Ohio Equal Rights is currently collecting signatures to include two amendments on the November 2026 midterm ballots. The Ohio Equal Rights Amendment would protect citizens from governmental discrimination, and the Ohio Right to Marry Amendment would protect same-sex marriage.
The grassroots organization proposed the amendments because the Ohio constitution does not currently contain an equal rights amendment and no protections for interracial discrimination. It also has a ban on same-sex marriage, following a 2004 constitutional amendment that passed with 61.71% of the vote and defined marriage as the union between a man and a woman.
Although the 2004 ban on same-sex marriage cannot be enforced due to the overpowering 2015 Supreme Court decision in Obergefell v. Hodges, which legalized gay marriage nationally, concerns continue to grow due to the shifting political values of elected officials.
“We are seeing protections fall at the federal level…there's a rollback of progress that we have made,” Lis Regula, co-chair of Ohio Equal Rights, said. “So yes, timing is incredibly important, and we continue to see just how fragile the rights that we have thought were already determined are.”
Following the Supreme Court decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which returned abortion legislation to the states, some are concerned the Republican Party majority bench could overturn other federal protections, such as same-sex marriage.
The amendments are geared to address those concerns and enshrine protections within Ohio’s constitution.
Leadership in Ohio Equal Rights began the process in late 2023, after recognizing the gerrymandered state of Ohio and attacks on transgender individuals. Regula said they concluded that to initiate real change, they would have to utilize ballot initiatives instead of expecting politicians to draft desired legislation.
Ohio Equal Rights started with one amendment until the Ohio Ballot Board decided to split it into two separate initiatives. They were then met with a decision on how to proceed.
“We had the decision of do we move forward with one?” Regula said. “Do we move forward with both? Do we try to sue to have them maintained as a single ballot initiative? Very much the folks that we talked to, the consensus was both of these need to happen, and putting the time, effort and resources into a lawsuit just means longer before Ohioans have their rights protected.”
Attorney General Dave Yost certified the title and summary of the Ohio Equal Rights Amendment in July 2025 and the Ohio Right to Marry Amendment in August 2025. Ohio Equal Rights will now have to obtain 10% of the votes cast for governor in the previous election from at least 44 of Ohio's 88 counties.
Regula expressed his appreciation for the involvement in the movement from rural communities in Ohio thus far.
“Proportionally speaking, we have actually been seeing a lot of our rural counties showing up better than the urban counties,” Regula said. “More involvement, easier to find signature gatherers, easier to find organizations on the ground that want to collaborate.”
Regula said Ohio Equal Rights is fairly confident the amendments will pass if they appear on the ballot.
That confidence is largely due to the language in the Equal Rights Amendment, which is primarily drawn from Nevada’s Equal Rights Amendment. The language is geared to include categories that almost anyone can find themself protected in.
The Ohio Equal Rights Amendment would protect against discrimination from the government based on race, color, creed or religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, regardless of sex assigned at birth, pregnancy status, genetic information, disease status, age, disability, recovery status, familial status, ancestry, national origin or military and veteran status.
Edmond Chang, associate professor of English at Ohio University, has a strong background in race, gender and sexuality. Chang said it is important to remember that, as a voter, just because something does not directly affect you, it does not mean you should not care about it.
“I think that when people think about the queer couple that lives down the street or around the corner, it makes a huge difference, but…if we don't see it, then how are we ever going to find ways to empathize, right?” Chang said. “And I think that's the point, I would hope that people would try to get outside of their own bubbles and sort of say, OK, as a sort of hypothetical, as a heterosexual couple, what would it mean if my marriage were suddenly dissolved?”
The current tally of collected signatures is not known, but a total of 413,487 signatures must be collected for the amendments to appear on the ballot in November.
