Ohio’s anti-LGBTQ movement threatens to eclipse all other hope [COMMENTARY]

By Mallory Golski, Civic Engagement and Advocacy Manager at Kaleidoscope Youth Center

What a gift it was to be an Ohioan this week: for once, in just the right place, at exactly the right time (and, unbelievably, enjoying just the right weather for the occasion).

After four years of living through the kinds of events whose recollections I can only imagine will stupify generations of history students, I decided this week that bearing witness to an awe-inspiring and (mostly) harmless natural phenomenon that necessitates fashionable eyewear is the only moment of historical significance – the unprecedented times, dare I say – in which I wish to live.

Last week, like nearly everyone else in Ohio during the days leading up to the solar eclipse, our conversation during an evening of programming at Kaleidoscope Youth Center centered around anticipation for what we might experience as the celestial bodies aligned Monday afternoon.

While we mused about this spectacle, I reflected aloud on how we were having this discussion in a youth center – and how the next time Ohio is poised to see its next total solar eclipse in 2099, we could all be having the same conversation together in a nursing home.

The teenagers met my thoughts with a characteristic chorus of, “Ugh! No! I don’t want to think about that!” One even dared to point out that at my projected age of 102, I might not actually be around to partake in the next pre-solar eclipse dialogue.

It’s true, I admit. I may not be alive in 2099, but I hope they will be.

Unfortunately, unlike the fleeting blackout of the total solar eclipse, we’re still living through a longer, more enduring bout of history unfolding at the Statehouse that is leaving countless Ohioans – LGBTQ+ youth, in particular – in the dark.

On Wednesday afternoon, Ohio Governor Mike DeWine took to the podium for his State of the State address, commemorating the many ways in which Ohio has been “the heart of it all” over the past year. However, the reality is that we cannot choose to celebrate the prosperity of some Ohioans without acknowledging the systemic harm being inflicted upon countless others.

We cannot celebrate the success of Ohio’s Imagination Library without also acknowledging that books are being censored by school districts across the state, prohibiting LGBTQ+ students from seeing themselves reflected in the stories they’re able to read in classrooms and in libraries because of House Bill 8.

We cannot celebrate the fact that the 2024 NCAA Women’s Final Four was played in Cleveland without also acknowledging that by the end of this month, trans women will no longer be eligible to compete on women’s sports teams at the K-12 and collegiate levels throughout Ohio.

We cannot celebrate Ohio being home to countless world-renowned medical facilities without also acknowledging that these very entities will soon be barred from providing safe and effective, best-practice gender-affirming care to transgender youth because of House Bill 68 and Governor DeWine’s accompanying proposed administrative rules.

We cannot celebrate the innovation that will unfold in the Intel plant coming to Central Ohio without also acknowledging the brain drain that will inevitably occur as Ohio students choose to attend out-of-state universities when House Bill 183 renders it unsafe for gender nonconforming students to use the restroom at school.

As long as these dark shadows seek to eclipse queer and trans joy, we cannot expect young people to stick around and watch.

DeWine kicked off his State of the State address by saying that “The single most important thing we can do for Ohio’s future is ensure that all Ohio children… have the opportunity to live up to their full, God-given potential and they have the chance to pursue their dreams and their passions in life.”

I hope he means it.

I hope the legislation lawmakers choose to focus on doesn’t imminently put the lives of young queer and trans people in danger.

I hope that the policies of our state afford these young people the luxury of growing old and thriving as they do.

I hope they’re given the chance to grow old right here, if they choose. I hope that they’re not forced to move to seek essential health care or quality education in other states.

And I hope they find themselves surrounded by just as many allies as there were spectators – that those same enthusiastic participants in history are just as willing to take three minutes to enlighten lawmakers as they were to bask in the darkness.

After all, it’s a gift to stand at the epicenter of history, and I trust we won’t have to wait another 75 years before something spectacular happens again.

I only hope legislators in Ohio have the heart to let LGBTQ+ youth experience it all. 🔥

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ignite action

• To register to vote or to check your voter eligibility status in the state of Ohio, click here.
• To find contact information for your Ohio state representative, click here.
• To find contact information for your Ohio senator, click here.
• For all of Ohio’s current LGBTQ+ legislation, click here.
• If you are a young person struggling, contact the Trevor Project: 866-4-U-Trevor.
• If you are an adult in need of immediate help, contact the National Trans Lifeline: 877-565-886