Appeals Court Overturns Ohio's Ban on Gender-Affirming Medical Care for Minors
Tuesday, March 18, a three-judge panel on the Tenth District Court of Appeals overturned House Bill 68, Ohio's law banning gender-affirming care for trans youth. The same law also banned trans women and girls from participating in female sports.
The ruling reversed a lower court judge's decision last summer to allow the law to go into effect after finding it "reasonably limits parents' rights, Julie Carr Smith reported on March 19 for AP News.
"The decision comes as the U.S. Supreme Court considers whether the U.S. Constitution allows states to pass laws like Ohio's. The Ohio lawsuit is based on the state's constitution, however, meaning that the outcome of the Supreme Court case will not directly affect it," Brendan Pierson explained for Reuters.
"The case, Moe v. Yost, was originally filed on March 26 by the American Civil Liberties Union, the ACLU of Ohio, and the global law firm Goodwin on behalf of two families whose transgender adolescents would be negatively impacted by HB 68," ACLU reported.
"The path towards protecting the rights and civil liberties of trans-Ohioans goes on, and we will continue to hold the torch," Freda Levenson, legal director at the ACLU of Ohio, said in a statement.
Harper Seldin, senior staff attorney at the American Civil Liberties Union, said in a statement: "This is a critical victory for transgender youth and their families across Ohio. The state's ban is discriminatory, baseless, and a danger to the well-being of the same Ohioan youth lawmakers claim to want to protect."
