Bill reintroduced to ban gender-based housing discrimination in Ohio

By Marc Kovac | October 29, 2015 at 12:04a.m.

COLUMBUS

A Democratic state lawmaker plans to reintroduce legislation to ban discrimination in housing, employment and elsewhere based on sexual orientation or gender identity.

The new bill marks the third time Rep. Nickie Antonio, D-Lakewood, has offered the proposed law changes. She’s hoping for more legislative support this session after the U.S. Supreme Court decision earlier this year that overturned gay-marriage bans nationally and in Ohio.

“I don’t know about you, but I feel like it’s a different world,” Antonio, one of two openly gay members of the state Legislature, said during a press conference at the Statehouse Wednesday. “Since the Supreme Court decision, things have fundamentally changed. I think opinions are changing. I think the conversations we are having are changed.”

She added, “I really do believe that it’s a time when everybody can reassess and not be entrenched in where they’ve been before.”

The proposed Ohio Fairness Act would add sexual orientation and gender identity to the list of classes protected from discrimination in state law. Antonio said the change would not affect existing religious exemptions.

“There was no attempt to roll those back,” she said. “They are there, and they are affirmed.”

Nearly 30 other states and more than a dozen Ohio cities already have adopted comparable anti-discrimination language to state or local codes. Numerous private businesses have also implemented similar policies.