Ohio Democratic gubernatorial candidate’s LGBTQ+ damage control meeting devolves into ‘shitshow’

This story originally appeared on The Buckeye Flame.

Editor’s note: Amy Acton’s opponent, Republican Vivek Ramaswamy, received an “F” on Equality Ohio’s 2026 Candidate Scorecard, indicating that he has a “poor record and likely to harm LGBTQ+ civil rights.”

Representatives from Amy Acton’s gubernatorial campaign staff met with more than 40 LGBTQ+ leaders on a Zoom call on Tuesday.

The meeting followed a few weeks of pushback from some Ohio LGBTQ+ leaders in response to anti-transgender comments that Acton made to the Toledo Blade on June 30 regarding the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent decision to uphold state bans on transgender athletes.

“I do not support boys playing in girls sports. This is already settled law in Ohio, and as governor I will enforce and uphold the law,” Acton said. “As a doctor, public servant, and a mom, I will always stand up for fairness and protect kids’ health and safety … ”

The Buckeye Flame received an invitation to the meeting on July 17, RSVP-ed “yes,” but then was informed by Jeremy Blake, political director for the Ohio Democratic Party, that it was his “understanding that this meeting will have no reporters.”

We spoke with five people who were at the meeting. Although most said they entered the meeting with hope, they left dissatisfied.

Some prominent LGBTQ+ leaders were not admitted into the virtual space and other individuals were removed from the Zoom mid-call.

Acton herself did not attend the meeting, despite many participants’ hopes she would be.

Rev. Dr. Ben Huelskamp, executive director of LOVEboldly, said the meeting did more harm than good.

“The meeting did more to inflame tensions and create further divides between the LGBTQ+ community and the Acton campaign,” said Huelskamp, also a board member of The Buckeye Flame. “It was framed beforehand as a conversation, but was run as a one-sided ‘listening’ session.”

“It was a shitshow,” said one meeting participant, who we have agreed to keep anonymous due to safety concerns. “The preparation that was needed for this type of conversation just did not seem to happen.”

Blocked and removed

Ari Childrey – an out transgender candidate for the Ohio House who has publicly spoken out against Acton’s comments – was refused entry by the organizers from the virtual waiting room into the actual meeting. At one point in the meeting, Kyle Herman, chair of the Ohio Democrats’ Pride Caucus and member of the Stow City Council, called Childrey’s phone and had her participate live via speakerphone so that her voice would be heard in the room.

“Our voices were actively suppressed,” Childrey posted on social media.

“That was the absolute low of the evening,” Huelskamp said. “After the call, a progressive leader [on Discord] called it ‘a fit of transphobic sadism.’”

When Dayton and out trans activist Ciara Keeton noticed that her colleague Childrey wasn’t in the meeting, she spoke up right at the start of the virtual session.

“ I demanded three times to know why [Childrey] was not being allowed into the meeting as she is a current candidate, Pride caucus vice chair, local activist, advocate and leader,” said Keeton, a Navy veteran. “I felt her not being there was incredibly disgusting.”

Keeton said the response from Acton’s campaign each time was that they were trying to have a “productive conversation.”

“By the third time I lost my temper, ended up cussing them out and they ejected me from the meeting and refused to allow me back in,” said Keeton.

Keeton said she was left feeling heartbroken, disgusted and exhausted. She said that every day the news about trans people is harrowing, from stories about trans people losing their lives to violence or suicide, new anti-trans bills and nearly a quarter-billion dollars spent by Republicans on political ads targeting trans Americans. She said she is tired of trans people being told that they are an “ideological purity test” when so many trans people are begging for assistance.

“And the Acton campaign and the Ohio Democratic Party has proven that they don’t care,” Keeton said. “ They just showed everybody they don’t care [with this meeting]. Amy wasn’t even there.”

Now what?

The question now: What happens next?

During the meeting, Dwayne Steward, executive director of Equality Ohio, announced that the organization had changed Acton’s grade from an “A” to “Pending” on the 2026 Candidate Scorecard.

“Trans people don’t get left behind in the name of progress,” Steward wrote in a release that was emailed on Friday. “Not in our coalition, not in this election, and not in the future we’re building together.”

Columbus-based community activist Trish Richter had hoped that Acton would use the meeting as an opportunity to have a conversation with the LGBTQ+ community and repair some of the harm she caused with her statement.

“As was said by my colleagues last night, I believe in harm reduction, so I look forward to her team’s next steps and hope she invests the time in speaking with Ohio’s LGBTQ+ leadership directly to determine a path forward and how we work together to create an Ohio where trans youth can not only survive, but thrive,” Richter said.

Herman hopes there will be more inclusion in future meetings.

“I hope that all candidates will do a better job of showing their support for trans Ohioans and that their campaigns will do a better job of including trans leaders in conversations about issues of importance to the LGBTQ+ community,” Herman said.

“I was glad to see that this was framed as the start of things and not a one-and-done,” said the anonymous participant about comments in the meeting from Acton’s campaign indicating that the plan was to have future meetings.

The Buckeye Flame reached out to Dr. Acton’s campaign staff on July 6 to schedule an interview regarding her candidacy and received this response: “Dr. Acton doesn’t have room in her schedule for this right now. We will keep in touch and circle back with any openings.”

We have since reached out twice more – including an email specifically asking for quotes regarding the meeting on Tuesday – but have not received any response.

IGNITE ACTION

• To register to vote or to check your voter eligibility status in the state of Ohio, click here.
• To find contact information for your Ohio state representative, click here.
• To find contact information for your Ohio state senator, click here.
• If you are a young LGBTQ+ person in crisis, please contact the Trevor Project: 866-4-U-Trevor.
• If you are a transgender adult in need of immediate help, contact the National Trans Lifeline: 877-565-8860