FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE DECEMBER 23rd 2021 Media Contact: [email protected] Equality Ohio Celebrates Holidays by Announcing New Deputy Director, Siobhan Boyd-Nelson New Deputy Director Boyd-Nelson poised to increase organizational capacity and […]
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Recently our team at Equality Ohio has experienced an alarming increase in calls from parents, educators, and school counselors observing harassment and mistreatment of transgender students in our schools. We invited a guest attorney and expert in Ohio education law, Emily Spivack, Esq., to weigh in on the dos and don’ts that help schools protect their transgender school community members and stay in compliance with Title IX.
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We believe BIPOC staff when they share experiences of racism and anti-Blackness. Knowing you will be believed is empowering. We call on ourselves as an organization as well as our partners to always create space for people who have been harmed by racial injustice and offer the opportunity for staff to honestly name their experiences. It’s not easy to speak up without knowing whether your colleagues will believe you and stand alongside you. We unequivocally stand in solidarity with current and former BIPOC Equitas employees and commit to continuing the work of modifying our own organizational structure to model the working world we want to see.
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A Commitment to Mission Means Not Just Condemning But Combating Racism In All Forms
Read MoreOn September 22nd, Equality Ohio’s Public Policy Director, Maria Bruno, testified against HB322 and HB327, Ohio’s anti-honesty in education bills (or anti-critical race theory bills). You can read our testimony […]
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New Public Policy Director set to continue state and local advocacy and increase capacity to improve laws for LGBTQ+ Ohioans FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE August 26, 2021 CONTACT: MD Spicer-Sitzes, [email protected] […]
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE June 16, 2021 CONTACT: Yunny Seo, [email protected] Ohio Faith Leaders Urge Senators Rob Portman and Sherrod Brown to Support the Equality and Protect LGBTQ People from Discrimination […]
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The Board of Directors of the OHSAA, Executive Director’s Office and member schools do hereby reaffirm the following policy considerations respecting participation in interscholastic sports in Ohio: 1. Participation in […]
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As Ohioans, we must continue the ongoing work to be truly anti-racist. Across party lines, leaders and communities alike are calling for an end to White Supremacy. Its destructive path has no place in public office or civic duty…
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In 2014, our society failed Leelah Alcorn. Again. And Ohio lost one more young person full of potential to the heartbreaking LGBTQ+ youth suicide epidemic. After years of feeling mistreated—particularly […]
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LGBTQ+ Ohioans are experiencing an uptick in legislative attacks in 2021. This general assembly, state lawmakers are attempting to pass bills that seek to exclude transgender and non-binary athletes from […]
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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.
Read More 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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Equality Ohio, in partnership with Equitas Health, Living With Change, OCTOPUS LLC, and TransOhio, will be working to assist those who want help changing their birth certificate to reflect their gender.
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This weekend, I’m celebrating my first Mother’s Day. As I do so, I can’t help but to think of all the mama figures in our lives — and how 3 […]
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Equality Ohio is excited to announce our Save-the-Dates for your 2021 calendars.
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Today, we have witnessed a single act toward justice, and our hearts are still heavy. We celebrate the valuing of George Floyd’s life, and we are still in deep mourning […]
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We pause once again, this time to honor the lives of Daunte Wright and Miles Jackson, two young Black men whose lives faced too many unnecessary risks. We grieve the […]
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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.
Read More 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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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”.
Read More 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 […]
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We, like so many, are in shock at the terrorist attacks of the past twenty-four hours that sought to undermine our democracy.
Read More 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.
Read More 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.
Read More 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.
Read More 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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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.
Read More 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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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.
Read More 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 […]
Read More 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 […]
Read More These are some tangible steps, among others, that we are actively engaging in to live out our values of anti-racism. But I think the important thing to convey to you is this: We understand that being anti-racist is not a “check-list.” It is an everyday practice; a state of mind. We have and are continuing to embed these values into the very fabric of our organization. They include actively using equitable hiring practices; supporting our staff of color in a variety of ways, including taking labor off our Black and POC staff at this emotionally difficult time to support their full selves; ensuring our internal culture recognizes and actively works to not perpetuate the habits of white supremacy; and onboarding staff and Board members to understand, agree to, and exemplify this culture.
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 […]
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Columbus is one of many cities across Ohio and across the country trying to resolve its ambitions of character with the behavior of its police––on Friday, June 6 2020, Black […]
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Columbus Urban League is calling for an economic protest for Monday, June 1. Equality Ohio staff are urged to participate as we affirm our solidarity with Columbus Urban League and […]
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This spring has been a stark and stinging reminder that racism, and its strategic objective, white supremacy, is as defining a characteristic of the American experience as those ideals upon which we claim to hold our democracy — justice, equality, liberty.
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Due to the coronavirus pandemic, many of us have been paying more attention than usual to our physical health over these past few weeks which is incredibly important. However, while […]
Read MoreIn our latest legal clinic vlog, our Southwest attorney, Emily Meyer discusses various aspects to the Victim of Crime compensation program in the state of Ohio. What is the Victims […]
Read MoreAs a result of the pandemic, hundreds of thousands of our fellow Ohioans are unemployed. For queer people who have been involved with the criminal justice system, it may be […]
Read MoreThe 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 […]
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Despite the news and social media rumors, there is no statewide moratorium on rent in Ohio. There are some protections, but they vary widely by area and court––if you would […]
Read MoreI 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 […]
Read More We are keeping our eye on two pending federal lawsuits—one filed in Ohio, the other in Kentucky—involving college professors behaving poorly on matters of gender identity. In each case, the action was filed by a professor facing negative consequences from his employer as a result of his behavior.
Read MoreDid you contact your local Board of Elections for an absentee ballot for the primary? It may have arrived already! If you have not requested a ballot, you have until […]
Read MoreThe LGBTQ+ community is no stranger to adversity. From hateful and deadly homophobic laws, to the Stonewall riots, and throughout the fight for equal rights that continues to this day, […]
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Non-violent individuals at risk of harm from COVID-19 should be released. Incarcerated populations should be lowered by releasing pre-trial detainees, administrative detainees, cease arrests for breaking old, outdated laws that criminalize people living with HIV.
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Some transgender Ohioans are experiencing trouble with obtaining unemployment benefits.
Anybody with a legal name change history may experience this challenge. We’ll work with them to fix this, but it will take time and if this problem affects you, you can’t wait. Here’s what you can do right now.
Read More Ohio Governor Mike Dewine and Dr. Amy Acton recently extended his stay-at-home order for the state of Ohio due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This order has resulted in the temporary […]
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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 […]
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