City Council Votes to Make Cincinnati a “Safe Haven” for Gender-Affirming Care

As state lawmakers in Columbus push forward a bill that would bar gender-affirming care for minors,  Cincinnati City Council has unanimously passed a resolution that aims to give more protections to the trans community.

Councilmember Reggie Harris put forward the resolution during a June 26 council meeting. The legislation reaffirms “unwavering support for transgender, non-binary residents, and the regional LGBTQIA+ community,” according to the resolution language.

“There was an unfortunate situation in which someone in our community received hate mail, a really threatening letter, because this parent was providing by taking their children to a gender-affirming clinic,” Harris said during the meeting. “You know, just being a good parent, and they received hate mail.”

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The resolution also states the city must conduct a policy review to asses the city’s healthcare plans for employees and other policies to make sure they “promote access to and protection of gender-affirming healthcare.”  Council is encouraging businesses and other institutions within Cincinnati to do the same.

On June 21, the Ohio House of Representatives passed House Bill 68, which would prevent doctors from providing gender-affirming care to trans youth. Doctors could no longer give puberty blockers and hormone therapy to trans youth. It would also ban physicians from performing gender reassignment surgery on a minor, but opponents of the bill have testified that no Ohio children’s hospital currently performs gender-affirming surgery on patients under the age of 18.

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The bill also prevents trans athletes from participating in Ohio women’s sports. HB 68 now moves to the Senate for committee consideration.

“This is the right thing to do. We will do all we can to protect access to gender-affirming healthcare and show our residents that we recognize their dignity and right to be themselves,” Harris said. “All Cincinnatians deserve to feel comfortable, happy, and safe in our city.”

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This article appears in Jun 14-27, 2023.