LOVELAND MAGAZINE

News and Events from the Loveland, Ohio Area

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Since 2004

Tag: Ohio Fairness Act

  • Anti-LGBTQ discrimination bill with bipartisan support introduced again in Ohio House committee

    Anti-LGBTQ discrimination bill with bipartisan support introduced again in Ohio House committee

    A LGBTQ+ rights demonstration. Photo by Susan J. Demas, Michigan Advance, States Newsroom.

    BY: SUSAN TEBBEN – Ohio Capital Journal

    State Rep. Michael Skindell, D-Lakewood, set off Tuesday on his 20th year leading the charge to provide anti-discrimination protections to LGBTQ Ohioans.

    With the introduction of HB 208 in the Ohio House Commerce & Labor Committee, Skindell and his Republican co-sponsor, state Rep. Brett Hillyer, said they have more bipartisan support than they’ve ever had in the past, though the uphill battle of the GOP supermajority isn’t without its challenges.

    The bill before the committee now, also called the Ohio Fairness Act, has been awaiting consideration since March 2021. It would change any part of the Ohio Revised Code regarding discrimination to include not just “sex,” but also “sexual orientation” and “gender identity or expression.”

    Existing religious exemptions would still be a part of law if the bill is passed.

    The earliest iterations of the bill didn’t have the support of businesses across the state, which Skindell said was a barrier to passage for the previous versions.

    Now, the sponsors say businesses are behind the bill, and employment laws that are inclusive to LGBTQ individuals are part of the “scoring” Hillyer said companies use to decide locations for expansion and job creation.

    Ohio Business Competes, a coalition in support non-discrimination policies for LGBTQ Ohioans, has seen its membership triple to more than 1,000 businesses, according to Skindell.

    “It is also important to mention that the Ohio Chamber of Commerce, the Ohio Manufacturing Association, Greater Cleveland Partnership, Columbus Chamber of Commerce, and the Cincinnati USA Regional Chamber of Commerce support this pro-business, non-discrimination legislation,” Skindell told the committee on Tuesday.

    Along with business support, 37 cities in the state have passed their own local ordinances against sexual orientation and gender identity discrimination in categories like housing and employment.

    While Hillyer acknowledges the bipartisan support isn’t overwhelming for the bill, he expects to see more GOP backing based on the party’s desire to keep Ohio economically competitive.

    “Unfortunately, this particular issue, the issue that is in front of us, divides us,” Hillyer said. “It hurts our caucus, it hurts Ohioans when you start talking about what do we stand for as representatives and people.”

    To truly be business friendly, Hillyer said the party, and the legislature as a whole, has to “get back down to supply economics” and not fight anti-discrimination measures.

    “Let’s go fight our real battles that we want to argue about and hit each other over the head with all day, but let’s leave this issue off the table and make Ohio open for business,” Hillyer said.

  • LGBTQ+ couples can adopt, but GOP rejects updating Ohio law to note that

    LGBTQ+ couples can adopt, but GOP rejects updating Ohio law to note that

    A LGBTQ+ rights demonstration Photo by Susan J. Demas, Michigan Advance.

    By Tyler Buchanan and Ohio Capital Journal

    Although it is legal in Ohio for LGBTQ+ couples to adopt, some GOP legislators want the state law to only acknowledge the adoption rights of heterosexual couples.

    A dispute over a single line in the 2,057-page state budget bill — passed by the Ohio House of Representatives on Wednesday — has some civil rights advocates frustrated as they continue urging the enactment of an anti-discrimination law in this state.

    Married LGBTQ+ couples have been allowed to adopt children in Ohio since the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2015 Obergefell v. Hodges ruling legalized same-sex marriage across the country.

    Ohio’s adoption law, last updated in 1996, states that “a husband and wife together” may adopt so long as one of them is an adult.

    State Rep. Scott Oelslager, R-North Canton, leads the House Finance Committee.

    As part of his comprehensive budget plan, Gov. Mike DeWine proposed to update the language to instead read that any “legally married couple” can adopt.

    Republican lawmakers rejected that change and opted to keep the “husband and wife” language in place.

    House Finance Chairman Scott Oelslager said doing so carries no legal weight and that LGBTQ+ couples retain their right to adopt children. 

    “It’s a semantic issue. It does not prevent adoptions (for) same-sex couples,” the North Canton Republican said. “It’s just simply a semantic definition so to speak, or semantic statement that was in the code. 

    “It was just something some of our members wanted and part of my job as Finance Chairman, and the Speaker’s job, is to listen to our membership … our members feel strongly about it and that’s why we kept it in,” Oelslager continued.

    Oelslager was asked by reporters on Thursday to identify the Republican lawmakers who requested the state adoption law keep its “husband and wife” wording. He declined to name them.

    Later on Thursday, the Ohio Capital Journal obtained the budget amendment requests. Two Republican state representatives in particular asked that budget drafters strike the “legally married couple” reference and reinsert “husband and wife” — Reps. Reggie Stoltzfus, R-Paris Twp., and Derek Merrin, R-Monclova.

    Both EqualityOhio and the ACLU of Ohio oppose this decision from the House Republicans.

    “To uphold ‘husband and wife’ language in the budget plan is not only inaccurate, it’s also antiquated and exclusionary,” ACLU of Ohio executive director J. Bennett Guess said in a provided statement. 

    Seen is an original draft of the budget considered by the Ohio House of Representatives. Gov. Mike DeWine proposed changing the adoption eligibility language  to read “legally married couple,” but GOP Reps. Reggie Stoltzfus and Derek Merrin requested the decades-old “husband and wife” language remain in state law.

    Guess said it is “essential that inclusive, equality-based definitions” be reflected in state law.

    Dominic Detwiler, the public policy strategist for EqualityOhio, too said the organization would like to see the language updated.

    More broadly, Detwiler said EqualityOhio is focused on the enactment of the Ohio Fairness Act — proposed legislation that would prohibit discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity. The bill would protect LGBTQ+ Ohioans from housing and job discrimination.

    Lawmakers have worked toward passing this anti-discrimination legislation for two decades, though advocates are encouraged by the bill’s prospects this time around.

    That’s partially due to the bipartisan support it has received in what is now the 10th attempt, as both the House and Senate versions are sponsored by a Republican and Democratic legislator. Every other Democrat in the Ohio General Assembly has signed on as a cosponsor, while three Republicans have done so.

    “The momentum is building and I think everybody understands that protecting people from discrimination isn’t really a partisan issue,” Detwiler said.

    There has yet to be a committee hearing on the Ohio Fairness Act, which is endorsed by the Ohio Chamber of Commerce and other organizations. 

    Oelslager said Thursday that besides those supporting the legislation, there are also groups in Ohio that “push back very hard” against prohibiting LGBTQ+ discrimination.

    “That’s the balance that we have to, the legislature would have to address here,” he said, adding there is not just “one side” to this issue. “Both sides are very sincere in their efforts.”