Losing My Perspicacity March 19, 2025

Good morning and Happy Wednesday. Thanks for hanging out with me for a bit this morning.

I want to start with some excellent news.

A three-judge panel of the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals in Ohio (state appellate courts in Ohio are organized by circuit) struck down a state law that banned gender-affirming care for minors, holding that the law is unconstitutional. The appellate court sent the law back to a lower state court with a recommendation that the state court issue a permanent injunction on enforcing part of the law. As in so many cases vital to our way of life these days, the ACLU brought the case in the Franklin County Court of Common Pleas and appealed the ruling when a Franklin County judge allowed the law to go into effect.

While this is good news for now, there are several caveats: First, the ruling only applies to the part of the law that prohibits trans kids from taking certain medications, with the court explicitly stating that they are not touching the part of the law that ban trans kids from gender-affirming surgery or that prohibits trans girls from taking part in girls’ sports. Secondly, Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost, who sounds like a total dweeb, has already vowed to appeal the panel’s ruling.

The ruling comes at a fraught time for the Buckeye State, as Ohio mayors are complaining that the bill cost them points in a national report that grades cities for their LGBTQ+ friendliness.

You’ve probably seen the commercials encouraging you to move to Ohio, and just this week, a woman reached out to me on LinkedIn and wanted to tell me about “job opportunities” in Ohio. So I’m not sure what’s going on there, though a quick Google search tells me that Ohio’s population is expected to decline over the next few decades. Gosh, I can’t imagine why people wouldn’t want to live in a state represented by Jim Jordan and Bernie Moreno that forces 10-year-olds to travel out of state to obtain abortions following a rape, and that won’t let trans kids be their authentic selves. Where do I sign up?

Not that there aren’t wonderful people and places in Ohio. There are. They’re just going through it right now.

These days, we celebrate good news where we can find it.

Before we get to the news, a quick note that, until this Friday, you can get LMP in your inbox five days a week for just $50 for the rest of 2025. You can upgrade your subscription here.