Sherrod Brown Launches LGBTQ+ Coalition to Support Re-Election Campaign
Brown cautions that one of the lessons he learned from the fight for reproductive freedom is that no gain of rights is permanent. Sen. Sherrod Brown, a three-term Ohio senator, has launched a coalition to support his re-election campaign for the U.S. Senate in November. The coalition is co-chaired by Ohioan Jim Obergefell and Columbus City Council President Shannon Hardin, the first out LGBTQ+ individual to hold that position. They aim to engage LGBTQ+ Ohioans in Brown’s campaign through direct voter contact, events with fellow LGBTQ+ members, and relational organizing. Brown's Republican opponent, Bernie Moreno, has become increasingly anti-LGBTQ+. The coalition aims to support Brown's work in partnership with the LGBTQ+ community, including voting against the Defense of Marriage Act in 1996 and introducing the first-ever Senate Pride Month Resolution in June 2017. Brown also helped lead the Equality Act, which would expand federal civil rights protections and fight LGBTQ discrimination in housing and the workplace. However, he warns that no permanent gain of rights is permanent.
Опубликовано : 3 недели назад от The Buckeye Flame, Ken Schneck в Politics
Sen. Sherrod Brown does not mince words about what’s at stake in the November election for LGBTQ+ Ohioans.“The values of human rights. The values around dignity. The values of respect for one another,” he said. “That’s all on the ballot.”With so much on the line, the three-term U.S. senator from Ohio is doing everything he can to energize LGBTQ+ voters around his re-election campaign to the U.S. Senate in November.On Monday, the three-term senator announced the creation of “LGBTQ+ Ohioans for Sherrod,” a coalition co-chaired by Ohioan Jim Obergefell – whose Supreme Court case legalized gay marriage in the United States – and Columbus City Council President Shannon Hardin, the first out LGBTQ+ individual to hold that position.The coalition will work to engage LGBTQ+ Ohioans in Brown’s re-election campaign, through direct voter contact, events with fellow LGBTQ+ Ohioans and relational organizing.Noting a lack of legal protections both in Ohio and nationwide, Obergefell wants Ohio’s queer community to understand the upcoming election has the potential to erode the rights that currently exist for LGBTQ+ Americans.“It’s important that we work in our communities with our families and our friends to educate them at what is at risk for our community in Sherrod’s election,” Obergefell said. “We really have to reelect the senator because the alternative is just too scary.”Brown’s Republican opponent in November is Bernie Moreno, a former car dealership owner who has shifted his views over the past few years, becoming staunchly anti-LGBTQ+.“Bernie Moreno’s willingness to attack LGBTQ+ Ohioans for political gain shows the depth of his extremism and the shallowness of his character,” said Geoff Wetrosky, vice president of National Campaigns at the Human Rights Campaign (HRC).Brown is concerned by Ohio state lawmakers and their slate of anti-LGBTQ+ legislation, and wishes they would focus on education, public safety and bringing jobs to Ohio, rather than bills that would forcibly out LGBTQ+ youth to their parents or deny them essential healthcare.“Treating our children as props to score cheap political points does nothing to protect children,” Brown said.Obergefell is quick to agree, highlighting that the Ohio legislature is “not representative of the people of Ohio,” choosing to focus on mean-spirited attacks on vulnerable communities rather than working on bills that would make life better for everyone in Ohio.“I can’t stress enough that the people of Ohio are not like the people holding power in the state legislature,” Obergefell said. “We’re lucky to have someone like Senator Brown who is such an advocate for everyone in Ohio, not just specific communities.”“LGBTQ+ Ohioans for Sherrod” aims to lift up the work Brown has done in partnership with Ohio’s LGBTQ+ community, ranging from his voting against the Defense of Marriage Act in 1996 to introducing the first-ever Senate Pride Month Resolution in June 2017. Brown has also helped lead the Equality Act, which would expand federal civil rights protections and fight LGBTQ discrimination in housing and the workplace. The bill was passed by the House of Representatives for the second time in 2021, but failed to get enough support from Republicans to advance in the Senate.In 2015, Brown joined the amicus brief in support of marriage equality as the Supreme Court prepared to hear Obergefell v. Hodges, the case that would legalize gay marriage in the United States. Sherrod also helped pass the Respect for Marriage Act, which protects same-sex marriage. The bill was signed into law in 2022.Still, Brown cautioned that one of the lessons he learned from another fight – the fight for reproductive freedom – is that no gain of rights is permanent.“I think we all thought every victory we have in gay rights, every victory we have in women’s rights, every victory we have in voting rights is permanent,” Brown said. “But as Coretta Scott King said, there’s a battle every generation.”He urged LGBTQ+ Ohioans to stay vigilant and to continue to fight. He cites the 2022 bipartisian passing of the Respect for Marriage Act – repealing the discriminatory Defense of Marriage Act – as a beacon of hope that there are indeed Republicans who want to support LGBTQ+ rights.“Unfortunately, many of them don’t,” Brown said.Brown identifies his key to re-election in November as being the same as it’s been for every election: voter turnout.To achieve that, he hopes Ohioans take steps towards an election system that actually encourages people to vote, much as he has tried to do in his political career. When he served as Ohio’s secretary of state, he worked with McDonald’s Corp. to print voter registration forms on the tray liners, he remembers.“Boards of elections received thousands of forms covered in ketchup and mustard, but they counted,” Brown said.It’s that type of creativity and determination Brown wants LGBTQ+ Ohioans to embrace.“It’s up to all of us to find ways to get involved,” Brown said. “I know that if everybody votes, I win big.”
Темы: Social Issues, LGBTQ, Governance-ESG, Social-ESG