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The Ohio Democratic Party deleted its Pride Caucus’s post—against the wishes of Caucus members—expressing support for transgender Ohioans after Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur’s recent anti-trans ad blitz.
However, many Democratic groups and operatives in Kaptur’s constituency refused to back down. One such woman is Arienne Childrey—an activist, transgender woman, Ohio House candidate, and vice chair of the Ohio Democratic Party’s Pride Caucus. She spoke to Erin in the Morning in her individual capacity as an advocate.
On Tuesday, Childrey said, the Lucas County Democrats posted a firm—but ultimately mild—critique of the Kaptur campaign. They did not discourage people from voting for her or call for a mass exodus from her race. They simply expressed dissatisfaction with the anti-trans rhetoric used in ads where she condemned “transgender ideology”—a nod to the far-right Christian conspiracy myth targeting the rights of trans people, gay people, and women.
“This is the type of harmful ad we expect from Derek Merrin and the Republicans. We are disappointed and ashamed that the Kaptur campaign stooped to their level,” the Lucas County Democrats’ statement read.
Caption: A screengrab of the Lucas County Democrats’ statement about Rep. Marcy Kaptur’s anti-trans ads. It was deleted from the Pride Caucus social media by Ohio Democrats.
But within hours, Childrey said, the repost was deleted from the Pride Caucus social media. She was not aware of any attempts to contact the Pride Caucus about the post and didn’t know what had happened to it.
She personally reposted it later that day, and within minutes, she said, it was once again gone.
“There was no effort to even reach out to us initially by the ODP,” Childrey told Erin in the Morning. “They simply went into our social media and deleted the reshare. They are now requiring that the ODP have access to any of the internal caucuses’ social media.”
Furthermore, Childrey said the Pride Caucus is bracing for its Monday leadership meeting. The Ohio Democrats have reportedly requested to sit in on the process. It remains to be seen whether they can make the case that Childrey or other Caucus members broke Party rules by posting or reposting this kind of statement, specifically about a candidate who has already cleared the formal endorsement process.
The Ohio Democratic Party did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
“Sharing this when the candidate has not opened the doors for any type of conversation behind-the-scenes is not even a criticism as much as it is asking the candidate to support the community,” Childrey said.
“If we are supposed to be the group that turns out LGBT voters, if we are supposed to be the group that presents the party to LGBT voters, the first thing we have to have is credibility with LGBT voters,” she continued. “This breaks trust with the community. I feel that it is our role to represent not only the party to LGBT people, but LGBT people to the party, and in this particular case, I feel like this is violating our ability to stand up for the very communities that are named in our Caucus.”
Other Democratic groups within the state and Kaptur’s constituency have followed suit. Wood County Democrats called on the Kaptur campaign to “take this ad down immediately.”
Lucas County’s Stonewall Democrats declared that “there is no difference between whether Marcy Kaptur or Derek Merrin serves as our next Congressperson - you are both united against the LGBTQIA+ community.”
“Our trans community is not an ideology,” the Lucas County Young Democrats added on Wednesday. “They are our neighbors, friends, family members, and (as a reminder) often fellow Democrats. Furthermore, they are people - not political pawns or a fear-mongering tactic.”
The Kaptur debacle comes in the fallout of previous clashes with state Party leadership over Amy Acton’s gubernatorial campaign. She recently labeled transgender girls “boys” and endorsed a ban on allowing trans women to play on women’s sports teams.
It’s also not the first time Ohio’s trans Democrats, including Childrey, have been silenced this election cycle. Over the summer, the Acton campaign invited trans community leaders to a roundtable. But both Acton and key ODP leaders failed to show, and several of the activists the campaign had recruited for the event were denied entry or kicked out of the event over their criticisms.
“When we were digitally locked out,” Childrey told Erin in the Morning at that time, “it took the Chair of the Pride Caucus calling my personal phone and putting me on live speakerphone … just for my voice to be heard.”
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