While The last hours of the 135th session of the Ohio Congresslawmakers passed legislation limiting the ability of transgender Ohioans to run for public office.
Members of the Ohio Senate voted to approve the bill after members of the House Government Oversight Committee he twisted his tongue down Senate Bill (SB) 71 – a separate legal act regarding electoral policy.
With an express exception that allows married women to omit their maiden name from the same candidacy petition, Ohioans already It is required to detail any legal name changes that occurred over the last five years in connection with their candidacy petitions.
SB 71 would further codify this requirement by updating the existing nomination form to include a designated space for listing prior legal names and allowing voters registered under any political party to challenge the legality of any candidate based on suspicion of prior legal names – both of which could disproportionately affect for transgender candidates.
Targeting transgender candidates
Conservative Reps. Angie King (R-Celina) AND Rodney Creech (southern part of Alexandria West) First introduced legislation How House Bill (HB) 471 in May this year.
The bill would have given voters registered in any political party a legal basis to challenge the legitimacy of transgender candidates if they did not publicly state their previous legal name, while the law at the time only allowed registered voters from the same party as a potential candidate to formally challenge a candidate’s legitimacy for any reason.
Reps. King and Creech were the only Ohio House candidates to run against transgender candidates in the 2024 general election, facing transgender candidates Bobbie Brooke Arnold and Arienne Childrey, who narrowly avoided disqualification under the law.
A third transgender candidate, Vanessa Joy, was completely disqualified from the Stark County ballot after failing to provide her former legal name on her initial application to run, even though there was no designated space on the form to do so.
Talking about HB 471 on the April 5 episode of “The Windsor Report.” — a conservative talk show hosted by Jack Windsor that regularly uses anti-transgender rhetoric to question both the existence and mental health of transgender Ohioans — King directly accused transgender candidates of deliberately seeking to break the law.
“For a group that wants to talk about inclusion, they don’t want equality,” King said. “They don’t want to play by the same rules as everyone else. What they really want is special laws or exceptions to circumvent the law.”
In 2023, Republican King protested outside an LGBTQ+ pride event in her own district with members of the self-described Christian group and Aryan White Nationalists, a neo-Nazi group affiliated with the Aryan Freedom Network and the organized Ku Klux Klan. She was also a co-author of a bill banning drag queen performances outside cabaret venues for adults.
Calls for reforms
Democrats have introduced their own legislation to protect transgender candidates from discrimination during the candidacy and election process, but the bill has failed to gain traction in the Ohio House of Representatives.
Over the summer, newly appointed conservative Rep. Tex Fischer (R-Boardman) faced a challenge under the same law for failing to disclose a change to his own name and surname.
Fischer – who is not transgender – changed his name in 2020 from “Austin James Fischer” to “Austin James Texford Fischer.”
Ultimately, Fischer was cleared to appear on the general election ballot, but called for electoral reform regarding the rule.
“I also don’t think it would be necessary to publish someone’s name on the ballot,” he told The Buckeye Flame, using a term that often refers to a transgender person’s previous legal name. “I don’t think publishing the previous name will really do any good for voters, it will only make the candidate sad.”
Just before the House voted to pass SB 71, Rep. Latyna Humphrey (D-Columbus) opposed the bill, warning other lawmakers that the bill would create a “pile of unnecessary work” for boards of elections across the state.
Both Creech and King offered comments in support of the bill — neither mentioned transgender candidates, that both have met with transgender opponents, or acknowledged Fischer’s call for reform.
SB 71 now awaits Governor Mike DeWine’s signature. 🔥
START ACTION
- To register to vote or check your eligibility to vote in Ohio, click here.
- To find the contact information for your Ohio State Representative, click here.
- To find the contact information for an Ohio senator, click here.
