Holding our noses for Acton
As a recently engaged gay man living in Ohio, I remember feeling so hurt and frustrated in 2014 when then-Attorney General Mike DeWine said he would continue to fight for the state’s same-sex marriage ban
even if a federal appeals court struck down the ban. Fast forward to December 29, 2023, and I was pleasantly surprised and happy that the same Mike DeWine, as governor, vetoed HB 68, the anti-trans bill.But I suppose pleasant surprises in politics aren’t supposed to last.
Now, in September 2026, I am shocked to learn the Democratic nominee for governor, Dr. Amy Acton, has taken a more rightward, more reactionary and more ignorant position on trans children playing in sports than the conservative Republican governor of the state did three years
ago.
Instead of starting the discussion with, “We should recognize that all children, all people deserve respect, kindness and inclusion,” Acton went right to conservative news outlets’ favorite motto: Keep them out.
Instead of stating that many studies show the devastating harms transgender children endure from exclusion from sports but no studies show a direct harm to cisgender girls from playing with transgender girls, Acton chose Republican propaganda over science.
What a difference from the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic, when Acton chose science over Republican propaganda.
This election may be very close in November, and if Acton wants to win, I don’t think throwing trans children under the bus is the ethical way to do it.
If she wants LGBTQIA+ people to vote for her, I think we deserve a long, thoughtful conversation concerning exactly how she feels about us.
Throughout history, we are used to waiting with overwhelming empathy as the rest of the world slowly matures in its moral consciousness to accept us; please don't make us hold our noses while we vote for you as the lesser of two bad choices, rather than voting for you enthusiastically because you respect all of your future constituents, including the LGBTQIA+ community.
Matthew Baron-Chapman, West Chester
The Democratic tourniquet
Swing voters, you are the biggest voting bloc in Ohio.
Talk to people you know who have decided. Does their life generally go from one crisis to another? Have they lost financial stability recently? Are they demonizing a group of people as the cause? Do they answer in short, emotional bursts?
If the answer is yes to some of this, they probably vote Republican. They haven’t figured out that party believes in taking working Americans’ taxes and channeling it to the greediest at the top.
They think it will magically lubricate the economy.
The historical data is clear. Too much wealth and power in few hands ends with a recession or worse.
Extra money is used to make high-stakes gambles, to fill the media with fearful lies, and to make deals with candidates to change laws for easier cheating.
The best we do is vote Democrat all the way.
Despite how messy they look, Democrats agree on what the problems are but will argue a bit on how to fix them. They want to stop fraud bleeding our taxes, further ballooning the deficit, and to hold the top accountable.
A Democratic Congress can put a tourniquet on until 2028. The probability that Republicans will let the patient die beforehand is too high.
Anne Kmieck, Cleveland Heights
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Action forcing LGBTQ+ people to hold our noses while casting our votes | Letters
