(News archive photo by Aaron Zaremsky)
Advocates map road to LGBTQ+ equality
- Published: May 7, 2026
More than a decade after the U.S. Supreme Court established same-sex marriage rights nationally, Ohio law still has an unenforceable same-sex marriage ban on the books, and legislators have yet to pass legislation that explicitly protects against discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity.
There remain areas of the state where living with an LGBTQ+ identity means measuring where it feels safe to be yourself.
These realities, advocates say, are part of why there are still miles to travel on the road to equality.
The ongoing journey — and some directions along the way — will be the underlying theme of a Friday, May 8, event sponsored by nonprofit advocacy group Equality Ohio.
“The Roadmap Back to Equality,” an “Evening for Equality” conversation, will feature Jim Obergefell, the Ohio man whose name became synonymous with marriage equality in 2015 when he became the lead plaintiff in the Obergefell v. Hodges Supreme Court case that established same-sex marriage rights in the U.S.
Joining Obergefell will be Equality Ohio CEO Dwayne Steward and local resident Kevin McGruder, who serves on the nonprofit’s board and spearheaded bringing the event to Yellow Springs. Speaking with the News last week, Steward said the village event is part of an ongoing effort by Equality Ohio to broaden the group’s presence beyond the Statehouse and connect its work with local communities.
“We are trying to make sure that we serve all LGBTQ communities across Ohio,” Steward said. “We were very excited that Kevin brought this idea to us, and excited that Jim Obergefell said yes.”
Steward said the group’s legal clinic has become an increasingly important part of that work. In his inaugural “State of Equality in Ohio” address this year, he said Equality Ohio provided more than 1,000 transgender Ohioans with name-change and gender-affirmation services in 2025.
The organization has also focused on local nondiscrimination protections. Steward said Ohio now has 37 municipalities with equality measures and 14 conversion-therapy bans. Equality Ohio’s long-term goal, he said, is that no LGBTQ+ Ohioan lives more than 45 minutes from a “queer haven.”
“At the local level, when you know someone who’s LGBTQ, or you love someone who’s LGBTQ, you don’t vote against them,” Steward said. “That’s really our ‘roadmap’ back — going county by county and reminding people that their teacher, their hairdresser, their mechanic, if they’re LGBTQ, it doesn’t change how you engage with them. … There can be wins, and the wins are at the local level right now.”
Steward added that last year, he traveled across the state for several months, meeting with folks in an effort to suss out needs across the state. Many with whom he spoke said they felt “dejected” about ongoing anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric and harmful proposed legislation.
“So we had to create some kind of plan that allowed people to see that they could win, and that’s what this conversation really is about,” Steward said. “That’s how we’re going to build momentum, and that’s how we’re going to get the state back to equality.”
At the state level, Equality Ohio is focused on opposing anti-LGBTQ legislation, including House Bill 249, which would restrict drag performances and Pride events. The bill has already passed the House, and is currently before the Senate.
Steward said about 150 Pride festivals are held annually across Ohio. The safety and visibility of Pride festivals and drag performances, he said, can be life-affirming, particularly for young people who live in small towns.
“I really believe that visibility saves lives,” Steward said. “Those safe spaces really have historically led to decreases in suicide rates, and they create moments where youth can actually feel like they belong.”
Equality Ohio also stands in opposition to several other measures Steward described as part of a broader “slate of hate,” including House Bill 693, which supporters call the “Affirming Families First Act” and which would shield Ohio parents and guardians from being investigated for abuse or neglect when they refuse to affirm the gender identity of a child in their care.
The bill would also nullify local bans on conversion therapy, a dangerous and widely discredited practice that attempts to change a person’s sexual orientation, gender identity or gender expression. Locally, the Village Council passed a resolution in December 2025 formally opposing conversion therapy.
Steward also pointed to House Bill 798 — introduced on March 31, Transgender Day of Visibility — which aims to bolster and expand a law signed in 2024 by Gov. Mike DeWine to restrict the use of restrooms and locker rooms in schools and colleges to sex assigned at birth; HB 798 would broaden those restrictions in public spaces. The bill would also clear the path for bringing legal action against institutions that don’t enforce those restrictions. It would also prohibit public school teachers from using the chosen names and pronouns of students, and limit changes to sex designations on birth certificates and other official documents.
Steward said Equality Ohio is working with allied lawmakers on a competing “slate of love,” including renewed support for House Bill 136/Senate Bill 70, the “Ohio Fairness Act,” which would add statewide nondiscrimination protections based on sexual orientation and gender identity. The Ohio Fairness Act has been introduced before the General Assembly a dozen times in the last two decades.
With all that in mind, Steward said the upcoming event is intended to keep supporters engaged, even as years of legislative fights have worn a lot of people down.
“The most important thing you can do right now is not disengage, because that’s what they want,” he said.
Steward said Yellow Springs’ reputation as an affirming community makes it a fitting place for the upcoming event — a kind of beacon for advocates as they continue down the road to equality.
“We need the pockets of the state where it’s OK for people to be who they are,” he said. “We need those groups to be fighting for areas that don’t have the ability to be who they are.”
At the same time, Kevin McGruder said the village’s reputation can serve as a reminder to local residents that, in some ways, they’re privy to an experience that not all Ohioans share — at least, not yet.
“A lot of young people, when they graduate from high school in Yellow Springs, they talk about how they’re leaving the bubble — they’re very aware that life here is different,” McGruder said. “And I think for adults, too — because we can live comfortably here, most of us — I think we may not understand how we can help people in other Ohio communities who don’t have the advantages that we have.”
McGruder pointed to the historical notion that “small town” is synonymous with “politically conservative in terms of LGBTQ issues.” He said that, in his own advocacy work, he’s been holding up Yellow Springs as an example to challenge that notion.
“I moved to New York because I didn’t think I could live the way I wanted to in Toledo, where I grew up,” he said. “And that’s what a lot of people are doing. But my vision would be that people in small towns don’t have to leave them to be who they are.”
“The Roadmap Back to Equality” with Jim Obergefell and Equality Ohio will be held Friday, May 8, in the South Gym of the Wellness Center at Antioch College. Doors open at 4:30 p.m., with the program beginning at 5:15 p.m. Light refreshments will be served, and parking is available at the Wellness Center. Admission is free.
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