CHAUNCEY, Ohio — At its monthly meeting on May 8, the village of Chauncey passed an ordinance establishing protections for LGBTQ+ residents and low-income renters.
The ordinance, introduced in January by Evelyn Nagy, passed 4-2 after months of contentious discussion.
“This was a long hard process,” Nagy told the Independent in a written statement. “I’m so grateful to (our) community and Council for participating in these important, complicated, conversations.”
LGTBQ+ protections
Nagy was initially motivated to introduce Ordinance 2024-3 to establish protections for low-income renters. However, she ultimately folded that protection into an ordinance that also bans discrimination across several identity categories—including sexual orientation and gender identity—in the areas of employment, housing and public accommodation (such as restaurants, stores, theaters).
LGBTQ+ Ohioans are not protected by state or federal public accommodation laws. Village counsel Jonathan Robe previously advised the council that these protections are in a state of flux amid litigation.
In housing, LGBTQ+ people are protected federally as a result of a 2021 executive order from President Joe Biden, relying on his interpretation of a 2020 Supreme Court decision. Housing protections in the areas of gender identity and sexuality are not explicit within federal statute though.
The village’s new law establishes enhanced protections at a local level.
The ordinance’s proposed protections for LGBTQ+ residents proved far more contentious than the law Nagy initially floated at the December 2023 village council meeting.
Council member Karla Dellinger — who said that said same-sex marriage “goes against everything I believe in” — voiced opposition to the measure at multiple council meetings and in multiple written statements shared with council members. Dellinger expressed concern that the law would require landlords, like herself, to rent to same-sex couples despite their beliefs. But she also has said that she was less concerned about housing than public accommodations, such as requiring businesses to offer services for same-sex weddings.
Chauncey resident Carter Beeson rejected Dellinger’s suggestion that passing the new law amounted to allowing religious discrimination.
“My feeling is that, deciding to be a landlord, you are taking on responsibilities, and you’re not necessarily entitled to use your religious beliefs as a criteria for how you conduct that business,” Beeson said.
Chauncey resident Abby Hearne pointed out that religion is already a protected class under anti-discrimination laws and shared experiences of living as a queer person in Chauncey.
“There is legitimate fear that potentially it’s not as welcome here,” Abby Hearne said, adding that personal convictions should not be allowed to “infringe on someone else’s basic human rights.”
Resident Alex Hearne described opposition to the ordinance as part of a “hateful agenda of othering queer people and barring those queer people from the same opportunities that non-queer folks already have.”
The protections had the support of United Athens County Tenants. “UACT firmly believes that access to housing should be a basic human right and that a landlord’s personal prejudices against the tenant’s gender identity or sexual orientation should not lead to that tenant being denied housing,” said member Katherine King.
King pointed to research showing that LGBTQ+ young adults are more than twice as likely as their peers to experience homelessness.
In advance of May’s meeting, Dellinger proposed amending the village’s ordinance to include a sentence reading, “The Village of Chauncey will not discriminate against any individual for employment, public accommodation, or housing unless it violates their moral or religious practices and beliefs.”
At the May 8 meeting however, she said she was uncertain of the exact language she’d like to see changed in the ordinance, and Chauncey Mayor Amy Renner suggested that Dellinger propose sending the ordinance back to committee.
However, Dellinger lacked support from most other council members, and Nagy moved that the council adopt the ordinance as written. Council member Michael Kraus seconded, and the vote carried, with Nagy, Kraus, Tammy Hawk, and Connaught Cullen voting in favor; Dellinger and Dylan Skees voted against it.
“I’m very proud of Chauncey for supporting [our] LGBTQ+ community by passing these non-discrimination protections, but there is more work to be done!” Nagy told the Independent in a statement. “There are major gaps in protections all over the state.”
Source of income protections
The ordinance also established protections for tenants on the basis of their “source of income.”
Nagy told the Independent she hopes the new protection “will help folks attain housing.”
The ban on source of income discrimination prohibits landlords from refusing to rent to prospective tenants based solely upon the tenant’s source of income — including use of government vouchers, such as those issued by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
King, the UACT representative at the meeting, explained that tenants often have trouble finding a landlord who will accept housing vouchers. UACT worked with Nagy to develop the proposed ordinance.
“It merely gives tenants who pay with vouchers the same opportunity as other tenants to apply for and obtain housing,” King said.
In 2021, UACT advocated successfully for the city of Athens to ban source of income discrimination. The group also advocated successfully in 2022 for eviction protections in Athens for tenants able to pay past-due rent. Last month, Chauncey passed a similar ‘pay-to-stay’ ordinance, also with UACT’s involvement.
UACT hopes to continue advocating for tenant protections throughout the county, King previously told the Independent. Nagy is a new champion for the group’s work to spread legislation banning source of income discrimination, as well as protections for LGTBQ+ Ohioans.
“My hope is to visit other municipalities and share my experience and encourage them to write comprehensive non discrimination laws to support our LGBTQ+ (communities) across the state,” Nagy said in a written statement. “We all deserve to feel safe, supported, and respected in our community.”
Nagy also spoke about tenant protections before Nelsonville City Council at its meeting this week.
The village’s next regular meeting will be Wednesday, June 12, at 5:30 p.m. at the Chauncey Village Hall, 42 Converse Street.
