Click, who represents the 88th District, believes the legislature has the votes to override DeWine’s New Year veto of House Bill 68, which prevents gender-manipulation procedures in Ohio.
The bill, known as the Save Adolescents from Experimentation Act, also includes a ban of boys on girls’ sports teams.
Conservatives had urged quick action on the bill from DeWine, who faced a Dec. 29 deadline. His veto came just hours before the deadline.
In an interview on the Washington Watch program Tuesday, Rep. Click said fellow lawmakers were texting him about overriding the veto even while Gov. DeWine was delivering a speech defending his veto.
"I know they were ready to drive down that same day to override the governor if they could," he said. “The reality of it is we have to do this."
Republicans have held both chambers of the Ohio legislature and the governor’s seat since 2011.
After the veto, multiple news outlets reported that DeWine has received more than $40,000 in contributions from providers of transgender medical services or from others who opposed efforts to ban the procedures for minors.
The Ohio Star named the Ohio Children’s Hospital Association, Cincinnati Children’s, Nationwide Children’s Hospital and ProMedica Children’s Hospital as group’s who contributed to DeWine.
“I had hoped the whole way as he was talking to people that he was going to see the logic behind this and what we're trying to do. You know, I had a half hour conversation with him, and he asked good questions. I know some of the doctors that I put him in touch with said that they were being asked some good questions. I just felt like in the end, even though he threatened me with a veto, I felt like he was drinking through a fire hose and that he would get it right,” Click told show host Tony Perkins.
Click soon found out that DeWine did not get it right for the sake of minors who question their gender.
“He called and told me ‘Happy birthday. I'm going to veto your bill.’ I think what got to him is I was reading in the Washington Post that he had a family come, and they told him with tears in their eyes that the, that so-called gender affirming care saved their (child’s) life and without that, they wouldn't have lived,” Click said.
Bauwens: Gender procedures do not prevent suicide
That plea, while emotional, is not supported by facts.
Dr. Riitakerttu Kaltiala, a Finnish psychiatrist who has worked for more than a decade with youth questioning their gender, told Finnish newspaper Helsingin Sanomat last year four out of five gender-questioning children eventually accept their bodies without medical interventions.
Kaltiala is considered Finland’s leading expert on pediatric gender medicine.
“We had a judge in Hamilton County that said there's nothing more manipulative than that. Give me what I want, or I'll kill myself. We can't make decisions based on that. That is a self-diagnosis. We know that they have other comorbidities that lead to that, and I think (DeWine) was just moved in his heart by that, but not in his head to realize that's just a false choice,” Click said.
Jennifer Bauwens, the Family Research Council’s director of the Center for Family Studies, told Perkins Kaltiala is far from the only health care professional speaking out against gender-manipulation procedures for minors.
“We have so much scientific evidence that's come out at this stage in the debate. It all points towards that gender-affirming care is not helpful. It does not prevent kids from committing suicide or attempting suicide. In fact, we don't have one single study that we could point to that and says, ‘Oh yeah, there's actually some evidence out here that shows gender-affirming care prevents kids from suicide. Actually, we have evidence showing the contrary, the harms that are done physiologically and psychologically through gender-affirming care,” she said.
The FRC submitted supporting testimony for the bill, Bauwens said.
“We know the governor has a lot of material he can pull from lots of different groups,” she said.
In the "Washington Watch" interview, Click said he has long had an open dialogue with DeWine trying to convince the governor of the importance of protecting youth from gender-manipulation procedures. There were never any assurances, he said, over three years of communication.
Click 'had to fight' over puberty blockers
Repeatedly told Gov. DeWine wants to "protect children," Click said that was the same line he was told up until a looming vote in the Ohio Senate, when Click was considering making changes to the legislation.
"That was the first time, and I got drawn into a room with the hospitals and with his staff, and I was even willing to give up a couple of other things that were not critical," the state rep recalled. "But the one thing the Governor wanted is he wanted me to allow the puberty blockers. I just had to say no. I've had to fight that the whole way."
