\n<\/p>\n
Democrat leadership in Ohio is silent on whether the party will support a bill that would protect the right of parents to affirm the correct sex of their children.<\/p>\n
Ohio\u2019s Democrat Senate Minority Leader<\/a> Nickie Antonio and House Minority Leader<\/a> Dani Isaacsohn did not indicate support for Ohio\u2019s recently introduced<\/a> Affirming Families First Act, which says that affirming a child\u2019s sex is not a form of neglect or abuse<\/a>, when asked for their position on the bill by The Daily Wire.<\/p>\n \u201cAt this time, the office is not providing a comment. Our focus remains on issues Ohio families care about most, including affordability, access to services, and accountability in state government,\u201d Isaacsohn\u2019s office told The Daily Wire.<\/p>\n Antonio did not respond to The Daily Wire\u2019s multiple written and verbal requests for comment on the bill. Amy Acton, the frontrunner to be the Democrat\u2019s candidate for governor in Ohio, also did not respond to The Daily Wire\u2019s requests for comment on the bill.<\/p>\n Democrats have made a concerted effort in states across the country to focus on issues such as \u201caffordability\u201d ahead of the midterm elections, avoiding discussions of far-left policy positions that hurt them in 2024. The legislation in Ohio comes as Democrat candidates steer clear of radical gender ideology.<\/p>\n In states like Ohio, where lawmakers have embraced radical gender ideology in the past, parents who insist on their children\u2019s biological sex and given name risk losing custody of their kids to the state. Republicans pushing for the bill say the goal is to protect parents.<\/p>\n \u201cNo parent should lose custody, face state intervention, or be deemed unfit simply for affirming a child\u2019s sex,\u201d Ohio Representative Josh Williams, the bill\u2019s co-sponsor, told The Daily Wire.<\/p>\n Though leadership declined to take a position, after The Daily Wire sent inquiries, one Democrat lawmaker in the state reached out to call the bill a \u201cdirect attack on the LGBTQIA+ community,\u201d and particularly on \u201ctransgender children and their families.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThis legislation is not about protecting kids. It is about using the power of the state to stigmatize parents who are seeking medically recommended, evidence based gender affirming care and to make it harder for families to support their children,\u201d Tristan Rader, an Ohio House member, told The Daily Wire. \u201cWe should be making it easier for parents to access appropriate health care and mental health support, not harder.\u201d<\/p>\n President Trump highlighted the importance of protecting families from being labeled as abusive for rejecting gender ideology at Tuesday\u2019s State of the Union address<\/a> when he told the story of Sage Blair<\/a>, whose parents were denied custody of the Virginia teen for not affirming her transgender identity, as reported by The Daily Wire<\/a> in 2023.<\/p>\n \u201cA left-wing judge refused to return Sage to her parents because they did not immediately state that their daughter was their son,\u201d Trump said during the speech.<\/p>\n