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.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
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.
Officials said Joy violated a little-known Ohio law requiring candidates for public office to list any name changes over the previous five years on their signature petitions.
Joy, who has legally changed her name and her birth certificate, told News 5 Cleveland and the Ohio Capital Journal on Wednesday she had not been aware of the law before being removed from the ballot.
Joy said that, as a transgender woman, she should not be required by law or expected to publicly disclose her deadname, which is the name she used before transitioning.
The law’s enforcement also comes at a pivotal time for transgender people in Ohio, as the state legislature gears up to override Gov.
The legislation would ban minors from obtaining gender-affirming health care and prevent transgender athletes from competing on school sports teams that match their gender identity.
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Joy said that, as a transgender woman, she should not be required by law or expected to publicly disclose her deadname, which is the name she used before transitioning.
No, I don’t think so.
Yeah, i get the fraughtnrss tied to it when you’re trans, but the purpose is to make the clear history of the person accessible- you can identify everything they publicly did under any moniker within a reasonable time period. Sucks, but her life didn’t start when she name changed.
Amazing how people downvote you.
Regardless of gender anyone who change their name should disclose their previous one so people can look them up.
The rule is only enforced for transgender people, though, and specifically exempts some other kinds of name changes that are considered more ‘socially acceptable’ to these fuckwits.
So no, if the cisgendered people do not need to disclose, neither do the transgendered people. That’s called discrimination on the basis of sex.
Disclose previous names, please. There were full records of the legal name change. Nothing was hidden. The forms didn’t even have the fucking disclosure requirements on them because no one gives a shit about this law.
This is strictly an anti-trans rule at this point and you’re here rushing to its defense based on some law and order conservative bullshit.
Lets be clear, this incident can be anti-trans or anti-democrat. Regardless, the rule is not enforced by good faith as it never been enforced before.
However, in general, anyone who changed their name should disclose that, not necessary the name but knowing someone change their name is important specifically if such person want to hold a public position.
Not to mention anyone can change their name, and hide a really sketchy or dangerous pasts.
I’m a supporter of lgbtq+ —edited—
Willing to discuss with people I have an open mind regarding techniques to get us to our goal, even if that means without a dead name. Wanna hear your ideas and solns.
Edit: you know, it is a safety thing, for both the trans person and vice versa.
I have a lot of questions now that I’ve been thinking about this more, do people’s criminal records stick past a name change, and if so how? Could you not use the same way to determine someone’s crimes without having to use their dead name? Obviously it’s something that’s very painful for a lot of trans people (maybe not all but still) and could be a fair way to meet on some middle ground?
I think you’re missing an important piece of the puzzle here. Name changes are public information. When I changed my name here in Ohio I had to have that fact published in a newspaper (which I’m glad is no longer the case). These days it’s just kept in court documents that aren’t sealed and can be searched.
For criminal records I’m sure there’s a way to keep track across it. Like my drivers license number didn’t change when I changed my name and sex marker. My social security number didn’t change when they were informed. Idk if passport numbers ever change much less what causes it, but I do know changing my name on my passport didn’t even require me to apply for a new one, I just needed a renewal and to send proof of name change. At this point so many government departments have my name change paperwork it’s laughable to imagine trying to hide my past from them using my name change
Why would there be ANY exceptions? I wouldn’t have a problem with it as long as everyone had to follow the same rule. Putting exceptions just seems silly.
People need to follow the law or change it. While its on the books, it needs to be engaged with in good-faith. A 30-minute free consultation with a lawyer could have cleared all this up
She should push for it being applied to all the other politicians in the Ohio House. Any single one of them that had any form of name change for any reason or took the name of their spouse. They all need to be disqualified and kicked out, if we’re going to be enforcing this old ass law.
The law doesn’t apply to changes due to marriage.
There probably aren’t too many others who have had a name change.
If the reason for this law is to not have someone change their name to hide some negative past from voters, a marriage name change is still just as concealing. Sally Smith to Sally Michaels when there are thousands of Sally’s out there is just as much hiding as anything else.
I totally get not wanting to disclose your deadname where a ton of conservative assholes will get ahold of it, but you probably should still have to report any other names you’ve gone by to get into public office.
Anyone should have to to get into public office imo, not just her.
She’s definitely not who I’d start enforcing that rule on tbf, but everyone should have to I think.
This is the important question. I have no sympathy for the candidate not wanting to disclose the previous name - just because some people might react negatively doesn’t mean they get to hide their past
…… assuming it’s equally applied. If it’s true that other are not held to the same standard, that the requirement wasn’t communicated or known, or there is no chance to fix it before the election, that’s BS
Again, who’s hiding? Legal name changes are public records. No one is hiding. You have a solution in search of a problem.
