Republican lawmakers in Ohio have introduced a sweeping bill aimed at preventing schools and local governments from supporting transgender children and also at overturning bans on so-called “conversion therapy.”

“State institutions, government institutions cannot promote that woke ideology,” state Rep. Gary Click (R) told local ABC affiliate News 5 Cleveland this week. “We’re going to say in Ohio, it is not a danger to treat your child normally and to affirm your son is your son and your daughter is your daughter.”

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Click and state Rep. Josh Williams (R) introduced H.B. 693. Among numerous other anti-trans provisions, it would redefine “conversion therapy” as not including counseling aimed at changing trans minors’ gender identity. The bill would effectively legalize “conversion therapy,” which is widely considered to be a form of torture and is banned in parts of the state, for trans minors.

“It is not conversion therapy to help children discover their identity and who they are biologically,” Click said.

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Jennifer Ciaccia, a spokesperson for Cuyahoga County, the first in the state to ban so-called “conversion therapy,” noted that the “hateful, misleading and dangerous practice” has been “discredited by over 28 major medical organizations.” Cuyahoga County, she said, remains committed to upholding its ban.

“Cuyahoga County is aware of legislation introduced today in HB 693, and are currently reviewing it to assess its potential impact on our operations and residents,” Ciaccia told News 5. The bill also reportedly includes a mechanism to block state funding for local governments that violate its anti-trans provisions.

The 55-page bill also prevents state agencies from penalizing parents who don’t support their trans child’s gender identity; prevents unsupportive parents from losing custody of their trans children; and prohibits state agencies from basing foster care placement on whether the parents support a child’s gender identity.

Click argues that existing laws against child abuse are sufficient. “This bill says that for the solitary reason of the fact that you affirm that child’s natural sex, that is not abuse,” he said.

HB 693 also takes aim at schools, barring them from disciplining teachers for refusing to use names and pronouns that reflect trans students’ gender identities.

“It’s an absolute travesty that we have politicians who are attacking some of our most vulnerable students,” said Ohio Federation of Teachers president Melissa Cropper, “who are using our teachers as ways to attack these students and are using this to advance their own political agenda and their own political careers, instead of thinking about what’s best for our students, what’s best for our public education system, what’s best for our communities, what’s best for us as humans.”

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