Category Archives: LGBTQ
Equality Ohio Legal Clinic Announces a New Online Series
The Equality Ohio Legal Clinic is excited to launch an all-new virtual meeting, held on the third Thursday of each month from 12-1 PM EST.
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The Equality Ohio Legal Clinic is excited to launch an all-new virtual meeting, held on the third Thursday of each month from 12-1 PM EST.
Read More2023 is the starting point for Ohio’s 2-year long General Assembly (or State Legislature). This is the period of time during which bills can be introduced, and during which bills can die.
Read Morein the final hours of the House session, House
Bill 151, the most recent vehicle for a ban on transgender girl athletes in school sports,
was voted down on the House floor.
On Wednesday, November 16th at 10 am in room 121, HB 454, a bill that would ban gender affirming health care for minors in Ohio, will have its second opponent hearing.
Read MoreFor Immediate Release: September 22, 2022 Media Contacts: [email protected] [email protected] Equality Ohio Presents First Nonpartisan Statewide Candidate Forum for Ohio LGBTQ+ Community (September 29th) COLUMBUS (Sept. 22) – Equality Ohio […]
Read MoreEQUALITY OHIO AND GLAAD RELEASE LGBTQ+ RECORDS OF U.S. SENATE CANDIDATES; CALL ON MEDIA TO INCLUDE LGBTQ+ PEOPLE AND FACTS IN COVERAGE OF THE GENERAL ELECTION
Read MoreEquality Ohio Announces Formation of Historic Worker Union
Read MoreFOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Media Contact: [email protected] August 9th, 2022 EQUALITY OHIO RELEASES 2022 ELECTED OFFICIAL SCORECARD Equality Ohio has publicly released its long awaited 2022 Ohio Lawmaker Equality Scorecard, which […]
Read MoreMoments ago, Rep. Jenna Powell inserted an amendment that would prohibit transgender youth from participating in school sports into HB 151
Read MoreEquality Ohio applauds the Opposition Testimony submitted in today’s hearing against HB 454 from Ohio Children’s Hospital Association, Dr. Armand Antommaria, Dr. David Axelson, MD, and Dr. Patricia Manning-Courtney. We […]
Read MoreFOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: May 19th, 2022 Contact: [email protected] Legislation Seeking to Ban Affirming Care Targets Already Vulnerable Ohio Youth with Medical Misinformation for Political Gain: Columbus– (May 19th) This morning, […]
Read MoreMay 2nd, 2022 Updated May 6th, 2022 Community, We are angry, heartbroken, and more determined than ever after seeing the leaked draft version of Dobbs that seeks to overturn Roe […]
Read MoreEquality Ohio is disappointed in the outcome of the recent Shawnee State lawsuit, and we affirm that all transgender and non-binary students, staff and faculty deserve a safe, respectful environment […]
Read MoreAcross the country, the politicians are increasingly using gender idenity, specifically transgender youth, as a flashpoint in their conservative movement. Last year was reported to be the worst year for […]
Read MoreCOLUMBUS, Ohio (February 16, 2021) – Tomorrow at 11am, the Ohio House Families, Aging and Human Services Committee will hear testimony on HB454, a bill that would give politicians the power to […]
Read MoreFOR 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 […]
Read MoreRecently 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.
Read MoreIn 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 […]
Read MoreLGBTQ+ 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 […]
Read MoreNew 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] […]
Read MoreAs 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 MoreToday, 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.
Read MoreDue 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 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 […]
Read More????Yesterday––March 30––Idaho’s Governor signed into law two bills that target trans people and take away essential civil liberties like playing sports and accessing a correct birth certificate. Some Ohio legislators […]
Read MoreDue to the recent coronavirus pandemic, many businesses in Ohio have been forced to temporarily shut their doors, leading to lost jobs and wages across the state. Our Southwest Ohio […]
Read MoreI vividly remember exactly where I was when the Obergefell v. Hodges decision was announced in the Summer of 2015. I was sitting in a living room, and the news […]
Read MoreWe all rejoiced when the Obergefell v. Hodges decision was announced in 2015. Same-sex marriage became legal throughout the United States! A tremendous victory. But as these things go, a […]
Read MoreFor the past several weeks, the Equality Ohio Legal Clinic has covered the trio of cases in front of the Supreme Court concerning Title VII employment protections for LGBTQ people […]
Read MoreIf you’re a regular reader of our blog, or if you’ve been paying attention to the news in recent weeks, you may have read about the momentous trio of cases […]
Read MoreLast Tuesday, I felt like I was waiting with bated breath as I kept hitting “refresh” on the Supreme Court website. Finally, that afternoon, transcripts of two oral arguments were […]
Read MoreAfter seeing Ohioans wearing shirts or waving flags with rainbow marijuana leaves across the state throughout Pride season, it wouldn’t be unreasonable to think that Ohio may have joined the […]
Read MoreThough there are many pathways to become a legal permanent resident in the United States, one common pathway to becoming a green card holder is through the filing of an […]
Read MoreAs my retired-school-teacher mother always says, once you start hearing those cicadas in Ohio in mid-August, you know a new school year is upon us. And here (and hear) we […]
Read More“Is that a service dog?” It’s one of the first questions business owners and employees ask when an animal walks into a public setting, like a store or restaurant. Unfortunately, […]
Read MorePublic interest law may not be the sexy, high paying, high-intensity law that you see on TV. However, it is a necessary occupation that provides attorneys a rewarding and educational […]
Read MoreIt is the goal of many same-sex couples to start a family, married or otherwise. However, the process of bringing a child into the world, or adopting one, can be […]
Read MoreSummer camp is a right of passage for many—whether it be day camp, sleep-away camp, a specific interest program, or just pitching a pup tent in the backyard or living […]
Read MoreUnfortunately, many LGBTQ Ohioans face the risk of experiencing violence or other harassment by a loved one, family member, or other people in the community. The growing number of murders […]
Read MoreCrimes like assault, human trafficking, domestic violence, and homicide can be extremely traumatic for survivors and family members and often lead to expensive medical bills and lost wages. Fortunately, there […]
Read MoreIn 1971, Ohioans were traveling to New York City by carpool to join the Christopher Street Liberation Day march, which had begun the year before to commemorate the infamous Stonewall […]
Read MoreSince its creation in 1996, the Ohio Drug Court program has expanded from 3 specialty dockets to 112, spanning 54 counties. Last month, Governor Mike DeWine proposed the creation of […]
Read MoreHave you heard of House Bill 180? Ohio legislation proposed after Perrysburg boy’s drag show, Toledo Blade Boy’s drag routine prompts Republican to seek new rules on child exploitation, The […]
Read MoreDespite the lack of explicit federal statutory protections against discrimination based upon sexual orientation and gender identity, there currently are some protections afforded by federal administrative agencies. One of these […]
Read MoreEquality Ohio regularly offers volunteer opportunities, all of which are geared towards helping the LGBTQ population in Ohio. Despite, my passion for the cause, I had often dismissed these opportunities […]
Read MoreThere are approximately 1.4 million transgender people currently living in the United States. We may never have an accurate account of how many gender variant people live here in Ohio, […]
Read MoreOn March 22, 2019, Ohio Revised Code § 2323.311 became effective. Before this new statutory section was passed, Ohio law did not provide a uniform process for determining indigency (or […]
Read MoreThere are many people in Ohio who have criminal convictions and are in need of a second chance. Unfortunately, second chances don’t come easily when one’s criminal conviction shows up […]
Read MoreAmerica is currently undergoing an eviction epidemic. In Cuyahoga County alone, over 27,000 eviction cases are filed every year, in large part due to lack of affordable housing options for […]
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