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By Dominic Detwiler on February 5, 2021 in Blog
The 134th General Assembly is only a month old, and extreme anti-LGBTQ+ lawmakers have already begun their attacks on transgender youth. This morning, Representatives Jena Powell and Reggie Stoltzfus reintroduced their blanket ban on transgender athletes in high school and college sports. In the face of an ongoing pandemic and calls for meaningful criminal justice reform, Reps. Powell (R-Arcanum) and Stoltzfus (R-Paris Township) wasted no time in bringing back this incredibly dangerous and discriminatory bill.
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By Dominic Detwiler on February 4, 2021 in Blog
Today, members of the Ohio Senate, led by Senators Nickie Antonio (D-Lakewood) and Tina Maharath (D-Canal Winchester), introduced SB 50, which would prohibit the fraudulent and dangerous practice of attempting to change a young person’s sexual orientation or gender identity, sometimes called “conversion therapy” or “reparative therapy”.
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By Dominic Detwiler on January 25, 2021 in Blog
Today, President Biden issued an Executive Order reversing the Trump administration’s policy banning transgender Americans from openly serving in the U.S. military. We celebrate this renewed reflection of equality as an American value alongside active and veteran members of the transgender community. Allowing qualified transgender Americans to serve openly will make the United States stronger […]
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By Dominic Detwiler on January 7, 2021 in Blog
We, like so many, are in shock at the terrorist attacks of the past twenty-four hours that sought to undermine our democracy.
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By Dominic Detwiler on December 28, 2020 in Blog
Last week, the Queer Partnership for Black Liberation, a group of Black LGBTQ+ leaders in Columbus sent a letter to Columbus Mayor, Andrew Ginther in response to the murder of Andre Hill by Columbus Division of Police officer, Adam Coy.
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By Dominic Detwiler on December 23, 2020 in Blog
For years, LGBTQ+ people have been involuntary victims of various political conflicts, and unfortunately, the Ohio Fairness Act suffered that same fate this General Assembly. Despite knowing that they had the support they needed to pass the Ohio Fairness Act, these leaders let politics prevent the Legislature from doing what is right for Ohio in Lame Duck.
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By Dominic Detwiler on December 3, 2020 in Blog
Today, the Ohio House Primary & Secondary Education Committee held a sponsor testimony hearing on HB527, which seeks to ban transgender athletes from high school and college athletics. The bill, sponsored by Representatives Jane Powell and Reggie Stoltzfus, is one of the most extreme legislative attacks on transgender Ohioans that we have seen. Today, those Representatives were given an opportunity to share their anti-transgender rhetoric with the committee and the state.
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By Dominic Detwiler on November 12, 2020 in Blog
One week after one of the most important presidential elections of our lifetimes, we have a clear winner. Vice President Joe Biden and Senator Kamala Harris are now President-elect Biden and Vice President-elect Harris.
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By Dominic Detwiler on November 5, 2020 in Blog
We made it. Voting in the 2020 Election has finally concluded, and Ohioans’ voices have been heard. There’s a lot to talk about and a lot we still don’t know yet, but Equality Ohio’s policy team has been up with you through the past 48 hours to help figure out just what happened and how it will impact LGBTQ+ Ohioans.
As a reminder, Equality Ohio is a non-partisan organization that does not endorse candidates or parties. We do have an Elected Official Scorecard that graded candidates for President and Vice President, as well as incumbent members of the Ohio Legislature. We’ll use those grades a lot in this analysis.
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By Dominic Detwiler on October 22, 2020 in Blog
Equality Ohio stands firmly in solidarity with those demanding police accountability in Columbus and urges a Yes vote on Issue 2 as part of the ongoing dialogue and process to increase police accountability.
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By Dominic Detwiler on September 30, 2020 in Blog
Right now, as people are facing job loss and evictions due to COVID-19, it is more important than ever to ensure that those experiencing homelessness have access to shelters and other services. The last thing we should be doing is taking those resources away.
