Ohio Republican lawmakers are attacking Title IX protections for transgender and intersex student-athletes

In April, the Biden administration announced changes to Title IX, the landmark civil rights law that would, for the first time in history, explicitly protect LGBTQ+ student-athletes from discrimination.

Since then, attorneys general in at least 22 states sued the administration in an attempt to block the changes, including Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost.

In nine of those states, including Ohio, federal judges specifically blocked the implementation of Title IX protections for transgender and intersex students.

The Title IX amendments, which are still scheduled to go into effect in September in 40 states, have sparked a cascade of anti-LGBTQ+ opposition across the country — including at the Ohio Statehouse, where conservative lawmakers have been protesting the changes for months.

Andrew Brenner (R-Delaware) introduced the bill in the Ohio Senate. Parallel Resolution of the Senate 11 just days after Yost announced a lawsuit in which he urged the U.S. Department of Education to exclude Title IX protections based on “gender orientation and identity.”

During the first hearing on his resolution, Brenner provided sponsor testimony which included medical and scientific inaccuracies regarding transgender and intersex people.

Brenner quoted many times American College of Pediatricians (ACPeds)a petite, marginal medical group that has been designated by the European Parliament as an anti-LGBTQ+ hate group Southern Poverty Law Center at least since 2014.

The group is part of a petite anti-transgender movement that has gained huge support among conservatives, influencing politics across the country.

Ohio House Representatives Beth Lear (R-Galena), Adam Bird (R-New Richmond) and Angie King (R-Celina) attended an anti-transgender event outside the Ohio Statehouse organized by Independent Women’s Forum (IWF)right-wing non-profit organization.

The rally was one of a dozen stops on the IWF’s summer bus tour: a public campaign riddled with medical and scientific inaccuracies regarding transgender athletes, particularly transgender girls and women.

Reps. Lear, Bird, and King have introduced or supported anti-LGBTQ+ legislation in the Ohio House of Representatives, including House Bill (HB) 68, an initial health care ban for transgender youth in Ohio. 🔥

Ignite the action

• To see Ohio’s full list of LGBTQ+-related bills, click here.
• To register to vote or check your eligibility to vote in Ohio, click here.
• To find the contact information for your Ohio State Representative, click here.
• To find the contact information for an Ohio senator, click here.
• If you are a teenage LGBTQ+ person in crisis, please contact Trevor’s project: 866-4-U-Trevor.
• If you are a transgender adult in need of immediate assist, please contact National Trans Lifeline: 877-565-8860