Q Toon: Is There a Doctor in the House?

                                      

In a cynical effort to gin up their base, Republicans continue to bash transgender persons in state after state after state. They have a two-pronged approach: criminalizing gender therapy for youth, and forcing transgender athletes to give up sports.

Legislation slithering its way through the Ohio legislature would open the door for Karens and Darrens to force any student athlete to undergo medical genital examination, simply by accusing them of being transgender.

Whether they are or not.

It would be cruel enough merely to ban transgender students from girls’ and women’s athletics. But this bill opens the door to something worse: using weaponized genital exams to expose an imagined invasion of transgender girls. ...

The proposal also gives anyone — whether a parent eager to eliminate their child’s competition or a national activist looking to make local trouble — the standing to challenge an athlete’s gender, and provides no disincentives for making false reports.

Beyond the ways in which the measure would harm young trans athletes, there is no check on the vicious ways in which hypercompetitive parents might use this bill to hurt not just trans girls but any young women. And we know those ruthless parents are out there.

Parents have sued after their children were cut from varsity teams. They’ve subjected opposing teams to racial abuse in an effort to rattle them. Wanda Holloway notoriously hired a hit man to knock off her daughter’s rival for a slot on the school cheerleading squad, as well as the girl’s mother.

We're not just talking about requiring someone to hand over their birth certificate, either. State Republicans want more than just a note from their doctor.

During a press conference led by Democratic state representatives, Dr. Anita Somani held up a speculum, used for vaginal exams, as she explained the details of procedures that could be required of children if a coach, official or even a parent questions the gender of child on a sports team.

“It’s invasive and uncomfortable even for adults who have a trusting relationship with their physician,” Somani said.

She said the requirements in House Bill 151, the bill that would ban trans youth from sports and allow gender verification regulations, go beyond typical sports physical examinations would be “legally forcing children to undergo medically unnecessary exams.”

... “Let me perfectly clear, this extreme legislation, which would require children to have genital exams to play high school sports is nothing short of state-sanctioned sexual abuse,” [Rep. Jessica] Miranda [D-Forest Park] said.

There is still a possibility that Gov. Mike DeWine, a Republican, might veto this bill, as Indiana's Republican Governor, Eric Holcomb, did to another transgender-bashing bill in Ohio's neighbor to the west last month. Governors have to answer to all the voters in their states, including those whose kids would be subjected to "state-sanctioned abuse."

But the Republicans making up the supermajority in the Indiana legislature only have to answer to the voters that they carefully selected to be in their districts, so they easily overrode Gov. Holcomb's veto.

There's an unshakable Republican supermajority in the Ohio legislature, too.