Transgender woman is disqualified from Ohio House race for not disclosing her former name
A transgender woman said she was disqualified from running for a seat in the Ohio House of Representatives because she did not disclose her former name.
A transgender woman said she was disqualified from running for a seat in the Ohio House of Representatives because she did not disclose her former name.
Vanessa Joy, 42, a real estate photographer, had hoped to run as a Democrat and represent Ohio House District 50. That hope came to a premature end when she failed to include her former name, or what’s sometimes referred to as a “deadname,” the name a trans person was given at birth and no longer uses after their gender transition.
Vanessa Joy.Courtesy Vanessa JoyOhio law requires people running for political office who have changed their name within the last five years to include their former names on candidacy petitions. The law exempts people who have changed their name because of marriage, but it does not mention exemptions for trans people who have changed their names. Joy said she was unaware of the law until her disqualification.
“It’s a barrier to entry for many trans and gender-nonconforming people,” Joy told NBC News on Thursday. “Where I personally would have just bit the bullet and allowed my deadname to be on the petitions and likely on the ballot, for a lot of trans people, they don’t want their deadnames printed. It’s a safety concern for many.”
A spokesperson for Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose, Melanie Amato, said her office was aware that a candidate was disqualified in Stark County — where Joy submitted her petition to run — and suggested the disqualification was warranted.
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