History

Fueled by the passage of Ohio’s constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage, nearly 60 individuals from across Ohio and the nation came together on April 22 - 23, 2005 and co-created vision and mission statements that would best serve Ohio's LGBT community well into the future. We knew that together our energy and the power created by our shared purpose could create positive change in Ohio. The community around the state put personal and organizational agendas aside to move a shared vision forward and continues to do so. To this day, the staff and boards of Equality Ohio and Equality Ohio Education Fund view their role as simply caretakers of Ohio’s pro-equality community organization. Read the very first news story (March 8, 2005).

At the close of the April 2005 meeting a Core Design Team was selected, each representing the best interests of their respective region of Ohio. The Team’s charge was to work together to create the new organization while building momentum statewide for publicly launching Equality Ohio.

In August 2005 the Core Design Team completed their vital work. This amazing group of volunteers gave unselfishly of their time for 90 intense days to incorporate and create bylaws, policies, budgets and an initial strategic plan for two non-profits (Equality Ohio and Equality Ohio Education Fund). During that same period, they were also successful in raising nearly $100,000 to get the organizations off to a solid start. Upon the dissolution of the Core Design Team, Equality Ohio's first Board of Directors was appointed and the organization’s first Executive Director was hired shortly thereafter.

Since 2005, Equality Ohio and Equality Ohio Education Fund have continued the momentum created during those first 90 days. In 2006 the organization moved into office space in the historic LeVeque Tower in downtown Columbus just steps from the Ohio Statehouse. As the organization has matured, so has the strength of its programming – due largely to the team of full-time professionals who focus on programmatic and legislative work around the state every day.

5-Year Plan

In April of 2007, the boards of directors for Equality Ohio and the Equality Ohio Education Fund adopted a 4-year strategic plan to guide the organizations. The long term goals of Equality Ohio remain unchanged from when they were originally identified by the Core Design Team and Ohio's statewide pro-equality community:

• Open hearts and minds through education and stories;
• Impact the legislative environment;
• Build political power for the pro-equality community;
• Achieve marriage equality; and
• Sustain a strong, viable organization.
  

In order to achieve these goals, in the next four years Equality Ohio and its sister organizations will focus on growing the highly successful Our Stories program, including the continued developed of Our Stories:Our Faith. All unique outreach programming is designed to open hearts and minds and secure laws both at the state and local levels banning employment discrimination and supporting relationship recognition.