By DAVID DUPONT
BG Independent News
BGO Pride called in a special guest to help them launch their first ever Rainbow Rally.
The Pride event was held Saturday on Wooster Green, and Jim Obergefell, the lead plaintiff in the U.S. Supreme Court decision that legalized gay marriage, was on hand.
He had been invited by organizer Miranda Allysen. She said he could say a few words, or just hang out. He did both.
Enjoying the company of those attendance at the rally, which featured musical acts, vendors, social service agency information, and an Amazon recruiting booth.
He spoke briefly for those braving the hot steamy weather.
In an interview with BG Independent, Obergefell said the gist of his message is: “It’s up to us to create the world that we want – the world that we deserve as human beings.”
People can do that by being “active, informed voters” or, as he has decided to do, by running for public office.
Obergefell has returned to his hometown of Sandusky where he is running for the Ohio House. A Democrat, he is facing Republican incumbent D.J. Swearingen.
Obergefell said the idea for running for public office was planted shortly after the Supreme Court ruled on Obergefell vs. Hodges.
It was July 4, and an elected official in Pennsylvania told Obergefell that people would suggest he run for office. “Promise me that you won’t just say ‘no.’ At least think about it.”
The remark was prophetic. People did approach him and ask when he would run for office.
“But honestly it was moving back to my hometown of Sandusky and reconnecting with my roots” that led him to decide to run. “It was a matter of right time, right place.”
He decided to return to Sandusky to be closer to his five siblings. When his husband, John Arthur, died in fall, 2013 he lost that family “that would be with me no matter where I lived.”
He lived in Columbus, and spent 18 months at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic alone. “Like a lot of people, I started to think what’s important, what matters and I realized it was my family. … I realized how important my siblings were and I wanted to reconnect with my roots.”
Now he’s going door to door to talk to his neighbors as part of his campaign. “I’m surprised how much I enjoy knocking on doors and talking to people,” he said. “That was one of things that made me a little nervous. But I’m finding a lot of people in the district who are thrilled to have a candidate knock on their door and … ask them what is important to them.”
The economy, he said, was top on their minds. “People are struggling to pay for gas and groceries and to care for their family and that comes out in my district. We need jobs that pay living wages. We need well-paying jobs. We’ve lost so much industry in that area. So that’s what people are worried about.”
That’s what he wants to work on.
Also, “I believe health care is a human right. We should not struggle to have to pay for health care. It’s a travesty that in the wealthiest nation in the world, so many people when they get sick they end up losing everything. We need to address that.”
People also care about the environment. Lake Erie provides drinking water, recreation, and business. “It’s a huge part of our economy,” Obergefell said. “We need a clean healthy Lake Erie.”
And voters are concerned about gun violence. “They see mass murders in churches and schools, in grocery stores. They don’t want to go about their lives worrying that they or someone they love will be murdered because of this unfettered access to … guns and weapons of war.”
At the same time, the signature achievement of his life, the right to marry has now been called into question in the wake of the Dobbs decision that overturned the right to abortion granted in Roe vs. Wade.
“My immediate reaction to overturning Roe vs. Wade was what a dark day for our nation for the highest court in our land to take back a right that it had previously affirmed. And what a dark day for women and people who are pregnant in our nation that they can no longer make decisions about their own body. This is such a gross invasion of privacy.”
Then as he dug deeper in the decision and became angrier, especially reading Justice Clarence Thomas’s concurring opinion. “That he clearly says that marriage equality, the right of intimate relations in your own home, and birth control – those decisions should be reconsidered – makes me angry, makes me disheartened.”
Especially galling is that the justice’s own interracial marriage “exists because of a Supreme Court decision,” Obergefell said. “It motivates me to keep fighting.”
Jack Alferio and Gina Elston, from Equitas Health’s Toledo office were at the rally continuing the battle against AIDS. Equitas was offering testing and information.
Younger people tend to see it as a great problem. Yet the stigma, especially for older people, is great. It’s important to test, they said.
Treatments exist for those who test positive, and preventive drugs are available for those who test negative and are still at risk.
At the Wooster Green entrance near Church Street, Jen Flores was seated at a table greeting folks and offering Gay Pride flags. She had responded to the event’s call for volunteers. “I like seeing people have a great time, and that’s what this is all about.”
Carmen and Dryw James were there with their children Violet and Hale, who were playing with a Pride flag. Dryw James said they felt it was important to show that families like theirs support LBGTQ+ rights.
Kendra Sheets, one of the organizers, was pleased with how the rally went. “It’s hard to beat the heat but we kept everyone hydrated. … Overall, it was fabulous.”
They’re already thinking of next year when they plan to hold the rally in June.
