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Ohio Bill Would Protect Parents for Refusing to Go Along With Transgender Ideology

A transgender rights advocate holds a sign outside the Ohio Statehouse during a rally on June 24, 2021. (Stephen Zenner/SOPA Images/LightRocket/ Getty Images)

Rebecca Downs / @RebeccaRoseGold

Rebecca Downs is the Ohio correspondent for The Daily Signal. Send an email to Rebecca.

A bill from Republican Ohio state Reps. Josh Williams and Gary Click looks to continue Ohio Republicans’ fight against transgender ideology.

The legislation introduced this week, titled the Affirming Families First Act, “is about protecting families from government overreach and ensuring parents are not punished for raising their children consistent with biological reality.” Williams told The Daily Signal.

“No parent should lose custody, face state intervention, or be deemed unfit simply for affirming a child’s sex,” the Ohio lawmaker added.

? BREAKING: I just introduced legislation in the Ohio House to BAN state agencies from taking action against parents who refuse to allow their children to change their gender.While states like California are turning themselves into "refuges" for children with gender dysphoria,… pic.twitter.com/H7uPd3vgDJ— Rep. Josh Williams (@JoshWilliamsOH) February 11, 2026

? BREAKING: I just introduced legislation in the Ohio House to BAN state agencies from taking action against parents who refuse to allow their children to change their gender.While states like California are turning themselves into "refuges" for children with gender dysphoria,… pic.twitter.com/H7uPd3vgDJ

The two Ohio Republicans argue this bill is necessary to protect parental rights.

A press release from Click’s office explains that the bill “prohibits a parent’s affirmation of a child’s biological sex from constituting the basis to restrict access to the child, deny the child’s return, limit decision-making authority over the child’s physical or mental health care or withhold information about the child.”

The bill also prohibits “investigating a report of abuse or child neglect if the sole basis for the report is the parent’s or guardian’s affirmation of the child’s biological sex.”

The Heritage Foundation’s Laura Hanford was present for the bill’s introduction. She also co-authored a report titled “States Must Refuse to Define ‘Abuse’ as Raising a Child According to His or Her Sex.”

“For decades, ideologues have worked behind the scenes to weaponize Child Protective Services in the states,” Hanford warned in her report. This “includes accusing parents of ‘abuse’ if they fail to affirm their child’s discordant ‘gender identity.'”

Hanford explained how the government has attempted to weaponize gender identity in an interview with The Daily Signal.

“There is no scientific evidence or marker for ‘gender identity,’ yet parents from coast to coast have lost their children for refusing to adopt this belief system that a child can be born in the wrong body,” Hanford said. “Incredibly, in the upside-down universe of gender ideology, it is ‘abuse’ not to sterilize, castrate, or use wrong-sex pronouns for one’s child.”

“Parents can suddenly find themselves facing a hostile phalanx of ideologues in courts, schools and child welfare systems, who have spent minutes with their child but are suddenly the ‘safe adults’ while parents who have spent a lifetime loving and caring for their children are deemed ‘abusers,'” Hanford continued.

Williams and Click have offered what Hanford terms “a critically important bill” that “is the most comprehensive in the country on this issue,” and “sets a new national standard for protecting children and families from the ideological weaponization of child protective systems.”

The Center for Christian Virtue Policy Director David Mahan was also present for the bill’s introduction and spoke about a need to counteract measures in Cuyahoga County.

“Parents who want to raise their child consistent with biological truth should not fear being stripped of custody or otherwise punished for doing so. Yet due to insane local therapy bans in 15 cities and one of Ohio’s largest counties, parents in need of healthcare for their child’s gender confusion have to risk all of the above,” he told The Daily Signal.

A Need for This Bill, Even in a Red State

Though Ohio is a red state, transgender ideology has still found its way into the government.

From March 2018-August 2024, the county’s Division of Children and Family Services had a database tracking children and their sexual orientation, transgender identity, and pronouns, according to The Daily Caller News Foundation.

Government officials in Cuyahoga County questioned a 5-year-old about their sexual orientation— then tracked whether the parents supported it.A… 5… year… oldThis is insanity! And my bill will put a stop to it. pic.twitter.com/cmF5nXwqWT— Rep. Josh Williams (@JoshWilliamsOH) February 12, 2026

Government officials in Cuyahoga County questioned a 5-year-old about their sexual orientation— then tracked whether the parents supported it.A… 5… year… oldThis is insanity! And my bill will put a stop to it. pic.twitter.com/cmF5nXwqWT

The program used spreadsheets to see if parents were “rejecting” or “accepting” of their child’s gender identity, according to documents obtained by the DCNF.

Williams spoke against the state’s involvement while promoting the role of parents.

“This bill reinforces a core principle: fit parents—not government agencies—have the primary right to direct the care, counseling, and upbringing of their children,” Williams told The Daily Signal. “Responding to gender confusion with counseling, faith-based guidance, watchful waiting, or a decision not to socially transition a child does not constitute abuse or neglect. The state should not substitute its judgment for that of loving parents navigating complex and sensitive issues.”

The DCNF noted that the Biden-Harris administration praised Cuyahoga County, which influenced a rule, and was to be used as a model.

A press release for the Health & Human Services Department framed the rule as about “protections” for children and giving them “the opportunity to thrive.”

Click told The Daily Signal that there’s still work to do, though he’s undeterred.

“Recent discoveries of attempts to undermine parents in Cuyahoga County reveal that we can never let our guard down. Despite the overwhelming victory we won with the SAFE Act and Save Women Sports, bureaucrats still want to classify parents as dangerous for not buying boys dresses or binders for girls,” Click shared.

“I’m not having it. I will fight tooth and nail to protect the sovereignty of parents in raising their children without woke ideology being pressed on them by the government,” Click added.

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