Anyone remotely familiar with anti-queer talking points from Republicans won’t be surprised to hear many of the folks pushing discriminatory, exclusionary agendas have never actually spoken to an openly trans person. A concerning number of conservatives are more than happy to legislate people’s bodies without ever actually speaking with the community. And thanks to a leaked audio recording, as reported by local outlet News 5, we hear that right from the mouth of one such Republican who is pushing a particularly heinous bill.
Ohio state Rep. Gary Click is a driving force behind House Bill 454, misleadingly called the “Save Adolescents from Experimentation” (SAFE ) Act, a measure that aims to stop trans youth from accessing safe, age-appropriate, and lifesaving gender-affirming care, including hormonal therapies, puberty blockers, and even some mental health services.
Per this audio, Click admits to Cam Ogden, a trans pastor who lives in his state, that he hadn’t spoken to any trans people about his bill before meeting her. This means that he wrote the bill, introduced the bill, and gave testimony in favor of the bill, all without speaking to a single trans person about it.
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“All of it becomes an elaborate masquerade,” Click told Ogden during their meeting, per the audio. “And you are masquerading as the opposite sex because your DNA never changes.”
Click also insisted on informing Ogden she could still say: “You know what? This isn’t right for me.” He informed her she could still “detransition” and “still desist” from this.
Notably, both Click and Ogden are pastors. Ogden told News 5 that when she and Click discussed suicidal ideation in the trans community, she made a point of saying she’s never considered suicide, and when asked why, told Click it’s because of her belief in God.
You can listen to the audio here, courtesy of the outlet.
The outlet reached out to Click after receiving the audio and asked if he thought one should reach out to a community if you’re putting forward a bill about them. He replied by saying, “Well, that’s the way the legislative process works. It’s when you put that bill out there that you gain those conversations.”
Yikes!
He went on to tell the outlet he put the bill forward after the Center for Christian Virtue (CCV) reached out to him about the issue. In addition to barring trans youth from accessing care, if signed into law this bill will carry penalties for those who do provide care anyway. Like other Republican efforts, this bill details that public funds could be cut from institutions if they provide gender-affirming care for trans youth, and stipulates that physicians who provide such care could both lose their license and be sued. The bill also requires counselors to tell parents if the youth has questions or confusion related to gender identity.
All of this is evil, but that part is especially so. Trans youth are already more likely to become homeless and face bullying and harassment. Being “outed” by a therapist you’re supposed to be able to confide in and gain support from both puts the young person in potential danger and fundamentally violates what should be a private relationship built on trust. It’s clear the real goal here is to make it impossible for trans youth to access any support or affirmation.
Click insisted to the outlet that “most parents” aren’t going to abuse their children and that if they’re going to abuse them, they’ve “probably already done so in other ways.” He added he ultimately wants to stand up for parental rights—and when asked about his bill arguably taking away parental rights by not allowing them to approve gender-affirming care for their kids, he said he thinks parents are being “manipulated” by doctors who “blackmail” parents by telling them their child may die by suicide if they are not affirmed.
He also told the outlet he has done his own research, including watching YouTube videos and reading articles from people who have detransitioned and upset parents of trans youth. The outlet says many of the articles are from the 1980s and have been debunked.
I wish I could say Click is merely an extremist bigot. I wish I could say his views and approach are a rarity. But that’s not the case. Trans folks have always been vulnerable in this country and thanks to Republican hate, they are under more scrutiny and facing even more hate. And this is a coordinated effort across the nation between bills about sports, health care, bathroom access, and even saying “gay” in the classroom. The right to make personal medical decisions about your body is also tied to the right to abortion (surprising no one, Click is vehemently anti-choice).
We can’t dismiss Click’s transphobia. We can’t dismiss any of this transphobia. We have to face it head-on and one way to do that is to get people to vote blue in the midterms.
Ohio state Rep. Gary Click is a driving force behind House Bill 454, misleadingly called the “Save Adolescents from Experimentation” (SAFE ) Act, a measure that aims to stop trans youth from accessing safe, age-appropriate, and lifesaving gender-affirming care, including hormonal therapies, puberty blockers, and even some mental health services.
Per this audio, Click admits to Cam Ogden, a trans pastor who lives in his state, that he hadn’t spoken to any trans people about his bill before meeting her. This means that he wrote the bill, introduced the bill, and gave testimony in favor of the bill, all without speaking to a single trans person about it.
RELATED: Josh Hawley tries to mock law professor on abortion—she teaches him a lesson in under two minutes
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“All of it becomes an elaborate masquerade,” Click told Ogden during their meeting, per the audio. “And you are masquerading as the opposite sex because your DNA never changes.”
Click also insisted on informing Ogden she could still say: “You know what? This isn’t right for me.” He informed her she could still “detransition” and “still desist” from this.
Notably, both Click and Ogden are pastors. Ogden told News 5 that when she and Click discussed suicidal ideation in the trans community, she made a point of saying she’s never considered suicide, and when asked why, told Click it’s because of her belief in God.
You can listen to the audio here, courtesy of the outlet.
The outlet reached out to Click after receiving the audio and asked if he thought one should reach out to a community if you’re putting forward a bill about them. He replied by saying, “Well, that’s the way the legislative process works. It’s when you put that bill out there that you gain those conversations.”
Yikes!
He went on to tell the outlet he put the bill forward after the Center for Christian Virtue (CCV) reached out to him about the issue. In addition to barring trans youth from accessing care, if signed into law this bill will carry penalties for those who do provide care anyway. Like other Republican efforts, this bill details that public funds could be cut from institutions if they provide gender-affirming care for trans youth, and stipulates that physicians who provide such care could both lose their license and be sued. The bill also requires counselors to tell parents if the youth has questions or confusion related to gender identity.
All of this is evil, but that part is especially so. Trans youth are already more likely to become homeless and face bullying and harassment. Being “outed” by a therapist you’re supposed to be able to confide in and gain support from both puts the young person in potential danger and fundamentally violates what should be a private relationship built on trust. It’s clear the real goal here is to make it impossible for trans youth to access any support or affirmation.
Click insisted to the outlet that “most parents” aren’t going to abuse their children and that if they’re going to abuse them, they’ve “probably already done so in other ways.” He added he ultimately wants to stand up for parental rights—and when asked about his bill arguably taking away parental rights by not allowing them to approve gender-affirming care for their kids, he said he thinks parents are being “manipulated” by doctors who “blackmail” parents by telling them their child may die by suicide if they are not affirmed.
He also told the outlet he has done his own research, including watching YouTube videos and reading articles from people who have detransitioned and upset parents of trans youth. The outlet says many of the articles are from the 1980s and have been debunked.
I wish I could say Click is merely an extremist bigot. I wish I could say his views and approach are a rarity. But that’s not the case. Trans folks have always been vulnerable in this country and thanks to Republican hate, they are under more scrutiny and facing even more hate. And this is a coordinated effort across the nation between bills about sports, health care, bathroom access, and even saying “gay” in the classroom. The right to make personal medical decisions about your body is also tied to the right to abortion (surprising no one, Click is vehemently anti-choice).
We can’t dismiss Click’s transphobia. We can’t dismiss any of this transphobia. We have to face it head-on and one way to do that is to get people to vote blue in the midterms.