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Read. Follow. Verify.Ohio Bill Prohibits State Agencies from Treating Parental Sex Affirmation as Child Abuse
Last action · February 18, 2026: Referred to JudiciarySponsors: Gary Click and 14 others
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What This Bill Would Do
Ohio House Bill 693 enacts the Affirming Families First Act, prohibiting state agencies, public children services agencies, and courts from classifying a parent, guardian, or caregiver's decision to affirm a minor child's biological sex as abuse, neglect, or an unsafe environment.
Establishes a private right of action allowing parents, guardians, and state workers to sue state entities and individuals for damages and attorney fees if penalized for affirming a child's biological sex, while waiving state sovereign immunity for these claims.
Who It Would Affect
Groups the bill's text would affect if enacted, as described in the record. Being affected is not a position for or against it.
Parents, Guardians, and Legal Custodians
Gain fundamental protections and a private right of action allowing them to direct the upbringing and care of their minor children in a manner consistent with biological sex without state interference or child welfare investigations.
Foster and Adoptive Parents
Protected from having minor children removed or placement denied solely on the basis of affirming a child's biological sex.
Public Children Services Agencies
Prohibited from investigating child abuse or neglect reports or removing children based on parental affirmation of biological sex, and barred from using training materials characterizing such affirmation as abuse.
State and Local Government Employees
Subject to new restrictions on training content and record-keeping practices regarding minor children's gender identity, and granted protections against retaliatory actions.
Key Facts
You don't have to trust us. Each fact below is taken straight from the official document - click any one to see the exact passage, highlighted in the original.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can a public children services agency investigate parents for raising a child according to their biological sex?
What legal recourse is available if a state agency violates these provisions?
Does the bill affect foster care and adoption placements?
Are schools or state agencies allowed to change a minor's name or pronouns without parental consent?
What else do you want to know?
News Coverage
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Votes, people, money & the original sourceWhere This Stands
Currently in committee. The next step in the legislative lifecycle is Floor Vote.
Procedural history
2 actions- Feb 18, 2026HouseCommitteeReferred to Judiciary
- Feb 10, 2026HouseIntroducedIntroduced
Version history
Only one version on file - nothing to compare yet. As later stages (committee substitute, engrossed, enrolled) are captured, the redline appears here.
View official text →Lobbying Activity
No state lobbying filings in our records match this bill. Federal lobbying reports (LDA) cover Congress, so they are not listed on state bills.
Full breakdown
Who this bill affects and the strongest case for and against it, written only from the bill’s own text.
Sponsors
Show 10 more sponsors
Discoveries
Patterns POLISCOPE noticed across the record. These are observations to investigate, not conclusions.
Creation of Sovereign Immunity Waiver for Parental Rights Violations
The bill breaks with standard sovereign immunity protections by explicitly allowing state agencies and political subdivisions to be sued under private causes of action using rules applicable to private parties.
Connected Entities
Sources
www.legislature.ohio.gov
Analysis Score
0–100- Significance85How much this matters to a regular citizen
- Controversy90Intensity of disagreement among stakeholders
- Entertainment10Compellingness for a non-policy-wonk reader
- Buzz75Current news / social attention level
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