Hayes pushes gay, religious protections in one bill

COLUMBUS - Is there a middle ground between religious freedom and protecting LGBT Ohioans rights?

Rep. Bill Hayes, R-Harrison Township, thinks so. That’s why his bill, introduced Thursday, might look like an odd stew.

On one hand, he wants to protect lesbian, gay and bisexual residents from discrimination in employment and housing.

He has a provision requiring court clerks to issue marriage licenses no matter what – intended to protect gay couples from rogue officials like Kim Davis in Rowan County, Kentucky. Cities like Cincinnati and Columbus have already passed protections for LGBT residents, but most Ohioans have little recourse when they face discrimination based on sexual orientation.

On the other hand, Hayes’ bill would allow judges and elected officials to refuse to marry anyone to avoid marrying LGBT couples. If they marry anyone, they must marry everyone, but they could forgo performing marriages altogether.

Another provision would protect ministers and priests from marrying a couple based on their sexual orientation. Protections were added for professionals like doctors, lawyers and accountants, so they would not face work repercussions for beliefs they espouse on their own time.

Advocates for LGBT Ohioans aren’t happy with the proposal. For one, it excludes transgender people from employment and housing protection.

“When we say that everyone deserves protection from discrimination, we mean everyone,” said Lisa Wurm, policy manager for the ACLU of Ohio. “We refuse to support legislation that carves out exceptions for people that are often the most vulnerable and stigmatized. We will not sacrifice the rights of transgender people in our work for full legal equality.”

Hayes said he intentionally excluded transgender people from the bill because of the environment in the GOP-controlled legislature.

“I thought it would make the bill blow up, and I really wanted to get something done,” Hayes said.

Equality Ohio pointed out another problem: the proposal doesn’t protect against being refused service in businesses like restaurants, hotels, doctor’s offices and banks. Hayes, who has been working with religious and LGBT groups on the proposal for years, said they couldn’t agree on that point. Hayes wanted to protect cake bakers and disc jockeys from performing services for gay couples if doing so would be against their beliefs, but that was too hot of a topic. He dropped it from the final version.

Some of the religious protections Hayes wants to impose might already be protected by the Constitution.

In October, Democrats, led by Ohio’s first openly gay lawmaker Rep. Nickie Antonio, introduced a bill to ban LGBT non-discrimination in housing and employment. In that proposal, which has seen little action, the Ohio Civil Rights Commission would handle any complaints. It already handles complaints based on race, religion, sex, national origin, disability, age and military status. Hayes’ bill would require lesbian, gay and bisexual Ohioans to file a lawsuit in court instead. Adding work to the Ohio Civil Rights Commission would have required money for the additional cases, something Hayes thought was unlikely to be approved.

Mirroring federal law, Hayes’ bill would not require employers with fewer than 15 employees and rental businesses with fewer than four units to follow non-discrimination laws.

Hayes, who is leaving the state legislature to run for county prosecutor, acknowledged that his approach of trying to please LGBT advocates and those concerned about religious freedom at the same time is “a little unusual.” And he already knows some lawmakers won’t support the idea. But it’s also similar to what Gov. John Kasich hinted that he wanted in 2015 after GOP lawmakers shot down Butler County Rep. Tim Derickson’s religious freedom bill.

“The governor is confident that, in the land of freedom, we can find a way to preserve our religious freedom and also live free from discrimination,” Kasich spokesman Rob Nichols said in a March 2015 statement.

Hayes said he had not consulted with Kasich on the bill, but the statement does give him hope.

“I’m in this for the religious liberty piece. That’s my interest,” Hayes said. “But I would not want my belief to cause them to not get a job or find a place to live.”

The bill had no cosponsors as of Friday morning.