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Came on here to say (as an Ohioan) that no one is eating cat/dogs here. But I'd like to ask something of all of you.

Identify Springfield.

I'll give you a small hint, it's one of the dots. I won't tell you which though.

Can't find it? That's fine. Keep Springfield out of your mouth then.

Just wanted to come on here as an Ohioan and tell you all that apparently lines are out the door at hatian restaurants in Springfield as locals flock to support them right now. Have a few people I know saying this on local Facebook groups :)

I thought Escape from LA was a good movie.

Ohio Anti-Trans Laws (and what you can do about it!)

AND WHAT YOU CAN DO ABOUT IT!

Please educate yourself on the contents of Ohio House Bill 68 and other related Ohio Anti-Trans laws before giving into propaganda from either side. At first, I gave in to the propaganda without reading the bill itself; people told me the most outrageous and outlandish stuff. I've heard that it would: make people who have already medically transitioned de-transition, and just a lot of misinformation. These are not related to the bill, rather some other recent Ohio laws that will be detailed later.

I read the entirety of the bill, and, if I'm not mistaken, in summary, it will effectively do the following:

1. Not allow gender-affirming care to be legally given to minors in the state of Ohio, including puberty blockers and gender affirming therapy(continued care is allowed, but only if it was already started or the person is intersex)

2. Children in schools must stay in sports leagues of their biological sex.

The bill has some potentially redeeming ideas few and far between, but for a bill like this to be useful, they need to take into consideration the age of the child, mental health status, current hormone levels, and many more things that they do not have in the bill.

(Example for #1: The bill says that no minors will be able to get gender-affirming care or puberty blockers, with the reasoning that most minors “change their mind” about being trans as they get older. This statistic is factual but does not take into consideration specific ages, as it takes into account everyone under the age of 18. Teens, for example, especially the older that they are, are highly likely to “remain trans”, while people ages 0-12 are not, as they don't understand gender and sex, and may claim to not identify as their birth sex, not realizing fully what it means.

Example for #2: It may seem logical to vote for this because it keeps males claiming to be females from just saying that they are female and beating all the competition because of their biological advantages. However, it also excludes, for example, the trans girl who has been on hormones for 7 years and now has the same levels of testosterone an average cis girl or lower has, giving her no biological advantage. It does not consider that young children are nearly identical biologically. It also forces people with female on their birth certificates to stay in female leagues, despite them not having any biological advantage, which is the only reasoning given for this section, so it is very apparent this bill is directly targeting trans people for no reason other than hate. If the terms were very specific as to hormone levels and ages, such as what I have outlined, I could understand why people would vote for it.) Simply put, in its current state, House Bill 68 is not specific enough to do more good for the cis community than harm it will do to the trans community.

In addition to this giant bill being passed and taking effect on February 15th, Ohio governor Mike DeWine signed an executive bill on January 5th, preventing any transgender surgeries for anyone under the age of 18, no exceptions, taking effect immediately. He also proposed a series of outlines for more Anti-Trans laws to come soon. He wants to force transgender people to “out” themselves to the government so they can keep detailed information on trans people for further study. No thanks. He also made a series of declarations of how he wanted it to be MUCH more difficult for *adults* to get gender-affirming care as well, requiring them to see a bioethicist before medically transitioning. How many bioethicist do you know? None? Well, that's because they're incredibly rare. There’s two offices in Cleveland, one at Ohio State, and ZERO anywhere else in Ohio, so it would be next to impossible to start or continue medically transitioning, even as an adult.

We MUST oppose House Bill 68 and encourage others to join us or it has the potential to snowball into a series of anti-trans laws in Ohio and across the country, or perhaps even a genocide (if you study the ten stages of genocide, trans people would be on stage 5 or 6, halfway or more there if this bill and DeWine’s proposals passed.)

I don't typically make it an issue of mine to pursue political activism or politics in general, but this law will directly impact many people I hold dear, with some even already making plans to leave Ohio, while being decided by people it does not impact at all.

House Bill 68 and similar laws are available for public comment until Feb 5th so anything to oppose it has to be done NOW before it is too late. We must inform the government that we the people do not approve of the bill, and why it is objectionable. This is similar to a case in Arkansas that was nullified because the bill could be seen as an offense against the 14th Amendment, under the Equal Protections clause, so hopefully the same thing will also happen to the situation here.

Some things you can do:

1. Directly contact the governor's office (About the executive order and his proposals for bioethicists to be involved in the transition process) https://governor.ohio.gov/contact

2. Leave a message for the governor: [(614) 644-4357]

3. Send a message to Ohio senators through the American Civil Liberties Union https://action.aclu.org/send-message/tell-ohio-senators-stop-hb-68-veto-override

4. Email the Ohio Department of Health (ODHrules@odh.ohio.gov)

5. Email the Department of Mental Health and Addiction services (MH-SOT-rules@mha.ohio.gov), with “Comments on Gender Transition Care Rules” in the subject. These rules are about making sure trans people with mental health issues do not have access to gender affirming help.

6. Fill out this form of the Ohio Department of Health https://odh.ohio.gov/about-us/offices-bureaus-and-departments/ogc/resources/feedback-survey putting “rules 3701-3-17, 3701-59-07, 3701-83-61” in the field and explain some of the following: how you don't think Ohio should force medical professionals and therapists to keep detailed information on all trans patients about gender “incongruencies” with the patient’s birth sex (rule 3701-3-17), explain how trans people shouldn't have ludicrous restrictions on medically transitioning, (like making them go to a bioethicist to even start/continue hormones on an ADULT, much less surgery) anyone under 21 must additionally undergo mental-health screening before accessing care (with the implication that if you are mentally unwell in any form you will not receive care, and many trans people already have depression/anxiety stemming from how society views and treats them) (rule 3701-59-07 and 3701-83-61)

7. Stay updated to the current status of this bill, the executive order, and efforts against them. For more information, click here https://jessk.org/blog/things-you-can-do-right-now-for-ohio

Thanks for sticking up for peoples' rights, and have a nice day ;)

TLDR: Ohio House Bill 68 bans all gender affirming healthcare for minors, including therapy, and trans people aren't allowed to participate in sports.

A series of other Anti-Trans laws, along with an executive order from the Ohio governor plan to make medically transitioning or getting gender affirming therapy, even continued services, impossible in Ohio for adults, as well as creating a detailed registry on anyone that is identified as trans.