The Ohio Ballot Board has approved the official summary language of the redistricting amendment, called Issue 1, which will appear on the ballot this fall. John Fortney, Director Of Communications for the Ohio Senate Majority Caucus, broke down the approval process and why Secretary of State Frank LaRose did not approve the summary proposed by the pro-amendment campaign.

Yesterday, Franklin County Court of Common Pleas Judge Michael J. Holbrook ruled in favor of the Saving Adolescents From Experimentation (SAFE) Act and Save Women's Sports Act, known as House Bill 68 (HB68). After months of being blocked, the law is now in effect and ensures girls can't be forced to compete against boys in athletics and children's hospitals can no longer perform dangerous and sterilizing "gender transition" procedures on kids.

On Monday, the Republican National Convention’s Platform Committee adopted former President Trump’s new GOP platform. Contrary to previous editions, the 2024 platform includes more moderate language on abortion and omits defining marriage as between one man and one woman. The platform is significant not only because it guides Republican policy for the next term, but a supermajority of Republican voters have indicated it will affect their vote. While the pro-life community is split on the suggested change, Center for Christian Virtue (CCV) is working to help preserve the current strong pro-life, pro-family platform.

England's National Health Service (NHS) has decided that children will no longer be prescribed puberty blockers for the purpose of "gender transitioning." The decision comes after an independent review of gender-identity services for children following the dramatic increase in referrals to the Gender Identity Development Service run by the Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust, which is closing at the end of the month because of their harmful practices.

Newly leaked files from the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH), largely considered the leading global authority on “gender medicine,” reveal that they do not meet the standards of evidence-based medicine, regularly violating informed consent and medical ethics.

The DeWine administration has released the results of a new survey showing that one in five Ohioans–more than 1.8 million individuals–are now at-risk/problem gamblers. By age, 18-24 year olds were the largest percentage of at-risk/problem gamblers, and by marital status, married individuals were the smallest percentage while separated individuals were the largest percentage.

With early voting for the Primary Election beginning in two weeks, the race for Ohio's US Senate seat is heating up between the Republicans vying to run against current US Senator Sherrod Brown. From their stances on abortion to their campaign funders and endorsements, each candidate is eager to prove that he is the best fit to defeat Sen. Brown in November and serve Ohioans in Congress.

The state and national backlash has been swift and sweeping following Governor Mike DeWine's veto of HB68–the Save Women's Sports Act and SAFE Act–on December 29. While publicly claiming parental involvement is a necessary component of their gender clinic, internal training videos from Cincinnati Children's Hospital, a major opponent of the bill and donor to Gov. DeWine, prove otherwise. Gov. DeWine's hollow proposals after his veto fall short of the mark, and can be easily undone by the next governor.

Pro-abortion activists can begin the process of collecting 412,500 valid signatures to place an issue on the November ballot that would legalize painful, late-term abortions in Ohio. Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost deemed that the language in the petition was “fair and truthful.” The Ohio Ballot Board also certified that the proposal contained only one constitutional amendment. Planned Parenthood and its allies have until Wednesday, July 5, to submit the required number of signatures. 

This biweekly newsletter serves as the most important political and cultural news for Christians in Ohio.