Cincinnati Suburb’s First Out Candidate Runs to Make ‘Norwood for All’

In June 2021, Sam Bowling wanted to know what her city was doing for Pride. She’d recently moved from Cincinnati to the suburb of Norwood and was surprised to see no flag raised at City Hall and no plans for a parade. When she raised the question on social media, she was stunned by the vitriol she received from the community.

“I immediately thought about other queer people from the community – how unsafe and unwelcome I would feel if I were a young person in Norwood seeing this post.” 

Long active in her community, Sam took matters into her own hands. Leveraging her experience as Cincinnati Pride board member, she organized a pop-up Pride Walk through the city. It rained torrentially all day, but the celebration drew over 300 supporters. 

“It was so celebratory and joyous,” Sam said. “It was affirming to see so much support.” 

Sam’s organizational powers caught the eye of local Democrats, who approached her about running for office. Still fresh in Norwood, Sam decided to wait until she could develop a better idea of how to effectively serve her community. 

When the Democrats approached her again in 2023, she was ready. Now, Sam is the first-ever out candidate to run for office in Norwood, which has a population of just over 30,000. Running to represent Ward 1 on City Council, she hopes to make “Norwood for All” if elected. 

“I did not feel super welcome in Norwood when I first moved here, and I want to do my part to make sure no one else feels that way again,” she said.

The Buckeye Flame caught up with the candidate to discuss her work in the community, her plans for office and her hope that her historic run will open doors for other LGBTQ+ candidates down the road.  

First, tell us a bit about your work in the community. 

I got my first taste of what local politics looks and feels like when I was elected to Cincinnati’s Youth and City Government Program as a teenager. Later, I began volunteering for a trans health organization at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital called Living with Change, and then as a support group mentor with Transform, which provides a free clothing exchange and other resources for trans kids in Cincinnati. In 2017, I started getting involved with Cincinnati Pride and became the Youth Chair. When I talked to the teens I worked with, many of them felt they didn’t have a place at Pride, so I started a Teen Zone at Pride where everything is 100% free and LGBTQ+ kids could meet other people their age in a safe, appropriate and accepting space. 

Now I am in my second term as the director of volunteer engagement on the Cincinnati Pride Board of Directors. It’s been awesome to get other people in the community fired up and engaged. Pride is obviously one day in Cincinnati, but we do year-round programming. It’s made me appreciate how much it takes to support our community. 

What’s Norwood like, particularly as an out member of the community?

It can be challenging. Last year, when my wife and I put out our Pride flag, our house got egged – I didn’t even know people did that anymore! But there’s been a lot of progress. Since our Pride Walk, there is now a flag-raising at City Hall to celebrate Pride Month. Recently, we passed a nondiscrimination ordinance to protect the LGBTQ+ community in terms of housing discrimination. And now I am the first openly LGBTQ+ person to run for office in Norwood. My opponent voted against that ordinance, so that’s what I’m up against. 

What do you hope to accomplish as a city council member? 

Making a “Norwood for All” is my idea. We have a very diverse demographic in Norwood that’s not been represented historically. I’ve begun working with different communities to see what we can do to make sure their voices are heard. I’d also love to see more public art in Norwood. We had murals banned until a year ago, and I think investing more in public art would strengthen our city’s brand and support small businesses. Norwood has such a beautiful main street, but so many empty storefronts. If we could get more businesses up and running, I believe we could make this a destination city.

You’re the first out candidate to run for office in Norwood. What would being elected mean to you?

It is such an honor to be the first. Having an LGBTQ+ voice in those meetings about nondiscrimination ordinances and other things that directly impact our community would be groundbreaking here. All this time at City Hall, conversations about us have been happening with no one from our community there to represent us. We’ve had people there to defend us, but no one who’s lived our experience. I think that’s vital. I hope that me being the first opens the gates for many more to follow. 

What advice would you give to other members of the LGBTQ+ community who might be interested in running for office themselves?

I’m actually talking to other LGBTQ+ candidates in the area about forming a workshop to get more queer people involved in local politics. My advice? If you’re thinking about running, run. There are people who will support you, who will help you financially get to your goals in your campaign. The community will find you. 🔥

---

Ignite Action

• To learn more about Sam Bowling, visit her campaign Facebook page here.
• To register to vote or to check your voter eligibility status in the state of Ohio, click here.