Administrative Rules Regarding the Care of Transgender Youth
LOVEboldly's Stance: OPPOSE
Summary - Administrative Rules
Note - LOVEboldly has not had the capacity to fully and properly follow the development of and the arguments around these rules. The material below is a very small piece of the overall information available. Please refer to information gathered by our partners at Trans Ohio and Trans Allies of Ohio.
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Following his veto of HB68, Governor DeWine proposed sweeping rules seeking to govern and restrict access to gender affirming for youth and adults. While the rules for adults were ultimately rejected, the rules for youth have moved forward. Regardless of the final disposition of HB68, these rules, if enacted, would not only limited access to gender affirming care for youth, they would require providers to report identifiable information on patients and their families to the General Assembly.
Status of the Rules
(as of April 8, 2024)
The administrative rules have been considered by the Ohio Department of Health (ODH) and the Ohio Mental Health and Addiction Services (OMHAS). On April 15, the Joint Committee on Agency Rule Review (JCARR) will review the rules.
Take Action
1. Submit written testimony or attend the April 15 hearing in person and testify against these rules.
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2. Contact JCARR and Governor DeWine and urge them to reject these rules.
Congregational Action*
1. Members of your congregation can participate in all the actions above.
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2. Donate supplies to Trans Allies of Ohio for their community care rooms. During almost every hearing for bills that will impact the LGBTQIA+ community, Trans Allies of Ohio holds safer space for rest and fellowship. They would appreciate the support of congregations for food, beverage, and other items to continue making these spaces affirming of all people.
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3. If your congregation is not yet a Church Partner with LOVEboldly consider becoming a partner.
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4. Encourage your members to donate to LOVEboldly or one of our strategic partners including Equality Ohio, TransOhio, Trans Allies of Ohio, Honesty for Ohio Education, and the ACLU of Ohio.
For More Information, Click the Image Below
*Legal Stuff
We're not lawyers and nothing we say should be taken as legal advice. Please consult your congregational and denominational legal counsel for legal advice. That said, we know congregations sometimes wonder what they can and cannot do when it comes to advocacy.
Like LOVEboldly, most churches are 501(c)(3) nonprofit organizations and as such are tax exempt. Donors to 501(c)(3) organizations can also, under some circumstances, deduct their donations from their taxes (another area where people should consult a professional which LOVEboldly is not).
DO - Churches and other 501(c)(3) nonprofits can engage in issue-based advocacy. This means we can publicly support or oppose policies, bills, regulations, and other governmental actions. In most cases our support or opposition is in the form of educating people and then arguing why people should support or oppose a particular issue. Everything on this page is an example of issue-based advocacy in opposition to HB8.
DON'T - Churches and other 501(c)(3) organizations cannot engage in partisan politics. We can neither endorse particular politicians nor can we lobby politicians or government officials. We can hold nonpartisan events such as a voter registration drive. We all have examples of churches behaving badly: pastors endorsing candidates from the pulpit, sermons demonizing other candidates, and many more. Don't model their behavior.