A transgender woman claimed that because she withheld her previous name, or “deadname,” (the title a transgender person was given at birth and no longer uses after their gender transition), she was ineligible to run for office in the Ohio House of Representatives.
When Vanessa Joy, a 42-year-old real estate photographer, failed to include her last name in her campaign to work for Ohio House District 50, she was disqualified. According to Ohio law, candidates for public office who have changed their names in the previous five years must list those names on their applications. The law does not discuss exemptions for transgender people who have changed their names, despite the fact that it exempts those whose names have changed as a result of marriage.
Joy added that she was aware of the law and said she filed a petition on Thursday to challenge her disqualification. It’s a barrier to entry for some transgender and nonbinary people, she said to NBC News. For a lot of trans people, they don’t want their deadnames printed, even though I personally would have just bit the bullet and allowed my name to appear on petitions and probably on the ballot. I wanted to give teenagers, Gen X, and Gen Z, the confidence to go out and vote and run for office themselves because it’s a safety issue for some. Because they might have more confidence to get out and vote and realize that “maybe my vote will make a difference” if they see a trans woman from pretty red Ohio running for public office, in the presence of people who despise me for my existence.
Joy’s disqualification came not long after Ohio garnered national attention for its transgender issues, and Republican Gov. Last year, Mike DeWine vetoed a bill supported by the GOP that would have limited both transgender women’s participation in school sports teams and transition-related care for minors. Some Republicans criticized DeWine’s veto, as did former President Donald Trump, who posted on his social media platform, Truth Social, stating that “DeWine has fallen to the Radical Left.” It’s understandable why every time I introduce him at rallies in Ohio, he receives raucous jeers, but I won’t be doing so any longer. I’m done with this “thick.” What did he have in mind? The legislation would have prohibited men from participating in women’s sports and stopped baby amputation. Finally, legislation will be overturned. Fasten it up, please! Ohio lawmakers are anticipated to challenge the veto in the coming months.
Leonid Andronov and Shutterstock.com are credited for the image.
