The leader of Equality Ohio, the state's largest LGBT rights advocacy group, is heading west. From our Statehouse Bureau Jo Ingles reports:
For the past two years, Elyzabeth Holford says Equality Ohio has worked with other similar organizations to educate the public about the need to allow marriage of same sex couples.
Now that the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled on that issue, Holford says the group she leaves still has some fights on its hands.
For starters, she says Equality Ohio will fight for a law that gives legal anti-discrimination protection to same sex couples.
And that's not all.
"80% of bullying that happens in our schools happens because a student is gay or people believe they are gay. And yet we are not enumerated in the state's anti-bullying law. And also this is a state that does not have any hate crime legislation that is inclusive of the LGBT community. And then on top of all that, if you are a person who is transitioning your gender in Ohio, we are one of five states where you cannot change your birth certificate," Holford says.
Equality Ohio's Northeast Ohio Director will take over as the Managing Director when Holford leaves the group at the end of this week to move to California.