Ohio bars transgender politician from House bid for not disclosing deadname

A transgender woman running for an Ohio House seat was disqualified for not using a birth name in election filings.

Vanessa Joy, a biological man who identifies as a woman, was the lone Democratic candidate campaigning for the seat in Ohio’s 50th district. While Joy’s campaign has gathered the sufficient signatures, the petition only used Joy’s new first and last names, which changed from those given at birth while also being adopted within the last five years; it was a violation of a 1995 election law.

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This law does not apply to name changes more than ten years old. However, a married name change does not make one ineligible.

“That law is unintentionally discriminatory to Trans people, but the main issue is that the 2024 Candidate Guide does NOT have any information about this requirement listed. Nor do the petitions themselves,” Joy said of the law in an Instagram post on Thursday.

Joy has since appealed the disqualification to the Stark County Board of Elections. The candidate claimed a campaign was born out of a desire “to break the Republican supermajority that has a stranglehold on human rights in my state.”

“While I understand that the spirit of the law was not intended to be discriminatory, it is, in fact, a discriminatory barrier for the LGBTQIA2S+ community at large,” the appeal reads. “Therefore, I feel my disqualification, despite being done by the letter of the law, was unjust.”

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Ohio’s 50th district has had the same Republican incumbent, Rep. Reggie Stoltzfus, since 2018. In 2020, Stoltzfus ran unopposed, and now, with Joy out of the race, Republican candidate Matthew Kishman will run unopposed.

There are at least three other transgender women running as candidates in the Ohio government. Bobbie Arnold, Arienne Childrey, and Ari Faber are also campaigning in Republican districts.