Ohioans submitted more than 4,000 comments on Gov. Mike DeWine’s new proposed administrative rules for transgender health care, according to records obtained by the Capital Journal. 

The feedback was submitted during the comment portion for the updated proposed administrative rules that would collect data on transgender health care and change health care treatment for minors with gender dysphoria. 

“The Department’s proposal would add onerous requirements that will reduce available resources for this type of care even though it can be lifesaving,” one email said. “Parents and doctors should be empowered to do everything they can to make all youth, including transgender youth, feel loved and accepted, but the Department’s regulations will make that harder for them to do.”

What are the proposed rules?

DeWine initially laid out his proposed rules back on Jan. 5 and the Ohio Department of Health released revised rules in early February after people submitted more than 6,000 comments.

Under the current proposed rules that were introduced last month, transgender youth could only receive drugs or hormones for a gender transition at a hospital that has both a mental health professional and endocrinologist that can treat minors.

Trans youth would also have to receive at least six months of comprehensive mental health counseling and evaluation by a mental health professional. 

The proposed rules would require collecting data on transgender health care. A health care provider would have to report to ODH a diagnosis of a gender-related condition, gender reassignment surgery, gender-transition services, and genital gender reassignment surgery within 30 business days. 

Health care providers would be required to submit forms with the person’s age and their biological sex as well the names of drugs and hormones they are taking. A patient’s name, address or “other personally identifiable information” would not be included on the forms. 

Under the original proposed rules, adults would have had restricted access to transgender health care and a transgender person would have needed medical consent from a bioethicist before starting treatment. Both of those provisions were taken out of the revised proposed rules.

Some people who submitted comments were glad to see some revisions, but still had concerns about the remaining proposed rules.

“While I am happy that the new proposed rules are not as severe as the previous set, I believe these rules still have draconian restrictions on access to care,” an email said. “These rules are completely unnecessary, and this is an overreach by the government.”

What is in the emails?

Hundreds of people submitted the same one-page email which included — “While I recognize the importance of ensuring the well-being and safety of individuals undergoing gender transition, I believe that these regulations are still overly restrictive and may hinder access to necessary and appropriate healthcare for transgender individuals. 

Transgender people, including youth, and their doctors should be the primary decision-makers regarding the care they receive. Placing this authority in the hands of politicians with no expertise in healthcare or gender-affirming care undermines the autonomy of medical professionals and jeopardizes patient well-being.”

A 71-year-old transgender woman sent an email describing how she transitioned in 1996. 

“The pain I felt all my life was gone,” the email said. “These proposed rules serve no purpose than to make transition financially burdensome and to deliberately harm transgendered individuals. Only medical professionals are qualified to make medical decisions.”

Several emails mentioned how transgender health care should be between a patient and their medical provider.

“Medical professionals, not politicians, should be the people advising parents and transgender adults about what kind of care is appropriate for their situation,” an email said. 

The mom of a transgender teenager submitted comments expressing how she feels ashamed of Ohio and fearful of her family’s future. 

“I cannot emphasize enough how incredibly brave he has had to be for his entire life and even more so since coming out as trans in a state that actively endangers his safety and well-being everyday with harmful rules like these,” the email said. “Do you fully understand how damaging these rules are for children, adults and the state of Ohio?”

Other  comments focused on the data collection portion of the rules. 

“You are openly enlisting doctors as spies to report trans people’s private healthcare information to the government and from there to the general public,” an email said. 

Follow OCJ Reporter Megan Henry on X.