Category Archives: LGBTQ
By md spicer-sitzes on September 12, 2023 in Blog
Equality Ohio, the state’s foremost LGBTQ+ advocacy organization, has expressed its profound disappointment with the recent news of the Catholic Diocese of Cleveland’s policy against inclusion and basic civil rights.
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Category Archives: LGBTQ
By md spicer-sitzes on August 9, 2023 in Blog
In this analysis you will find a summary of the recent Federal Supreme Court Case, 303 Creative LLC v. Elenis, a detailed analysis of legal implications with examples, and recommended […]
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Category Archives: LGBTQ
By md spicer-sitzes on June 29, 2023 in Blog
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE June 29th, 2023 Media Contact: MD Sitzes, [email protected], [email protected] COLUMBUS, OH – Today, Equality Ohio is proud to announce that Ohio Senate Minority Leader Nickie Antonio (D-Lakewood), […]
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Category Archives: LGBTQ
By md spicer-sitzes on June 27, 2023 in Blog
Over the course of June, The Defenders of Equality are bringing you stories from Trans folks across the state of Ohio about the joys and very real struggles they are experiencing, often at once.
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Category Archives: LGBTQ
By md spicer-sitzes on June 27, 2023 in Blog
Over the course of June, The Defenders of Equality are bringing you stories from Trans folks across the state of Ohio about the joys and very real struggles they are experiencing, often at once.
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Category Archives: LGBTQ
By md spicer-sitzes on June 20, 2023 in Blog
Over the course of June, The Defenders of Equality are bringing you stories from Trans folks across the state of Ohio about the joys and very real struggles they are experiencing, often at once.
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Category Archives: LGBTQ
By md spicer-sitzes on June 20, 2023 in Blog
Over the course of June, The Defenders of Equality are bringing you stories from Trans folks across the state of Ohio about the joys and very real struggles they are experiencing, often at once.
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Category Archives: LGBTQ
By md spicer-sitzes on June 12, 2023 in Blog
Over the course of June, The Defenders of Equality are bringing you stories from Trans folks across the state of Ohio about the joys and very real struggles they are experiencing, often at once.
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Category Archives: LGBTQ
By md spicer-sitzes on June 5, 2023 in Blog
Over the course of June, The Defenders of Equality are bringing you stories from Trans folks across the state of Ohio about the joys and very real struggles they are experiencing, often at once.
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Category Archives: LGBTQ
By md spicer-sitzes on June 1, 2023 in Blog
“By shedding light on the truth, these fearless advocates reshape the narrative surrounding transgender rights and create a more compassionate and equitable Ohio reflective of our values,”
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Category Archives: LGBTQ
By md spicer-sitzes on April 17, 2023 in Blog
March 29th, 2023 Contact: [email protected], [email protected] FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: LGBTQ+ Advocacy Organizations Respond to House Bill 6 Proponent Hearing. Partner Organizations Call On Legislature To Reject Anti-Trans Legislation COLUMBUS – […]
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Category Archives: LGBTQ
By md spicer-sitzes on February 3, 2023 in Blog
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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Category Archives: LGBTQ
By md spicer-sitzes on January 26, 2023 in Blog
2023 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.
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Category Archives: LGBTQ
By md spicer-sitzes on December 19, 2022 in Blog
in 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.
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Category Archives: LGBTQ
By md spicer-sitzes on November 15, 2022 in Blog
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.
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Category Archives: LGBTQ
By md spicer-sitzes on September 22, 2022 in Blog
For 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 […]
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Category Archives: LGBTQ
By md spicer-sitzes on September 13, 2022 in Blog
EQUALITY 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
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Category Archives: LGBTQ
By md spicer-sitzes on September 12, 2022 in Blog
Equality Ohio Announces Formation of Historic Worker Union
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Category Archives: LGBTQ
By md spicer-sitzes on August 10, 2022 in Blog
FOR 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 […]
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Category Archives: LGBTQ
By md spicer-sitzes on June 1, 2022 in Blog
Moments ago, Rep. Jenna Powell inserted an amendment that would prohibit transgender youth from participating in school sports into HB 151
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Category Archives: LGBTQ
By md spicer-sitzes on June 1, 2022 in Blog
Equality 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 […]
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Category Archives: LGBTQ
By md spicer-sitzes on May 19, 2022 in Blog
FOR 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, […]
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Category Archives: LGBTQ
By md spicer-sitzes on May 3, 2022 in Blog
May 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 […]
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Category Archives: LGBTQ
By md spicer-sitzes on April 20, 2022 in Blog
Equality 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 […]
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Category Archives: LGBTQ
By md spicer-sitzes on February 17, 2022 in Blog
COLUMBUS, 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 […]
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Category Archives: LGBTQ
By md spicer-sitzes on December 23, 2021 in Blog
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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Category Archives: LGBTQ
By md spicer-sitzes on November 12, 2021 in Blog
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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Category Archives: LGBTQ
By md spicer-sitzes on November 10, 2021 in Blog
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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Category Archives: LGBTQ
By md spicer-sitzes on September 22, 2021 in Blog
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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Category Archives: LGBTQ
By md spicer-sitzes on August 26, 2021 in Blog
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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Category Archives: LGBTQ
By md spicer-sitzes 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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Category Archives: LGBTQ
By md spicer-sitzes 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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Category Archives: LGBTQ
By md spicer-sitzes on May 19, 2020 in Blog
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 […]
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Category Archives: LGBTQ
By md spicer-sitzes 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 […]
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Category Archives: LGBTQ
By md spicer-sitzes on March 31, 2020 in Blog
????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 […]
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Category Archives: LGBTQ
By md spicer-sitzes on March 24, 2020 in Blog
Due 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 […]
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Category Archives: LGBTQ
By md spicer-sitzes on March 2, 2020 in Blog
I 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 […]
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Category Archives: LGBTQ
By md spicer-sitzes on January 31, 2020 in Blog
We 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 […]
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Category Archives: LGBTQ
By md spicer-sitzes on October 24, 2019 in Blog
For 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 […]
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Category Archives: LGBTQ
By md spicer-sitzes on October 17, 2019 in Blog
If 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 […]
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Category Archives: LGBTQ
By md spicer-sitzes on October 17, 2019 in Blog
Last 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 […]
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Category Archives: LGBTQ
By md spicer-sitzes on September 12, 2019 in Blog
After 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 […]
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Category Archives: LGBTQ
By md spicer-sitzes on August 22, 2019 in Blog
Though 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 […]
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Category Archives: LGBTQ
By md spicer-sitzes on August 15, 2019 in Blog
As 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 […]
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Category Archives: LGBTQ
By md spicer-sitzes on August 1, 2019 in Blog
“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, […]
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Category Archives: LGBTQ
By md spicer-sitzes on July 25, 2019 in Blog
Public 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 […]
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Category Archives: LGBTQ
By md spicer-sitzes on July 19, 2019 in Blog
It 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 […]
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Category Archives: LGBTQ
By md spicer-sitzes on July 11, 2019 in Blog
Summer 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 […]
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Category Archives: LGBTQ
By md spicer-sitzes on June 27, 2019 in Blog
Unfortunately, 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 […]
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