—Sponsored Ohio’s anti-transgender HB 68 which bans transgender healthcare for youth, including banning hormone therapy and puberty blockers, and blocks trans athletes from participating in women’s sports. Children’s hospitals across Ohio, the Ohio Children’s Hospital Association, and the Ohio Academy of Family Physicians all oppose HB 68. The Republican supermajority in the Ohio Legislature voted to override Governor DeWine’s veto of the bill. Health care for transgender people and youth is mainstream medical care supported by every major medical association and leading world health authority.
—Lied multiple times about transgender healthcare for youth, He lied on the House floor saying, “No parent has the constitutional right to harm their child… The same government that requires you to send your children to school, prohibits you from giving them illicit drugs and can charge parents with neglect and abuse also has the obligation to prevent parents and physicians from chemically castrating and sterilizing their children.” Click lied in a statement that read, “It is hard to fathom that we live in a society that would tell children that they need drugs and scalpels to live their authentic lives.” The Ohio Children’s Hospital Association responded to the lies in a statement: “We do not perform any surgeries on minors for the condition of gender dysphoria. Children’s hospitals’ gender clinics were established to respond to the needs of families and youth who need help… Sub. HB 68 would have a catastrophic impact on a small but high-risk population of children.”
—Discussed the goal of banning transgender healthcare for all people, regardless of age, in an online forum with several Republican legislators from Michigan and Ohio. Michigan Representative Josh Schriver said, “In terms of endgame, why are we allowing these practices for anyone? Why would we stop this for anyone under 18, but not apply this for anyone over 18? It’s harmful across the board, and I think that’s something that we need to take into consideration in terms of the endgame.” Click replied saying that was a “very smart thought” and then added his advice for Republican legislators seeking to outlaw gender affirming care: “I think sometimes what we know legislatively is we have to take sometimes small bites,” then lauded restrictions placed on transgender adult clinics by Ohio’s Republican Gov. Mike DeWine.
—Click has never met with the transgender people he’s legislating against, and he supported dangerous and debunked so-called “conversion therapy.” The American Medical Association (AMA) has endorsed efforts to ban “conversion therapy,” stating that it has no scientific foundation and lacks credible evidence. The American Psychological Association along with 28 other signatories, including the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, the American Academy of Family Physicians, and the American Academy of Nursing signed a statement encouraging the end of the harmful practice.
—Introduced HB 454, the Save Adolescents from Experimentation (SAFE) Act, a ban on healthcare for trans youth which would also compel teachers and other school staff to out trans youth to their parents. In hearings he called trans people a “social contagion,” and cheered on witnesses who likened conversion therapy to dog training and the Holocaust.