2018 ELECTED OFFICIAL SCORECARD

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Dear Reader,

Welcome to our first Elected Official Scorecard. Equality Ohio is committed to building a state that all people, regardless of sexual orientation and gender identity or expression, can call home. We work to be a voice for progress and lived equality for LGBTQ Ohioans––and this scorecard is part of that work.

This legislative session has been a busy one for Equality Ohio. We have seen our biggest and most ambitious push yet for the Ohio Fairness Act (HB160 and SB100), which would add “sexual orientation” and “gender identity or expression” to the laws that make discrimination illegal. That’s right––in most parts of Ohio, you can be legally fired, kicked out of an apartment, or denied basic goods and services just because of who you are or whom you love.

While pushing hard for the Ohio Fairness Act, we have had to hold the line and defend against attacks on LGBTQ Ohioans, including the Pastor Protection Act (HB36), which would give a license to discriminate to undefined “religious societies,” and HB658, which would require teachers and other school staff to “out” children expressing gender nonconformity. Thankfully, HB658 is receiving national backlash. We remain vigilant for any potential legislation that threatens Ohio’s LGBTQ community.

This scorecard is our inaugural, comprehensive look at how these bills, good and bad, come to be and move through the legislature. It is intended to give you a sense of who your State Representatives and Senators are––the very people who have a direct impact on LGBTQ policy in the state, be it positive or negative. Ratings for members of the Ohio House and Senate are based on LGBTQ-related statements and actions from the current General Assembly, while ratings of statewide candidates are based on the statements and actions of the candidates throughout their careers.

Thank you for all that you do to further our vision of legal and lived equality. Your support is vital to our work. When you go to the polls this year, it is our hope that you will use the information in this scorecard to be as knowledgeable as possible about your State Representatives, Senators, and candidates for statewide offices. Together, as LGBTQ-identifying people and allies, we must make sure that the people who represent us do so with LGBTQ equality in mind.

Sincerely,
Alana Jochum

SCORING METHODOLOGY FOR STATEWIDE CANDIDATES

Statewide candidates were scored by examining their respective careers in the public eye as it relates to LGBTQ issues. These scores are based on recorded actions and public statements by each candidate regarding LGBTQ-specific issues, including votes on LGBTQ-related legislation while serving in a legislative body, actions taken in administrative roles, responses to questionnaires distributed by various Ohio publications, public statements via social and traditional media outlets, and various organizational endorsements. Scoring rationale can be found below each grade. Scores for Governor and Lieutenant Governor are listed together because they appear as a single ticket item on the general election ballot.

Note that scores for statewide candidates and scores for current members of the Ohio House of Representatives and Senate are not comparable and may be different from each other. Scores for candidates for statewide office are based on the entirety of their respective careers in the public eye, while scores for current members of the Ohio House of Representatives and Ohio Senate are based only on actions taken and statements made within the 132nd General Assembly (since January 2, 2017). Therefore, a current member of the Ohio House of Representatives or Ohio Senate who is running for a statewide office may have a different score in each respective section of the Scorecard.

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SCORING METHODOLOGY FOR ELECTED OFFICIALS IN THE 132^ND OHIO GENERAL ASSEMBLY

Scores for current Ohio State Representatives and Senators were primarily determined through an analysis of votes, sponsorships, and co-sponsorships on LGBTQ-related legislation. All vote counts were found on the official website of the Ohio Legislature,² and interpretations of each bill as well as why each was selected to be used in this Scorecard are provided in each legislative body’s respective section.

Scores were also influenced by public statements made by State Representatives and State Senators through social media platforms, traditional statements, and as reported by Ohio news outlets with the elected officials’ positions on LGBTQ issues. These statements were identified by reviewing each Member’s public Facebook page(s), Twitter page(s), and campaign websites (where available) as well as by conducting internet searches for news reports of potential statements on LGBTQ issues. Public statement ratings take into consideration various organizational endorsements, including pro-equality groups such as the Human Rights Campaign and anti-equality groups like Citizens for Community Values and Family First. Despite our best efforts and due to the nature of the search engines, we cannot guarantee that every public statement has been accounted for.

Ratings of a State Representative’s or State Senator’s public statements were scored on a scale of -2 (highly anti-equality) to +2 (highly pro-equality). If no public statements or endorsements regarding LGBTQ issues were found for a specific Representative or Senator, the designation ‘NR’ is found in the Member’s ‘Public Statements’ column.

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