After nearly a year of effort on the part of volunteers, the first in a series of large billboards has begun its four week run in Cincinnati, Ohio, next to the popular neighborhood of Clifton, minutes from the Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Transgender Health Clinic. Dr. Lee Ann Conard, program director of the clinic and associate professor at University of Cincinnati, states in her biography on their website, “We offer medical care for transgender and gender-nonconforming youth from age 4 to their 25th birthday.”
Partners for Ethical Care has collaborated with Cardinal Support Network* to display a large digital billboard facing I-75 toward downtown, our message reads:
Do you know someone who has been harmed by “gender medicine”?
So do we.
Our volunteer professional design team wanted a clean and powerful look with an engaging message that lets the public know that harm is happening to children inside gender clinics, and that individuals are not alone in advocating for legal action against hospitals and clinics. Logos and websites of both Partners for Ethical Care and Cardinal Support network appear at the bottom of the billboard and extra volunteers have been enlisted to respond to requests for contacts and resources.
Our second billboard, a vinyl billboard focused on the Ohio SAFE Act (House Bill 454), will go up November 29. Currently in the Ohio House Committee on Families, Aging, and Human Services, the Save Adolescents From Experimentation (SAFE) Act would prohibit “gender transition procedures” on children under 18, as well as prohibit public or private school staff from “encouraging or coercing a minor to withhold information” from his/her parents/guardians or to withhold information themselves (as school staff) from families regarding a “minor's perception that his or her gender is inconsistent with his or her sex.” This bill is a model for legislative efforts around the country that will stop the unethical treatment of vulnerable children by schools, hospitals, and mental and medical healthcare providers. This second billboard, catching traffic heading toward the same gender clinic but from the other direction, will have a specific call to action to the public.
We are deeply grateful to the 101 donors who gave a total of $8,681 over a four-day period, surpassing our goal of $4,800, which would have been two-thirds of the monies needed to install both planned billboards. Because of the generous support of donors, we are able to continue planning for more public awareness in Ohio and around the country with the confidence that you are behind us.
We know that not everyone is able to support our work financially, but we need your words of encouragement. If you have a moment and wish to thank the billboard companies with whom we are working to get our message out to the public, please send your note to support@partnersforethicalcare.com. We will make sure they receive your message.
*Cardinal Support Network is an Ohio-based organization focused on support and advocacy for parents of transgender-identified children of all ages.