COLUMBUS, Ohio (WDTN) – A controversial policy included in an Ohio bill requiring student athletes to undergo a medical examination of their genitals to verify their sex assigned at birth is likely to be removed, according to the President of the State Senate, Matt Huffman.
Under House Bill 151, if an athlete’s gender is disputed, the person would be required to establish their gender by presenting a signed statement from a physician indicating gender based on an anatomy exam. internal and external reproduction, testosterone levels and an analysis of the “genetic makeup” of the child. .
Huffman at a City Club of Cleveland forum on Wednesday said he believed the provision, intended to identify transgender athletes who might lie about their sex assigned at birth, was unnecessary because alternative measures and less Invasive ones, like DNA testing, are already available, according to The Hill.
“I don’t know why it’s in the bill, it’s unnecessary,” he said at the forum, which featured former education secretary Betsy DeVos, on Wednesday. “All of these tests can be done with a simple DNA sample.”
Huffman signaled that the bill, one of the most extreme bans for transgender athletes introduced this year, as it currently reads, would not pass the Senate. Opponents have said forced genital exams would target young transgender athletes and put children at risk of sexual abuse, according to The Hill.
“It’s a highlight that a lot of people like to talk about because it outrages a lot of people,” Huffman said of the layout, “but it’s not necessary, it’s not going to happen.”
