Arienne Childrey
An Ohio transgender woman this week announced her candidacy for the state’s legislature, challenging an incumbent who not only co-sponsored legislation last year to ban drag in Ohio, but also supported legislation that would restricting gender-affirming care for transgender people and limit trans people’s participation in school sports.
Both the restrictions on gender-affirming care and the ban on trans participation in sports passed the Ohio Legislature but were vetoed by Gov. Mike DeWine the last week in December.
King’s drag ban is awaiting action in a House committee, according to The Advocate.
“If you’re gonna attack our communities, then you’re gonna have to compete against someone from our community, Arienne Childrey told the Ohio Capital Journal in announcing that she would be running for the Democratic nomination in Ohio House District 84. So far Childrey is the only Democrat in the race.
State Rep. Angela King, the District 84 incumbent, said when introducing the drag ban last summer that she had been prompted do so after seeing a drag performer “dressed in a skimpy thonged leotard” who “twerked and gyrated” on stage before sitting down on the concrete “with his legs spread open and raised towards the sky; gave a view of his crotch area for all to see, including small children.”
Childrey said the incident King was talking about occurred at the Celina Small Town Pride event.
The Advocate reports that Childrey has lived in Ohio since 2014 and is the founder of Northwest Ohio Trans Advocacy. In addition to LGBTQ rights, her top priorities include public education, job creation, expanding broadband access and strengthening unions.
“It’s well past time that we’ve got somebody who goes to the statehouse who’s actually interested in dealing with … issues that actually impact people, that can help our lives rather than somebody who’s more focused on who they can hurt rather than who they can help,” Childrey told the Capital Journal.
— Tammye Nash
