Ohio Fairness Act: Cincinnatians Respond to a Fresh Attempt
Photo by Erin Glynn
Article and photography by Hayley Champion and Erin Glynn. Additional photography provided by Tami Lunan and Dr. Meredith Shockley Smith.
Women of Cincy is a nonpartisan organization dedicated to giving a voice to women of all beliefs. We encourage our readers to have open minds, make informed decisions, and be engaged in their community.
Anti-L.G.B.T.Q.-discrimination legislation is once again before the Ohio legislature. Senate Bill 11, colloquially known as the Ohio Fairness Act, would outlaw discrimination against people based on their sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression, and would specifically prohibit employers and health insurance providers from discriminating in this way.
For this reason, protecting L.G.B.T.Q. people from public accommodations discrimination is perhaps the most groundbreaking aspect of this legislation.
As new residents at Women of Cincy, we worked together to complete our first assignment: an open-ended group project of our choice. Since including people of all identities is central to Women of Cincy’s mission, we set out to explore an issue affecting people in the L.G.B.T.Q. community.
Specifically, we set out to explore how Cincinnati businesses, organizations, and individuals feel about the Ohio Fairness Act after over a decade of attempts to pass similar legislation. We began by compiling a list of our own questions about the act and digging into news coverage of the act’s various iterations dating back to 2006. We found extensive explanations of the act and what L.G.B.T.Q. people wanted from it through Cincinnati’s chapter of the Human Rights Campaign and Equality Ohio and thorough reporting of the act’s past incarnations from PRIZM news, The Cincinnati Business Courier, Dayton Daily News, and The Cincinnati Enquirer.
What would be the impact of the Ohio Fairness Act?
If passed, the Act would make it illegal to discriminate against L.G.B.T.Q. people in terms of housing, employment, and public accommodations. In the bill, Ohio legislators use the phrase “public accommodations” to refer to spaces like restaurants and theaters – any facilities that are available to the public.
In the past, the right of L.G.B.T.Q. people to access public accommodations has come into conflict with people who feel it infringes on their right to exercise their religion. This notably reached the Supreme Court in 2018 with a case about whether a Colorado baker would be required to bake a wedding cake for a same-sex couple. The Court ruled in favor of the baker, but as CNN court analyst Steve Vladeck asserts, with reasoning so narrow, the case is unlikely to set a precedent, and the conflict is still a subject of national debate.
For this reason, protecting L.G.B.T.Q. people from public accommodations discrimination is perhaps the most groundbreaking aspect of this legislation.
Don’t these protections already exist?
Though neither the state of Ohio nor Hamilton county has passed L.G.B.T.Q. non-discrimination legislation, the city of Cincinnati has.
While Ohio is considering the Fairness Act, a similar piece of legislation – the Equality Act, which would prohibit L.G.B.T.Q. discrimination on a federal level – is before the U.S. Senate.
How do Cincinnatians feel about it?
Proponents of the bill cite both economic and moral reasons. Two companies headquartered in Cincinnati, Macy’s and Procter and Gamble, have expressed support for measures against L.G.B.T.Q. discrimination by joining the Business Coalition for the Equality Act, a group of companies that collectively employ over 10.7 million people in the U.S.
Photo by Erin Glynn
Not everyone in the region is supportive of the legislation. Aaron Baer, president of Citizens for Community Values, said in an interview with W.O.S.U. that he is concerned that passing the act will result in disingenuous wrongful termination suits.
“Just in order for us to live, we have to think about how everybody else sees us. And if you don't believe for whatever reason that we should be a family, then our income is at risk.”
–Meredith Shockley-Smith
“The idea that you can be sued by somebody for firing them because they’re gay, that’s a plaintiff lawyer’s dream,” Baer told W.O.S.U. Though Women of Cincy reached out multiple times, Baer did not respond for further comment.
What about people in the L.G.B.T.Q. community?
We interviewed local Ohioans who identify as L.G.B.T.Q. about their experiences with discrimination and thoughts on the bill. Dr. Meredith Shockley-Smith works as a diversity, equity, and inclusion consultant and is the director of community strategies with Cradle Cincinnati. Shockley-Smith identifies as queer and described the Ohio Fairness Act as “essential.” She and her wife, Lauren, have two daughters.
