State Rep. Gary Click (R-Vickery) described in graphic detail what he said young girls had told him about their sexual experiences during his sponsor testimony for House Bill 68 before the Ohio House Public Health Policy Committee on April 19, 2023.
The testimony, captured on video by the Ohio Channel and resurfaced by Ohio political journalist D.J. Byrnes of The Rooster, shows Click — a former Baptist pastor who recently stepped down from his pulpit — telling state lawmakers that “young girls who’ve gone through this have told me it is very, very painful to have sex because of the hormones and the hormone blockers that they have received.”
Click, who quietly stepped down as pastor of Fremont Baptist Temple in 2025 and assumed the honorary title of pastor emeritus — a transition first reported by TiffinOhio.net — went on to describe what he characterized as the physical effects of gender-affirming medical treatment on minors’ genitalia. “Even the hormone blockers and the puberty blockers damage the genitalia,” Click said.
He continued: “Many of them are not even able to engage in sex because of the procedures that are — and I’m just talking about the medical procedures.”
Click then referenced phalloplasty, a surgical procedure, and his associate Scott Newgent, a Texas-based trans man who has spoken publicly about regretting transition surgery and has appeared alongside Click at multiple HB 68 events. Newgent transitioned at age 42 — not as a minor.
An ex-pastor’s fixation on children’s sex lives
Click has never clearly identified who these “young girls” are, when or where these conversations allegedly took place, or in what capacity — as a legislator, a pastor, or otherwise — he was speaking with minors about their sexual experiences.
Click served as pastor of Fremont Baptist Temple in Sandusky County from 2006 until 2025, when he quietly stepped down and assumed the honorary title of pastor emeritus. He has acknowledged that his research for the legislation included watching YouTube videos. A 2022 leaked audio recording obtained by News 5 Cleveland and reported by the Ohio Capital Journal revealed that Click had never spoken with any member of the trans community before introducing HB 454, the predecessor bill to HB 68.
In that recording, Click was heard advising a 22-year-old trans constituent, Cam Ogden, to consider detransitioning — then denied having done so until the audio was played back for him.
Giles Roblyer, the father of a 12-year-old transgender child, confronted the fixation directly during opponent testimony on HB 68 the following month. “Why does the state care about my 12-year-old’s libido?” Roblyer told the committee. “As a father, this seriously creeps me out.”
What Click told lawmakers — and what the science says
Click presented his claims about the physical effects of puberty blockers and hormone therapy as settled fact during the April 2023 hearing. Major medical organizations disagree.
Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Chief of Staff Patty Manning-Courtney testified that puberty-pausing medications are reversible and that puberty resumes when blockers are stopped. Gender-affirming care is supported by every major medical organization in the United States, including the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Medical Association, and the Endocrine Society.
No Ohio children’s hospital performs gender-affirming surgery on patients under 18 — a point opponents of HB 68 repeated throughout the hearing process.
An analysis by the blog Ohio Politics is Fun found that Click selectively cited studies throughout the HB 68 process, omitting findings that contradicted his claims and presenting data from sources that were not peer-reviewed medical literature.
HB 68 became law over a governor’s veto
HB 68, which Click titled the “Save Adolescents from Experimentation Act,” bans hormone therapy and puberty blockers for transgender minors and prohibits trans girls from participating in girls’ sports. The bill passed the Ohio House in June 2023 and the full legislature in December 2023.
Gov. Mike DeWine vetoed the bill, but the legislature overrode his veto in January 2024. A Franklin County judge temporarily blocked the law from taking effect in April 2024. In August 2024, a different judge overturned the injunction. In March 2025, the 10th District Court of Appeals reversed that decision and reinstated the injunction. The Ohio Supreme Court heard oral arguments on the law’s constitutionality in March 2026.
Click’s broader record on children and sex
Click has built his legislative identity around what he frames as child protection. He has called gender-affirming care “child abuse,” accused the ACLU of suing “for the right to sterilize children,” and said parents should be “free from counselors who groom their children.”
He is also the primary sponsor of HB 693, which would write the concept of “parental alienation” — a term rejected by the AMA, APA, and WHO — into Ohio family law, and a cosponsor of HB 249, the drag ban that passed the Ohio House on March 25.
A recorded sermon discovered by the Ohio Capital Journal showed Click defending conversion therapy and claiming that homosexuality and transgender identity are driven by Satan. During his HB 68 sponsor testimony, Click told lawmakers that his bill had “no religious motivations.”
The April 19, 2023, hearing was the first formal hearing on HB 68 and consisted exclusively of Click’s testimony and questions from committee members, according to the Buckeye Flame. During that same hearing, Click told the committee: “I don’t believe there is such a thing as gender-affirming care.”
Click faces a Republican primary challenge in Ohio’s 88th House District from Eric Watson and a general election contest against Democrat Aaron Jones.
