Ohio transgender candidate disqualified for not including former name
Newsy
Vanessa Joy, who intended to run for Ohio's for House District 50, had included her legal name on petitions, but not her former name.
A transgender candidate for the Ohio House has been disqualified because she only circulated petitions with her legal name, instead of her former name — and it has put multiple other LGBTQ+ candidates in flux.
Vanessa Joy reached out to Scripps News Cleveland reporter Morgan Trau to share her situation. She was supposed to be a Democratic candidate for House District 50, covering Stark County, and she collected all the signatures she needed to run.
"The only thing that we can do is try to fight back and that's why there are so many trans candidates in Ohio," Joy said.
She is one of at least four trans women running for state representative. Each is running to fight against the growing number of anti-trans legislation.
Joy is also the stepdaughter of state Rep. Bill Roemer (R-Richfield), but the two do not have a relationship and have never met. Although the Republican hasn't sponsored or cosponsored legislation impacting the trans community, he has voted in favor of legislation banning trans youth from having gender-affirming care and participating in athletics. He is one of the Republicans she wants to fight back against.
