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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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 […]
Read More 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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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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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 […]
Read More 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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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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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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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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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 […]
Read MoreTuesday’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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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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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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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 […]
Read More 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. […]
Read More 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 […]
Read More 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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