by LOVEboldly
Known as the “Saving Adolescents from Experimentation (SAFE)” Act and the “Save Women’s Sports” Act, HB 68 is the combination of HB 6 and the original HB 68 into a substitute bill. It would restrict transgender women and girls from participating in athletics at both the K-12 and higher education levels.
Further, it would ban gender-affirming care for minors (under 18) and prevent practitioners and parents from seeking from seeking out-of-state care for children.
Here’s why Christians should care.
Christians should care about honesty.
Despite its name, there is nothing “safe” about the “SAFE” Act. The bill rests on false premises and fear-mongering about the trans community.
While puberty blockers are used to help give adolescents time to live fully into their gender identities, medical experts have testified that gender confirmation surgery (otherwise known as “gender reassignment”) is not performed on minors in Ohio.
The trans community remains among the least discussed and broadly misunderstood marginalized communities. We need more and better education about the trans community to dispel the myths this bill and others like it rest on.
While some Christians may be concerned about the speed at which trans issues seem to be coming up in the news, we need to take a step back and ask ourselves, are our questions really about safety or are they about topics which we don’t understand? Are we allowing fear to override common sense?
Proponents of HB 68 have pointed to unfair advantages of transgender girls and women participating in women’s sports. They have also presented a case where many trans women and girls are attempting to participate in women’s sports.
These arguments are patently untrue.
Christians should participate in honest discussions about hot-button topics, but we must do so with the most accurate information. No one is attempting to fundamentally change women’s sports or push women who were assigned female at birth out of those sports. Instead, allowing transgender girls and women to participate in women’s sports creates a fair and honest environment for all student athletes.
Christians should care about equity.
Trans athletes deserve the ability and freedom to participate in interscholastic athletics based on their gender rather than their sex assigned at birth. Ohio HB 68 also explicitly addresses the “male sex” and singles out transgender girls and women for discrimination.
As of early 2023, less than 10 transgender girls are participating in interscholastic sports governed by the Ohio High School Athletic Association. HB 68 directly targets this very small group of children for discrimination in sports and discrimination in schools.
Christians should care about equity in every facet of life.
Christians should care about not afflicting harm.
Gender-affirming care isn’t a new invention that impacts only a small group of young people. Many Ohio children are at various stages of receiving gender-affirming care. As we have already seen in other states, when gender-affirming care is banned, youth who have transitioned are ordered to detransition. Forced detransition is a cruel, abusive, and evil process.
Christians should care about not afflicting harm on other people. Banning Trans youth from gender-affirming care not only impacts future youth, it impacts youth today who rely on affirming medical and mental health interventions today. No group or government should ever force anyone to detransition and lose their identity.
Christians should care about life.
Transgender youth are 2 to 2.5 times as likely to experience depressive symptoms, contemplate suicide, and/or attempt suicide than their cisgender LGBTQIA+ peers (The Trevor Project). Gender-affirming care for Trans youth can have a significant impact on overall mental health.
Gender-affirming care saves lives everyday. Christians should care that transgender youth can be served by medical interventions while continuing to explore and live into their gender identities.
Christians should care about love.
We express love when we adjust our environment and our systems to accommodate the needs of others. Sport has proven to be one of the most adaptable spaces for young people to engage.
From blind wrestlers to deaf basketball players to runners who use prosthetics, sport has repeatedly accommodated rather than excluded.
LOVEboldly continues to see how powerful it can be when communities, churches, and schools adjust their policies and rules to better include people of many identities. Interscholastic athletics should be no different. 🔥
LOVEboldly is an Ohio-based organization that exists to create and develop spaces where LGBTQIA+ people can flourish in Christianity. Their vision is a world where all LGBTQIA+ people can belong, feel safe, and flourish. More info in their website.
IGNITE ACTION
- Email or call Governor DeWine at 614-466-3555 or 614-644-4357 and tell him to veto HB 68. Provide a statement about why this is important to you if possible, but don’t worry about making it “perfect.” A simple “Veto HB 68” is the most important message to include.
- Sign the Ohio is Home letter and show your support for an Ohio that is welcoming and affirming for ALL.
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