Democrats challenge law requiring transgender candidates to list their deadnames in order to run for public office

Only two of three transgender candidates running for the Ohio House of Representatives are set to appear on the ballot this fall: Bobbie Brooke Arnold and Arienne Childrey.

Earlier this year, the third transgender candidate – 42-year-old Vanessa Joy – was disqualified from running in the 2024 general election after failing to list her former legal name, often called a “deadname,” on her petition for candidacy.

The trio’s circumstances sparked a set of dueling bills at the Statehouse: one protecting transgender candidates from discrimination during the election process and one requiring them to publicly list their former legal names in order to run.

Tuesday morning, each of the three candidates testified before members of the state’s House Government Oversight Committee in favor of House Bill (HB) 467. That bill would exempt them from an obscure Ohio law requiring candidates to formally disclose any legal name changes in the past five years.

Reps. Michele Grim (D-Toledo) and Beryl Brown Piccolantonio (D-Dublin) sponsored the bill specifically to address problems with the existing law for transgender candidates.

While current law provides an exemption for candidates who changed their last names as a result of marriage, transgender candidates are currently required to disclose their former legal names, forcibly outing them as transgender and potentially jeopardizing their safety.

“My hope is that no other candidate will have to go through what I did,” Joy told committee members, describing the intense anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric she experienced when her name was removed from the ballot. “HB 467 is a common-sense bill that provides a simple fix to a problem.”

Lawmakers target transgender opponents

HB 467’s second hearing comes after conservative Christian Reps. Angie King (R-Celina) and Rodney Creech (R-West Alexandria) introduced HB 471, which would give voters registered under any political party legal footing to challenge the legitimacy of transgender candidates based on the existence of prior legal names.

Rep. Creech – who is set to face Arnold in the 2024 general election – and Rep. King – who is set to face Childrey – are the only two candidates for the Ohio House running against out transgender opponents.

During proponent testimony, Creech and King said the bill encourages transparency around a candidate’s criminal and financial history. However, name changes granted via court order are already public record.

Under current law, both Arnold and Childrey violated election rules by failing to disclose legal name changes on their original petition for candidacy. Should either of them win, both candidates face being suspended and forced to vacate their seats.

Rep. Grim told The Buckeye Flame HB 471 could expose transgender candidates from “baseless and politically-driven attacks from bad faith actors who don’t even live in their county [and] aren’t even a member of the same political party as the candidate.”

During proponent testimony last month, Piccolantonio noted it is not even logistically possible to follow the current law regarding candidate name changes.

“There is no mention of this requirement in the Ohio Candidate Requirement Guidepublished by the Ohio Secretary of State and there is no place on the nominating petition form to list any prior names.”

Childrey told committee members she filled out her petition for candidacy in-person at the Mercer County Board of Elections office, with assistance from board of election staff members who were “completely aware” of her identity as a trans woman but did not instruct her to include her prior name during the paperwork process.

“This became an issue for me not because people were unaware of my name change, but precisely because they were aware,” Childrey told lawmakers. “Had I not been transgender, they would not have even known that I had a prior name.”

Ohio’s rigorous name-change process

Childrey acknowledged the need for public transparency in the election process, but noted that Ohio’s name-change process is already rigorous and expensive.

Probate courts across the state do not approve name-change applications for Ohioans with certain types of criminal backgrounds or undisclosed financial records, often charging court fees many transgender people cannot afford.

In Stark County, Joy told lawmakers a judge required that she clear her bankruptcy before even filing a name change petition.

Transgender Ohioans who change their names outside of marriage are also required to file a notice of name change in the local newspaper.

The notice must include the petitioner’s prior name, proposed new name and the date and time of the scheduled hearing – allowing any member of the public to object to the proceedings.

It is possible for name changes to be sealed, but judges typically do so only in instances of documented violence or ongoing abuse. More commonly, court records of name change petitions can be accessed via a public records request.

“Anyone who looks me up on Google search can find my previous name,” Joy told lawmakers.

‘Needless harm’

During HB 467’s first public hearing, Rep. Grim addressed safety concerns for transgender candidates, who already experience disproportionately high rates of violence, abuse and sexual assault in their lifetimes.

“When candidates are required to use a name on their petition that they no longer use in daily life, it can be dangerous and painful,” she said. “If candidates have gone through the effort to legally change their name in a court of law in our state, why must we deny them the ability to run for office using that same name?”

“Many of us have different comfort levels as far as deadnames,” Childrey told lawmakers. “It raises certain dangers, so there’s a lot of safety attached to not being required to disclose that.”

“There’s also a lot of mental harm we’re doing when we’re forcing people to relive their trauma,” she added. “I would argue that it’s needless harm, because the information that’s being sought can already be obtained.”