- Homosexuality
- ⚢✔ Legal
- Gay Marriage
- ⚭✔ Legal
- Censorship
- ✖ State-enforced
- Changing Gender
- ✖ Legal, but requires medical diagnosis
- Gender-Affirming Care
- ✖ Legal, but banned for minors
- Non-Binary Gender Recognition
- ✔ Recognized
- Hate Crime Protections
- ✖ No protections
- Discrimination
- ✔ Illegal
- Employment Discrimination
- ✔ Sexual orientation and gender identity
- Housing Discrimination
- ✔ Sexual orientation and gender identity
- Adoption
- ✔ Legal
- Intersex Infant Surgery
- ✖ Not banned
- Military
- ✖ Lesbians, gays, bisexuals permitted, transgender people banned
- Donating Blood
- ✔ Legal
- Conversion Therapy
- Varies by Region
- Age of Consent
- Unknown
Public Opinion
Public opinion surveys in Ohio have pointed to a varied attitude towards LGBTQ+ individuals.
Perception of LGBTQ+ People
Survey results from 14 LGBTQ+ Equaldex users who lived in or visited Ohio.
Overall
Perceived Safety**Survey results represent personal perceptions of safety and may not be indicative of current actual conditions.
Equal Treatment
Visibility & Representation
Culture
Services
History
Homosexual activity in Ohio is legal.
In 2002, in the case of State v. Thompson, the Supreme Court of Ohio found that the solicitation law was unconstitutional. The decision also removed the provision of the sex offender registration law that required registration by people convicted two or more times under the offensive solicitation law.
In 1906, this exemption for lesbians became further explicit when a text on Ohio law which discussed how sodomy was viewed in Ohio courts did not include that two women were capable of committing the crime.
In 1945, the Ohio legislature amended the sodomy law to establish that the minimum sentence to a conviction of sodomy was one year. The maximum sentence of 20 years was not changed.
Same-sex marriage in Ohio is legal.
In November 2004, Ohio voters approved Ohio Issue 1, which was a constitutional amendment that banned same-sex marriage and same-sex civil unions.
Censorship of LGBT issues in Ohio is state-enforced.
However, on April 4, 2022, a bill was introduced mimicking the "Don't say gay" bill in Florida, in which schools would be forbidden from teaching LGBT topics and critical race theory. The bill was heard during the Summer and is set to be heard again in the Fall.
In 2024, another bill was put forward and is being implemented in April 2025.
Right to change legal gender in Ohio is legal, but requires medical diagnosis.
A court order is required for birth certificates which may vary on requirements by each judge.
Gender-affirming care in Ohio is legal, but banned for minors.
Legal recognition of non-binary gender in Ohio is recognized.
Hate crime protections in Ohio is no protections.
LGBT discrimination in Ohio is illegal.
LGBT employment discrimination in Ohio is sexual orientation and gender identity.
LGBT housing discrimination in Ohio is sexual orientation and gender identity.
Same-sex adoption in Ohio is legal.
Intersex infant surgery in Ohio is not banned.
Serving openly in military in Ohio is lesbians, gays, bisexuals permitted, transgender people banned.
On February 10th, 2025, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth filed in court a memo relating to President Trump’s executive order from the previous month.
From then until March 18th, 2025, The U.S. military prohibited transgender individuals from enlisting and ceased providing or supporting gender transition procedures for service members.
Blood donations by MSMs in Ohio is legal.
Conversion therapy in Ohio is varies by region.
In the meanwhile, some cities have banned conversion therapy through measures or ordinances each with their own temperaments and variants by jurisdiction.
The list consists of: Cincinnati (the first in December 2015), Toledo, Columbus, Dayton, Athens, Lakewood, Kent, Cleveland, Cleveland Heights, Akron, Lorain and Reynoldsburg. A ban is pending in Westerville.
The Ohio Board of Psychology released an advisory statement against conversion therapy additionally.
A study showed Ohio banned in the top 5 states for conversion therapy.
Bills had been shown to be pending at some point against the practice of conversion therapy but their status is currently unknown. State law supersedes local laws and the ban is at risk of being rendered defunct if state legislatures were to nullify the legitimacy of the scope of these laws.