Dublin is the latest Ohio municipality
to approve protections for LGBT people.
Dublin city leaders approved the
ordinance on Monday.
Equality Ohio, Ohio's largest LGBT
rights advocate, congratulated Dublin.
“Dublin continues to remind us that
there is more support for LGBTQ+ inclusive laws than our legislature
wants us to think there is,” Equality Ohio's Joseph Soza said in an
email to supporters.
Equality Ohio has been lobbying for the
Ohio Fairness Act, a statewide LGBT protections bill that has
languished in the General Assembly.
“Dublin's ordinance is like a local
version of the Ohio Fairness Act, which would add LGBTQ+ people to
statewide laws that make discrimination illegal,” Soza said. “Until
that happens, communities across Ohio are saying loud and clear that
they will not wait. They are now demanding protections for all, now.”
Ohio's six most populous cities have
enacted similar ordinances, including Columbus, Cleveland,
Cincinnati, Toledo, Akron, and Dayton. Together, these cities
represent nearly one-quarter of Ohio's population.
Dublin, a suburb of Columbus with over
48,000 residents, is the 34th Ohio municipality with an
LGBT protections ordinance, according to Equality Ohio.
Cuyahoga County, which includes
Cleveland, is the only county in Ohio to extend such protections.