Ohio Democratic Party Chair Kathleen Clyde and party leaders: let the Pride Caucus speak for LGBTQ+ Ohioans.

Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur recently ran campaign ads condemning what she called "transgender ideology," Erin in the Morning reports. Local Democrats objected. The Lucas County Democrats said in a statement that they were "disappointed and ashamed that the Kaptur campaign stooped to their level." The party's Pride Caucus reshared that statement.

According to caucus vice chair Arienne Childrey, the state party then removed the reshare from the caucus's social media within hours, without talking to caucus members first. She says that when she posted it again herself, it was gone within minutes. Childrey also told Erin in the Morning that the party is now requiring access to the social media accounts of all its internal caucuses, and has reportedly asked to sit in on the caucus's leadership meeting.

The Pride Caucus exists to connect LGBTQ+ Ohioans with the party and to carry their concerns back to party leaders. It can't do that if its posts disappear whenever they're inconvenient. "The first thing we have to have is credibility with LGBT voters," Childrey told Erin in the Morning.

As the Lucas County Young Democrats put it, "Our trans community is not an ideology." When the caucus that represents trans Ohioans is muted for sharing a local party's concerns, the whole community hears that its voice doesn't count.

We're asking Chair Clyde and the Ohio Democratic Party to return full control of the Pride Caucus's social media to its members, stop deleting caucus posts, and meet with trans community leaders instead of shutting them out.

Sign the petition to tell Ohio Democrats that LGBTQ+ voters deserve a caucus that can speak up for them, especially in an election year when trust is on the line.