Top Ohio Democrats retreat on transgender issues before election
Top Democratic candidates in Ohio are showing signs that the party is recalibrating its approach to transgender issues ahead of the November election, upsetting some party activists and leaving some transgender Ohioans feeling abandoned.
Both Amy Acton, the Democratic governor candidate, and U.S. Rep. Marcy Kaptur, a long-tenured Toledo Democrat facing a tough reelection fight in November, were the targets of separate critical op-eds last week in the Buckeye Flame, an LGBTQ-focused news outlet in Cleveland.
The reason for the criticism? Acton said she “doesn’t support boys playing in girls’ sports” in a newspaper statement in June. Acton, a first-time candidate, had not previously announced her views on transgender issues, but nonetheless disappointed LGBTQ+ activists who pointed out she’d attended Pride events earlier in the month. Kaptur, who had a record of previously voting for LGBTQ+ protections, broke from that pattern in May, voting for a Republican-backed bill requiring schools…