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Author Archives: Kathryn Poe

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Statehouse Analysis: Work Ahead Of Us This Fall

By Kathryn Poe on July 29, 2021 in Blog

As our community started to come out of 18 months of quarantine and COVID-19 restrictions and celebrated Pride Month, Equality Ohio’s advocacy team was working hard at the Statehouse to defend against some of the most aggressive attacks on LGBTQ+ Ohioans we’ve seen. All in all, with your help, we were able to stop one of the two attacks. The second—a provision allowing medical providers to refuse services they deem to be in violation of their beliefs—was snuck into the state’s budget bill and ultimately signed into law. Now, we are focusing on mitigating the harm that our community experiences as a result of the provision’s passage while pursuing all options possible to overturn it. 

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Equality Ohio Supports Legislative Effort to Reform Cash Bail in Ohio

By Kathryn Poe on June 15, 2021 in Blog

Today, we submitted testimony on SB182, which will reform Ohio’s unjust system of cash bail. The current system has left countless individuals stuck in jail for years, even before their trial, not because of anything they did, but because they couldn’t afford to pay the bail set by the courts. Because these long pre-trial detentions are based on the inability to pay, people of color and LGBTQ+ people disproportionately experience the dangerous knock-on effects of Ohio’s cash bail system. SB182 and companion legislation in the House, HB315, are important steps as we seek to create a more equitable and just legal system in Ohio.

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Ohio Fairness Act reintroduced with strongest ever bipartisan coalition

By Kathryn Poe on March 4, 2021 in Blog

This morning, a bipartisan, bicameral group of Ohio legislators announced that they are reintroducing the Ohio Fairness Act at the Ohio Statehouse, joined by faith leaders, community advocates, and over 1,000 businesses across the state demanding we protect LGBTQ+ Ohioans from discrimination.

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Ohio Representatives Introduce Extreme Attack on Transgender Young People

By Kathryn Poe 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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Ohio Senators Introduce Bill to Protect Minors from Harmful Practice of so-called “Conversion Therapy”

By Kathryn Poe 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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Ohio Fairness Act falls victim to effects of Statehouse scandal and COVID-19

By Kathryn Poe 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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Bill to ban transgender athletes from high school and college sports receives statutorily required first hearing

By Kathryn Poe 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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2020 General Election Analysis: Wins, losses, and opportunities for the future

By Kathryn Poe 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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Endorsement: Vote Yes on Columbus Issue 2

By Kathryn Poe 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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Bill Designating Pride Month Introduced in Ohio House

By Kathryn Poe 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 […]

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Be a Social Distance Activist for Equality

By Kathryn Poe 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 […]

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International Transgender Day of Visibility

By Kathryn Poe 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 […]

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The Midterms and LGBTQ Ohioans

By Kathryn Poe 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: […]

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Why did the Ohio Senate get so many Cs?

By Kathryn Poe 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 […]

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Ohio’s Statewide Candidates: How they Compare

By Kathryn Poe 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 […]

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You asked us to grade Ohio’s elected officials. So we did.

By Kathryn Poe 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 […]

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