A political newcomer, former car dealer and blockchain entrepreneur Bernie Moreno (pictured above) has won the U.S. Senate Republican primary in a race that could determine the balance of power in the Senate. Moreno had received the endorsement of Donald Trump, who has amassed 200+ attacks against LGBTQ Americans in policy and rhetoric during his one term presidency and current presidential campaign.
Moreno will now face off in the general election against incumbent Senator Sherrod Brown, a long-time supporter of LGBTQ equality.
Though he had been previously been a vocal supporter of LGBTQ rights, Moreno began to distance himself from his previous support for LGBTQ people in his failed run for the GOP Senate primary to succeed Sen. Rob Portman. Portman was the first sitting Republican Senator to support marriage equality. Both Portman and Moreno have out gay sons. Moreno’s auto dealership financially supported the 2014 Gay Games, about which he wrote an op-ed calling the event “a major win for Cleveland and Akron.”
More recently, Moreno claimed not to have remembered meeting with Equality Ohio and signing his company on as a member of Ohio Business Competes, a business coalition formed to advocate for legislation outlawing discrimination against LGBTQ people in Ohio in housing, employment, and public services.
Moreno opposes The Equality Act, federal legislation to amend the 1964 Civil Rights Act to include comprehensive protections against discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity. His anti-LGBTQ rhetoric includes baseless claims that LGBTQ equality advocates are pushing a “radical” agenda of “indoctrination.”
He criticized Gov. Mike DeWine’s veto of a state bill banning essential mainstream health care for transgender youth, a veto that DeWine says came after discussion with parents and providers about how the care saves lives.
Moreno ran an ad calling a GOP primary opponent untrustworthy because he was allegedly “left-wing” and “pro-trans,” and stating that “biological men can’t play women’s sports,” misgendering transgender athletes.
He opposes abortion rights with “no exceptions” and supported a national ban on abortion within weeks after Ohio voters codified reproductive health care freedom into the Ohio state constitution last November, and he is endorsed by Ohio Value Voters, who oppose marriage equality and LGBTQ rights.
Moreno’s opponent, incumbent Sen. Sherrod Brown is a longtime supporter of LGBTQ equality. He voted against the Defense of Marriage Act in 1996 as a U.S. Representative, and he voted for the 2022 Respect for Marriage Act which ensures protections for same-sex and interracial couples under federal law.
Brown joined an amicus brief asking the Court to overturn the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) which prohibited federal recognition of same-sex marriages and denied LGBTQ couples federal benefits and protections. Brown cosponsored legislation including the Employment Nondiscrimination Act (ENDA), the Student Nondiscrimination Act (SNDA), and the Safe Schools Improvement Act to end discrimination and bullying.
In 2023 Brown introduced a Senate resolution to recognize June as LGBTQ Pride Month, marking the seventh year in a row that Brown has introduced the resolution. Brown introduced the first-ever Senate Pride Month Resolution in June 2017, after then-President Trump broke the eight-year tradition of offering an official presidential proclamation recognizing June as Pride Month.
Recent polling by GLAAD found that LGBTQ registered voters are highly motivated to vote in the general election with 94% indicating they are definitely (83%) or probably (11%) voting this November. In a generic vote preference for Congress in states with the most competitive U.S. Senate races including Ohio, as well as Arizona, Michigan, Montana, Nevada, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin, LGBTQ likely voters prefer a Democratic candidate by +67 percentage points (79% Democrat / 12% Republican).
53% of both registered and likely 2024 voters say they would oppose “a political candidate [who] speaks frequently about restricting access to health care and participation in sports for transgender youth.”
Additional poll results are here.
GLAAD President and CEO Sarah Kate Ellis said, “In Ohio and across the country, LGBTQ voters are poised to exert our power and elect leaders who will continue to fight for the equality of all Americans, not strip it away. Voters are ready to choose candidates who will advance fairness and justice, and reject those who would restrict liberty and demean the most vulnerable members of our families and communities. Reporters covering Ohio’s Senate campaign and all candidates up and down the ballot must ask candidates about their records and proposals for LGBTQ people, and how they advance freedom and prosperity for all Americans.”
GLAAD is tracking the presidential candidates’ records of policy and rhetoric for LGBTQ people:
- The GLAAD Trump Accountability Tracker documents six years and 200+ attacks in policy and rhetoric here.
- GLAAD’s Biden Accountability Tracker notes 330+ policies, statements of support and inclusive personnel appointments nominations for LGBTQ Americans through the first three years of the Biden-Harris administration, here.
Additional background:
- 4.3% of adult Ohioans are LGBTQ, with 30% raising children. UCLA’s Williams Institute shows Ohio in the top 20 of all states with high concentrations of LGBTQ people.
- In August 2023 and again in November 2023, Ohio voters across party lines rejected efforts by extremists in state government, voting to codify abortion access into the state constitution. Those lawmakers continue to seek ways to suppress the will of voters.
- In November 2023, Ohio voters rejected school board candidates affiliated with extremist book-banning organization Moms for Liberty, who target books by and about LGBTQ people and books about race and racism. GLAAD is documenting the anti-LGBTQ extremism of Moms for Liberty, including its use of harmful rhetoric, connections to extremist groups including Proud Boys and Oath Keepers, ties to longtime national anti-LGBTQ groups, and rank hypocrisy of co-founder Bridget Ziegler and allegations of sexual crimes against her husband, the ousted former chairman of Florida’s Republican Party, Christian Ziegler.
- According to the LGBTQ Victory Institute, a record 283 out LGBTQ people won elected office in 2023 for a total of 1,185 out elected officials nationwide. Ohio has 41 out elected officials. State Senate Assistant Minority Leader Nikki Antonio of Lakewood and Cleveland City Council Member Rebecca Maurer are among the higher profile out elected officials in Ohio.
- At least four out transgender candidates are running for office in Ohio in 2024 and have had to appeal to county election boards to appear on the ballot. A little-known state law requires candidates to include their former legal name if the name has changed in the last five years.
- In January 2024, Ohio’s legislature overrode Republican Governor Mike DeWine’s veto of HB68, which bans essential health care for transgender youth and access to school sports for grades K-12. Equality Ohio reported that 585 people submitted testimony to lawmakers to reject HB68, compared to 40 supporters, many of whom were not from Ohio. Gov. DeWine, in announcing his veto, said that he spoke with patients, providers and family members about the lifesaving necessity of their care, and that decisions like this belonged to them, not the state of Ohio. Every children’s hospital in Ohio spoke out against the bill and noted its potential harms to providing safe care and the reputational damage to Ohio’s commitment regionally and nationally for quality care.
- Disinformation from anti-LGBTQ extremists on social media about mainstream essential health care for transgender youth and people preceded bomb threats against Akron’s Children’s Hospital and other children’s hospitals in 2022.
- A man from Alliance, Ohio, was sentenced to 18 years in prison in February for firebombing a church that had planned a drag event. Federal prosecutors noted the suspect was a member of a “White Lives Matter” group and held “racist, pro-Nazi, homophobic views.” GLAAD has documented more than 160 incidents of violence and harassment against drag performers and events in 2023, including in Ohio, from groups increasingly connected to extremist, white supremacist organizations that show up armed to intimidate events, people and children.
- Polling and turnout analysis from the 2020 election indicate that LGBTQ voters played a deciding role in the victory of Joe Biden for President and in key battleground states.