We Believe Ohio

Send this letter to your representatives TODAY and join us in support of the Equal Housing and Employment Act (EHEA) to ensure everyone in Ohio has equal access to employment, housing and public accommodations:

Dear Ohio Legislature:

As clergy representing a broad spectrum of religious traditions from across Ohio, we unite our voices to urge you to pass SB305 and HB502 , the Equal Housing and Employment Act (EHEA), and ensure everyone in Ohio has equal access to employment, housing and public accommodations. Your support of EHEA is the just and right thing to do and it would align Ohio’s laws with Ohio’s values.

For identification purposes, we provide our denominational backgrounds. As religious leaders, we speak for ourselves and not entire congregations or communities, but we do speak to those communities and help them to frame these and other issues.

To fire someone from his or her job, or to deny a person housing or other public accommodations simply on the basis of gender or sexual orientation does not pass the litmus test of the Golden Rule. It denies our neighbors and fellows citizens dignity, kindness, justice and respect.

Ohio law already bans such injustice based on race, gender, age, disability, ethnicity, national origin and religion. We Believe all people should be given equal protection under the law – even though the members of We Believe hold diverse views about what our religious traditions teach.

Each of our traditions has a unique approach to the theological, biblical, and ethical issues of sexual orientation and gender identity. Nonetheless, We Believe it is important to maintain and assert the cherished and unique American values of religious liberty for all of our citizens. Religious liberty in the United States demands that one particular religious conviction not be allowed to deny equal rights and protections to those of differing beliefs.

We hope you will seize the historical moment and do what’s right – just as has been done by twenty-one other states, 433 of America’s Fortune 500 companies and sixteen Ohio cities.

Please support SB305 and HB502. Act now to help create an Ohio where everyone feels at home, where core values of equality, diversity and inclusiveness are universally honored; and where government stands for fairness to all people.