Pictured: Meredith Shockley-Smith (left) and Lauren Shockley-Smith (right). Photo by Adrienne Watkins
“Just in order for us to live, we have to think about how everybody else sees us. And if you don't believe for whatever reason that we should be a family, then our income is at risk.” Shockley-Smith told us.
She believes the act will impact Ohio by bringing “equity and fairness to people who are human and totally deserve it. Less fear; more stability.” We also interviewed her wife, Lauren Shockley-Smith, who identifies as gay and non-binary. Lauren found the culture in Ohio to be much different around these issues than in other places she had lived.
“I always talk about feeling less safe in Cincinnati than I ever have anywhere else when it comes to employment,” she said. “It never crossed my mind when I was living in Los Angeles that I would be discriminated against for being gay, whereas when I'm here, I feel like it’s a possibility at every turn.”
While Lauren said she doesn’t face discrimination in her daily life, she attributed this to her white privilege.
“I see the difference between the way in which my wife and I navigate, because she has a more feminine gender expression and she's black. She's navigating the world based off of the intersection of those two identities, and what I'm experiencing here is that the privilege of my whiteness is to be able to kind of supersede any discrimination.”
“What the most vulnerable populations got from marriage equality was very little, whereas the Ohio Fairness Act is protective of them in the ways that really affect people's lives.”
–Lauren Shockley-Smith
Tami Lunan, a community organizer who identifies as a lesbian, has also experienced the intersection between racial and L.G.B.T.Q. discrimination. “I actually faced housing discrimination not too long ago,” she said. “I felt that it was based on the fact that I was a queer woman of color.”
Provided by Tami Lunan
Lauren Shockley-Smith sees the need for this legislation, if not for her, than for those with less privilege. “I'm always thinking of lawmaking as protecting our most vulnerable citizens. What the most vulnerable populations got from marriage equality was very little, whereas the Ohio Fairness Act is protective of them in the ways that really affect people's lives.”
Not protecting the most vulnerable is a weakness of the legislation that concerns Lighthouse Youth Services Director of Equity Initiatives Melissa Meyer. Lighthouse offers housing resources for L.G.B.T.Q. youth ages 18 to 24.
Photo by Erin Glynn
“This bill is not protecting homeless L.G.B.T.Q. youth that get kicked out by their parents, because that’s not housing discrimination,” Meyer said. “It won’t protect L.G.B.T.Q. foster kids aging out of the system, who are among the most likely to become homeless.”
According to a 2015 study by the Williams Institute, 67% of homeless L.G.B.T.Q. youth ran away from home or were forced out by their parents because of their sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression.
We also spoke to a gay, trans woman who wished to remain anonymous.
“Before now, there was no legal guarantee statewide, and that was one of my biggest concerns before transitioning,” she said.
She admitted fear of discrimination affected how she presented herself. “I live over in the West Side of Cincinnati in a pretty Catholic area, and the reaction to the Supreme Court legalizing gay marriage was very negative. I wish that people were more accepting and understanding, but they aren't.”
She believed that the Ohio Fairness Act would help her feel “more secure.” “I think it is a great step forward in helping other L.G.B.T.Q. people in feeling safe and secure in their own state.”
What does all this mean?
As we began our research, we expected to find that Cincinnati’s L.G.B.T.Q. residents would be totally behind the bill, but we learned that there is much more to it than we thought.
Some of the people we spoke to mentioned that they had reservations about the effectiveness of the legislation. They are concerned about how it will be enforced, and what reporting mechanisms for discrimination will look like. The people we spoke to are also concerned about the groups protected by it. Some compared the legislation to the Supreme Court ruling in favor of same-sex marriage: good for visibility, but unlikely to substantially help the L.G.B.T.Q. homeless population, or people struggling with whether they can safely come out right now.
Ultimately, while L.G.B.T.Q. Cincinnatians see the Ohio Fairness Act as a step forward in improving their quality of life, we still have a long way to go when it comes to making our city a safer and more inclusive place.