On the last day of Pride, a conservative majority on the US Supreme Court sustained state bans in Idaho and West Virginia preventing transgender girls from playing sports that correspond with their gender.
Ohio has already passed a trans sports ban through HB 68 in 2024, which was passed after a majority of Republicans overrode Gov. Mike DeWine’s veto of the bill, which also prohibited transgender minors from receiving gender-affirming care. The ban remains in effect as an appeal is currently pending in the Ohio Supreme Court.
LGBTQ+ organizations in Ohio quickly responded to Tuesday’s Supreme Court ruling.
Executive Director for TransOhio Dara Adkison called the ruling “one of the most significant failures for transgender rights in modern history.”
“By allowing transgender student-athletes to be excluded from school sports solely on the basis of their perceived gender, the Court endorsed government discrimination against a vulnerable population and departed from the principle that all people deserve equal protection under the law,” Adkison said in a statement. “This decision does not erase transgender people from our schools, communities or families. Transgender Ohioans have always existed and always will.”
Statement by an organization working for LGBTQ+ people Equality, Ohio she called the ruling “extremely painful for young transgender people and their families.”
The statement, addressed directly to transgender youth, reads: “No court decision can erase your humanity, your dignity or your place in our community.”
“Equality Ohio will not stop fighting until every Ohioan experiences equality in life and the law,” the statement concluded.
Ben Huelskamp, executive director of an LGBTQ+ religious support organization LOVESbravelyhe said the decision was “cruel”.
“She claims to defend ‘women’s sports,’ but she does so by sacrificing real, named, individual girls and women on the altar of abstraction,” Huelskamp said in a statement. “This is not protection. It is a scapegoat with a legal opinion attached. ” 🔥
The Columbus LGBTQ+ Commission has issued a statement regarding the “senseless attack on our transgender youth.” The fresh commission said its members would turn “this moment into action by working with transponder organizations.”
“While this decision is disappointing, it does not mean there is a nationwide ban on transgender athletes, nor does it force states or cities to enact such a ban,” the statement read. “Today we reaffirm this commitment to our transgender neighbors and their families who deserve justice, equality and inclusion.”
Editor’s note: This is a developing story. The article may be supplemented with additional statements from other organizations.
START ACTION
- If you are a juvenile LGBTQ+ person in crisis, please contact Trevor’s project: 866-4-U-Trevor.
- If you are a transgender adult in need of immediate facilitate, please contact National Trans Lifeline: 877-565-8860.
