Indiana’s loss is Ohio’s gain in PR battle over equal rights

As local, state and national reaction over Indiana’s Religious Freedom Restoration act continues to roil the Hoosier state, its neighbor to the East, Ohio, has begun to take advantage. Reporting on the blog Plunderbund, John Michael Spinelli notes, “While one neighbor might help another neighbor put out a fire, Ohio Senator Sherrod Brown was joined last Wednesday at the Statehouse in Columbus by other city leaders who invited businesses to cross the border and invest in Ohio.”

“We’re here today with one message: Ohio is open for business—for everyone,” Sen. Sherrod Brown said. “While we still have more work to do in Ohio to ensure that LGBT Ohioans have full legal equality, I believe we are on the right track,” he said. Brown noted that business leaders and mayors, many of whom joined him today, make it clear that “we welcome everyone to Ohio.” Being inclusive instead of exclusive is how Brown believes economies grown. “And that’s why we are here today to say Ohio will not join this wave of discrimination. We’re open for business to everyone, everywhere, regardless of whom they love or how they worship.”

Dayton Mayor Nan Whaley, Canton Mayor William Healy, Columbus City Council President Andrew Ginther, and a salon owner from Dayton joined Brown to say cities are open for business. Mayor Whaley pointed to Dayton efforts like a nationally recognized attraction effort like “Welcome Dayton” and the Human Rights Campaign’s All Star City designation as well as local legislation to support marriage equality.

Columbus City Council President Andrew J. Ginther, who wants to be Columbus’ next mayor, talked of the capital city’s strengths on diversity. “While some communities are turning back the clock on equal rights, Columbus is focused on being the most welcoming, inclusive and diverse city possible. Residents overwhelmingly agreed with City Council when they voted to place anti-discrimination language in the City charter. I look forward to the day when the rest of America can embrace equality like Columbus has.”

The actuality on the ground is a little more complicated. The LGBT community in Indiana does indeed enjoy a mashup of civil protections. For example, while it is legal for same-sex couples to wed in Indiana, depending on where you live – which county – will also afford you a measure of workplace protection. Governor Joe Kernan issued an Executive Order in 2004 protecting state employees from discrimination based on sexual orientation as well as gender identity and expression. In 2005, Governor Mitch Daniels added the terms “sexual orientation” and “gender identity” to the list of protected categories in state employment covered by the state’s Equal Employment Opportunity policy.

The counties of Marion and Monroe, along with the cities of Bloomington, Evansville, Indianapolis, New Albany, South Bend, and West Lafayette prohibit employment discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity.

The county of Tippecanoe and the cities of Fort Wayne, Lafayette, Michigan City, and Terre Haute prohibit employment discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation only. Indiana has allowed same-sex couples to adopt since 2006.

Ohio, for all its talk of being open for business, has far more regressive policies on LGTBQ discrimination. Discrimination based on sexual orientation, but not gender identity, is prohibited within state employment by an executive order issued by Governor John Kasich on January 21, 2011. There are no statewide protections in Ohio for sexual orientation and gender identity outside of state employment. Twenty-nine Ohio cities and counties have anti-discrimination ordinances prohibiting discrimination of the basis of sexual orientation.

Ohio’s hate crime laws address violence based on race, color, religion or national origin, but not on sexual orientation or gender identity