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By Dominic Detwiler on September 10, 2020 in Blog
Our 2020 Elected Official Scorecard is ready to help you prepare to vote this November! It grades current members of the Ohio General Assembly, as well as candidates for President and Vice President. Democratic nominees, Vice President Joe Biden and Senator Kamala Harris earned a B and an A, respectively, while both President Donald Trump […]
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By Dominic Detwiler on July 16, 2020 in Blog
Today, Representative Tavia Galonski (D-Akron) and 29 of her colleagues introduced HB729, which will permanently designate June as Pride Month in Ohio. Designating Pride Month would be an important first step in ensuring that LGBTQ people are visibly reflected in Ohio law. By introducing this bill, Rep. Galonski and her colleagues are telling LGBTQ Ohioans […]
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By Dominic Detwiler on June 24, 2020 in Blog
Today, the Ohio Senate Committee on Health, Human Services, and Medicaid is holding a second hearing on SCR 14, which will designate racism as a public health crisis. We submitted written testimony in support of the resolution, and you can read it here: Chair Burke, Vice Chair Huffman, Ranking Member Antonio, and distinguished members of […]
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By Dominic Detwiler on April 30, 2020 in Blog
The 2020 Ohio Primary Election is officially over. Due to complications from the coronavirus, the election originally scheduled for March 17th was moved to an (almost) entirely vote-by-mail system with the deadline to return absentee ballots extended to April 28th. Our team was up late into the night watching results come in, and we wanted […]
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By Dominic Detwiler on April 28, 2020 in Blog
I don’t have to tell you that the last several weeks have been difficult. Every day we are posed with new challenges to our routine way of life, and the most recent closure of our local restaurants and bars, along with the general sense of unease that is accompanying COVID-19 can cause us to feel […]
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By Dominic Detwiler on April 2, 2020 in Blog
COVID-19 has brought dramatic changes to our lives and our government. One of the major impacts the pandemic has had here in Ohio is on our primary election. Scheduled for March 17, in-person polling locations were closed via an order from Governor DeWine’s administration on March 16. In a series events fit for The West […]
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By Dominic Detwiler on March 11, 2020 in Blog
This week, Ohio legislators are again using their bully pulpit to attack transgender Ohioans. This time, they’re going after transgender women and girls who participate in sports. The bill attempts to erase transgender women and girls from high school and college sports. Backers of the bill, including extremist anti-LGBTQ group, Citizens for Community Values, claim […]
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By Dominic Detwiler on October 14, 2019 in Blog
Last week, 30 members of the Ohio House of Representatives introduced a bill to officially designate October 11th as Coming Out Day. This bill is an exciting opportunity for the Ohio Legislature to show support for LGBTQ Ohioans. The celebration was started in 1988 by LGBTQ activists, Jean O’Leary and Robert Eichberg, as a way […]
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By Dominic Detwiler on March 29, 2019 in Blog
International Transgender Day of Visibility (TDOV) is a celebration of transgender and gender non-conforming people. We celebrate their courage and strength to live as their authentic selves, despite the great inequalities that they continue to face in Ohio and around the world. Transgender people are a part of each and every one of our lives, […]
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By Dominic Detwiler on February 7, 2019 in Legal Clinic
We are excited to welcome Emily Meyer and Andy Dugan to the Equality Ohio family as Staff Attorneys for the new Equality Ohio Legal Clinic. Emily and Andy will traveling the state to provide much-needed legal services to LGBTQ Ohioans. Emily Meyer graduated from the University of Dayton School of Law and pursued a Master’s […]
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By Dominic Detwiler on November 13, 2018 in Blog
Tuesday’s election results brought a flood of emotions for LGBTQ people and their allies across the country. We’ve taken the last few days to process, analyze, and strategize. Our conclusion: Ohio is ready for equality and we are more dedicated and prepared than ever to make that happen. Equality Ohio was more engaged in this […]
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By Dominic Detwiler on November 12, 2018 in Uncategorized
The Ohio Civil Rights Commission (OCRC) is tasked with responding to and resolving complaints of discrimination. People submit complaints for a variety of different types of discrimination, such as race, disability, sex, military status, religion and more. Equality Ohio has obtained a number of complaints from the past several years and will be sharing them […]
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By Dominic Detwiler on November 2, 2018 in Blog
With over half of the Ohio Senate up for reelection this season, LGBTQ Ohioans and their allies have the opportunity to dramatically shift the dialogue in Columbus from questions of if? and how? to answers of when and now. You may notice that 20 out of 32 Senators that we graded earned Cs. There are […]
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By Dominic Detwiler on October 30, 2018 in Blog
Voters in Ohio have huge decisions to make this election season, but some of the most important decisions are made by individuals at the bottom of the ballot. Members of the Ohio House of Representatives have the opportunity to pass legislation that can greatly help or greatly hurt the LGBTQ community here in Ohio. Some […]
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By Dominic Detwiler on October 17, 2018 in Blog
The statewide portion of the scorecard is the only section where we place candidates’ records on LGBTQ issues head to head to show what often are major differences in their approached to lived and legal equality. You may notice that some statewide candidates, like State Auditor and State Treasurer, do not appear in our scorecard. […]
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By Dominic Detwiler on October 12, 2018 in Blog
The scorecard that you see in front of you today is the result of three months of research (and gallons of coffee). There are many important elected official scorecards. This scorecard is unique in that our sole evaluation criteria are LGBTQ issues in Ohio. Equality Ohio is a nonpartisan organization and equality for LGBTQ Ohioans […]
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By Dominic Detwiler on October 10, 2018 in Blog
After several months of poring over voting records, newspaper archives, and social media accounts, we are proud to present Equality Ohio’s Inaugural Elected Official Scorecard. Ohio’s LGBTQ community has long been asking for a way to hold their elected officials accountable for their records on the issues so important to our community. Now, it is […]
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