When I, A Trans Person, Spoke to a Bioethicist About Consequences

We did not agree, and I was wrong

Green suit man and brown suit man by sergeitokmakov, room by Renáta Adrienn Uri, all from Pixabay

I really did speak to a bioethicist, but not in the way the governor of Ohio currently insists transgender Ohioans must do. By coincidence, I wrote about my recollection three days ago.

If you’re already familiar with the news from Ohio from the last couple days, scroll down to the section “A Bioethicist Helped Me When I Was a Young Trans Person.”

Coming: A De Facto Ban on Gender Transition in Ohio

Ohio Governor Mike DeWine admits that no Ohio clinic performs gender-affirming surgery on minors. You can listen to him say it on January 5: “there’s very little [evidence] that that is occurring.” Yet at that very hour, he signed an executive order on an “emergency” basis to prevent trans kids from getting the surgery he said they’re not getting.

At the signing, DeWine announced draft rules that will make life harder for adults too. It’s a de facto ban on gender-affirming care at any age. He said he’d show the draft rules to legislators and file them for public comment. As he described the rules verbally (2:03–2:38), they include:

“the requirement of a multi-disciplinary team to support an individual through care, including…