New bill could spell crackdowns on pro-LGBTQ+ demonstrations across Ohio

A new bill at the Ohio Statehouse could be used to target pro-LGBTQ+ demonstrations across the state by allowing private citizens to sue individuals for damages incurred by “vandalism or riot activity,” even if an individual is not found personally responsible for the damages.

Ohio Senate Bill (SB) 53 is part of a growing legislative trend the National Lawyers Guild (NLG) has called “a thinly-veiled attempt to further criminalize protesting.”

“SB 53 is designed to keep the most marginalized, including the LGBTQ+ community, silent by increasing the potential penalties for making their voices heard,” said NLG media liaison Hannah Scifres.

“If SB 53 is signed into law, organizers of a pro-LGBTQ+ rally could be held civilly liable if a protestor in attendance caused damage, no matter how minimal, to private property,” Scifres added. “The Ohio legislature is attempting to scare community organizers into silence and complicity. However, Pride has its roots in protest and countering state-sanctioned violence.”

Attacks on protestors across the country

Across the country, anti-protest legislation has been on the rise since at least 2015.

In 2016, members of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe camped out in protest of the Dakota Access Pipeline, which routed directly through sacred land and endangered the group’s drinking water supply.

The following year, North Dakota lawmakers passed a slew of anti-protest bills – increasing fines, increasing jail and prison sentences and allowing citizens and law enforcement officers to strike protesters using motor vehicles with limited liability.

Since then, lawmakers in 21 states have passed legislation limiting protesters’ rights, including Ohio.

Suppressing LGBTQ+ protests in Ohio

Ohio lawmakers first introduced legislation to limit protest activity in 2018, following the brutal 2017 arrest of the Ohio Black Pride 4 – four Black LGBTQ+ activists who peacefully disrupted the annual Stonewall Columbus LGBTQ+ Pride Festival and Parade.

The bill failed to advance – along with another eight anti-protest bills lawmakers proposed over the next six years – which include proposed increased punishments and penalties for demonstrators who block roadways and wear face coverings.

In 2020 – while racial justice demonstrations erupted in cities across the country – lawmakers in South Dakota and Ohio passed nearly identical bills outlining harsher punishment and increased fines for protesting near oil and gas pipelines and other “critical infrastructure facilities.”

At least 17 other states have passed similar legislation.

Bill could ‘stifle’ First Amendment rights

In light of the Trump administration’s recent rollback of civil rights for transgender Americans, Scifres said new anti-protest legislation could disproportionately affect both protestors who identify as LGBTQ+ and any protesters demonstrating in favor of LGBTQ+ civil rights – discouraging Ohioans from exercising their First Amendment right to free speech.

“As demonstrations against police brutality, militarism, facism, etc. have increased in recent years, lawmakers across the country are introducing bills to penalize those who speak out,” Scifres said.

“In Ohio, this manifested recently, as Attorney General Dave Yost resurrected a 1950s-era law prohibiting masks at protests to stamp down student-led demonstrations on college campuses.”

During SB 53’s first hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Feb. 19, primary sponsor Republican Sen. Tim Schaffer (R-Lancaster) – who first proposed a version of the bill in 2021 – said the bill does not infringe on Ohioans’ right to peaceful protest.

“I want to make crystal-clear that there is nothing in this bill that discourages or violates the First Amendment right to peacefully assemble and protest,” Schaffer said in public testimony. “This bill is simply designed to hold those who turn violent and destructive accountable for their actions and to deter these actions.”

NLG said the opposite:

“Senate Bill 53 is another attempt by the Ohio legislature to stifle Ohioans’ First Amendment right to protest,” Scifes told The Buckeye Flame. “Ohio NLG strongly opposes SB 53 and remains committed to protecting protestors’ constitutional rights and supporting the LGBTQ+ community.”