Ari Faber has lived as a man for nine years. But because of a state law, Mr. Faber, a Democratic candidate for the Ohio Senate, will appear on ballots in a March primary election with a woman’s name.
The law, which was passed in 1995 to prevent deception, requires candidates who have changed names in the last five years to list previous names on election petitions. It has become an obstacle for Mr. Faber, who has not legally changed his name, and the three other transgender people seeking a seat in Ohio’s Legislature this year.
One candidate was disqualified for failing to do so; another saw her campaign challenged; a third campaign faced a disqualification hearing; and Mr. Faber was directed to run under his deadname, a term that transgender people use for a birth name that they no longer use.
The law’s uneven application across four counties comes as Ohio joins other states with Republican-controlled Legislatures in limiting transgender people’s access to what is known as gender-affirming care, while barring them from sports teams and public bathrooms that correspond with their gender identities.
Ohio’s names rule does not appear in Ohio’s 33-page candidate guide. All four candidates said they had not been aware of it when they submitted their petitions for certification, and they noted that there was no space on the petitions to list additional names.
Mr. Faber said that he learned of the rule in January after it was cited in another transgender candidate’s disqualification from a House race elsewhere in the state.
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