

• Ohio bans gender-affirming care for minors.
• The state Senate overrode Governor DeWine’s veto.
• The law also restricts transgender athletes.

Ohio’s Senate overrode the GOP governor’s veto of  the harsh new law on Wednesday, January 24.

This veto would have prevented a law that prohibits gender-affirming care for minors from going into effect.

It also restricts transgender athletes, saying they must compete on teams corresponding to the gender they were assigned at birth.

Reactions on social media were immediate.

The new law will take effect in 90 days

The House had already voted on January 10 to override the Governor DeWine’s veto.

When he vetoed the law, DeWine expressed a desire to ban gender reassignment surgery before the age of 18.

Following today’s decision by the Senate, the legislation is expected to take effect within 90 days.

This bill will prohibit transgender minors from receiving gender-affirming medical care and restricts the use of puberty blockers.

Transgender athletes will not be able to compete

Additionally, the law prohibits transgender athletes from competing on teams that do not correspond with the gender they were assigned at birth.

This means transgender women and girls who want to participate in women’s sports teams will not be able to do so.

Mike DeWine challenged his own party’s views in December, especially those of the more radical Republicans.

He also vetoed the law, although he announced plans to ban gender reassignment surgeries before the age of 18.

Ohio bans gender-affirming care

DeWine vetoed the law because he believed that the bill, as written, would harm transgender youth, according to The Associated Press.

He also said it would hinder families’ ability to make healthcare decisions: «They should not be made by the state of Ohio. They should be made by the people who love these kids the most, and that’s the parents.»

More than twenty states have implemented restrictions on access to gender-affirming care for minors.

This is due to the wave of conservatism sweeping the United States, largely driven by the more radical Republicans.

The Vatican reaffirms blessings for same-sex couples

The Vatican defended Pope Francis’ recent decision to allow blessings for same-sex couples earlier this year.

It insisted that there is nothing «heretical» about it, according to NBC News.

In a statement, the Holy See’s office expressed its understanding that some episcopal conferences need more time for «pastoral reflection.»

The statement added that «there is no room to distance ourselves doctrinally from the Declaration about the blessings… or to consider it heretical…»

Some bishops will not follow the new policy

The new blessing rule was presented last month in the form of a declaration, a significant document of the Catholic Church.

Some bishops immediately stated that they will not implement the new policy.

«Prudence and attention to the ecclesial context and to the local culture could allow for different methods of application» of the new rule.

«…but not a total or definitive denial of this path that it proposed to priests,» the statement asserts.

When is a blessing ‘imprudent’?

The orthodoxy surveillance office acknowledged that in such situations, a blessing would be ‘imprudent.’

«It is clear that bishops do not want to expose homosexual persons to violence.»

This statement asserts that it is «vital» for these episcopal conferences not to support a «doctrine different from that of the Declaration signed by the Pope.»

Finally, it emphasized the Vatican’s position that it «remains firm in the Church’s traditional doctrine on marriage…»