On January 24, 2024, members of the Ohio State Senate voted by a margin of 24 to 8 to override Governor Mike DeWine’s recent veto of legislation that bans biological males from participating in women’s sports and limits sex-change treatments for minors.
In overriding DeWine’s veto, the Senate’s vote made this bill law. Previously on January 10, the Ohio House voted to override the veto.
Ohio Senate lawmakers on Wednesday voted to override Gov. Mike DeWine’s recent veto of a bill that prohibits biological males from competing in women’s sports and restricts sex-change treatments for minors, a move that makes the proposal law, as a majority of representatives in the Ohio House already voted Jan. 10 to override the veto.
Better known as the SAFE Act, this law proclaims that “no school, interscholastic conference, or organization that regulates interscholastic athletics shall knowingly permit individuals of the male sex to participate on athletic teams or in athletic competitions designated only for participants of the female sex.”
It also bans minors from being subject to puberty blockers, hormone therapy, and gender transition surgeries.
Despite being a Republican, DeWine previously stated that he vetoed the bill toward the end of December due its restrictions on transgender treatments.
Ohio is now one of the redder states in the nation. The fact that it has such a spineless governor in Mike DeWine is a farce like no other. Thankfully, there are many elected officials with principles in the Ohio General Assembly who did the right thing by overriding DeWine’s veto.
This case demonstrates the necessity of right-wing activists covering all their bases by elected principled politicians from the Governor all the way down to the local city council. Putting all your eggs in one basket is not a good strategy in politics.