A transgender woman running for an Ohio House seat has been disqualified for failing to disclose her former name on petitions circulated to voters, in violation of a seldom-enforced state law.
Local election officials informed Vanessa Joy, who hoped to run as a Democrat for Ohio House District 50, that she was not eligible to do so, despite having collected the signatures necessary to run.
Joy sought to run in a firmly Republican district covering Stark County, just south of Akron.
But yeah I do get the real concern of someone changing their name to hide their past. In fact if I was using my name change to hide from debt collectors or consequences of criminal behavior I’d get in extra trouble for perjury because I had to swear to a judge that wasn’t the case under oath.
As far as I’m concerned so long as journalists can determine a candidate’s past as needed I don’t need them announcing it. And we’ve already seen a politician use name changes to hide their life this year and it wasn’t some super subtle thing.
But yeah the state of Ohio does concern me that we’re going to be particularly hostile to trans people attempting to join our legislature because people here are generally cool with us, but politicians here really aren’t and we’re very gerrymandered
Power to the people, wouldn’t be the first time the public stuck it to tyrants in office.
Stay strong, stay smart! 🩵🩷🤍