Regarding two March articles that the Richland Source had online, ”Mansfield’s second annual Transgender Day of Visibility calls on community to ‘lead with love’,” on 3/31, and ”Equality Act is a Trojan Horse,” 3/5, couldn’t be more different in how they see LGBTQ+ people.
LGBTQ+ people have the right to work, live, and access public accommodations just like everyone else, and as an atheist parent with an LGBTQ+ teen, and former Mansfield resident and Lexington High School graduate, I want to see local support for the LGBTQ+ community in Richland and the surrounding counties.
While the ”Transgender Day of Visibility,” by the Mansfield Gay Pride Association was about celebrating transgender, nonbinary, and gender nonconforming people and raising awareness of the discrimination, violence and deaths in the transgender community, the opposing article tries to argue for religious discrimination of LGBTQ+ people in high school sports, health care services, and adoption to name just a few.
The Equality Act is about federal civil rights protections for LGBTQ+ people, so that they can be treated equally from one state to the next, and that is good for society and for businesses because it proves that you are trying to help others and not harm them with discriminatory policies or beliefs.
I would encourage everyone reading this to get the facts at the Freedom & Opportunity For All Coalition, (passtheequalityact.com) and to contact Sen. Rob Portman and Sen. Sherrod Brown and ask them to support the Equality Act because LGBTQ+ people are your friends, family members, and neighbors, and deserve to be happy and live their lives without harm or discrimination.
Nancy Dollard
Former Mansfield Resident & Lexington High School Graduate
Uniontown, Ohio
