No, Ohio Senate candidate Sherrod Brown does not support ‘forcing childhood sex change surgery’

When then-Sen. Sherrod Brown of Ohio was running for reelection in 2024, the Republican-aligned Senate Leadership Fund aired an ad saying the Democrat supported sex change surgeries for minors.

Brown lost in 2024 but is a candidate again this year, and the Senate Leadership Fund political action committee has reprised its attack. Brown is challenging Republican Sen. Jon Husted, who was appointed to the seat in 2025 when it was vacated by Vice President JD Vance. 

In a Sept. 16 ad — featuring images of kids, a surgical scalpel, a bearded man in a dress and several progressive Democratic politicians — the voice-over says, in part:

“Abused and exploited by an extremist agenda. Forcing childhood sex change surgery. But Sherrod Brown stands with these extremists. Brown supports sex change surgery for kids — permanent surgical decisions with devastating consequences. The extremists demand it. Sherrod Brown complies, and Ohio’s children pay the price.”

The same group is also airing other ads that attack Brown over the same issue. One says, “Sherrod Brown supports sex change surgery for minors and admitted he would never oppose it.”

Gender transition surgery for minors is exceedingly rare, and no medical guidelines support providing it for young children. Any medical care for transgender minors — which may include puberty blockers and hormone therapy — requires parental consent.

We found no evidence that Brown has ever said he supports forcing gender-transition surgery for children.

The Ohio ads are some of several focusing on transgender issues that have aired in competitive Senate races nationally.

What evidence does the ad cite?

Brown has long supported policies advocated by LGBTQ+ rights activists. In 2017, he introduced the Senate’s first Pride Month Resolution. The Human Rights Campaign, an LGBTQ+ civil rights group, has endorsed him in both of his recent campaigns. In 2020, he issued a statement supporting the “humanity of transgender people” in the face of what he called discriminatory housing policy.

But we found no evidence Brown has said he favors forcing minors to undergo gender-related surgery.

When contacted by PolitiFact about the 2026 ad, Senate Leadership Fund spokesperson Chris Gustafson cited Brown’s July 19, 2023, interview with WSYX-TV in Columbus, Ohio. That was also the sole source cited in the group’s 2024 ad, and in its other 2026 Ohio ads.

The segment discussed legislation backed by then-Sen. JD Vance, the Protect Children’s Innocence Act, which Brown opposed. The measure would have made it a felony for doctors to provide surgery or prescribe puberty blockers to anyone younger than 18. 

In the interview, Brown said, “A child’s health care decisions are between them, their parents, their families, their doctors — not politicians. I will never agree with anybody that wants to bring politics into the family situation with health care, period.’”

Gustafson said this means Brown “does not support any limitations on transgender or gender-affirming procedures on children.”

The wording of the 2026 ad goes further than the 2024 ad, which also mentioned “puberty blockers.” 

Nothing in Brown’s remarks to WSYX shows that he would force surgery on anyone.

Brown has responded with an ad of his own in which supporters question the Republican focus on transgender policy versus the cost of living. The ad notes that in Ohio, the issue is moot because a 2024 state law bans physicians from performing gender-reassignment surgery on a minor. 

Our ruling

A Senate Leadership Fund ad said Brown supports “forcing childhood sex change surgery.”

The ad cites a 2023 television interview when Brown said children’s healthcare decisions are “between them, their parents, their families, their doctors — not politicians.”

Brown did not say in the interview that he supports “forcing” any healthcare on children. We found no evidence he has ever made such a statement. 

We rate the statement False.