OPEN LETTER TO DR. AMY ACTON

TO: Dr. Amy Acton and the Acton for Ohio Campaign

FROM: Concerned Ohioans for Intersectional Justice

RE: Harm Against Transgender Youth and Protecting All Ohio Communities

Dear Dr. Amy Acton,

We write to you as healthcare workers, parents, students, educators, immigrants, refugees, grassroots community organizers, and community members of all races, faiths, and backgrounds living across Ohio. We write grounded in intersectional solidarity, collective care, and human dignity—principles that compel us to speak out when political candidates treat vulnerable communities as disposable political collateral.

In the spring of 2020, you earned our trust as you guided our state through a public health crisis with clarity, empathy, and moral conviction. When national political forces downplayed mass illness, you stood firm on medical evidence, transparency, and the foundational duty to do no harm.

That is precisely why your June 30th statement to the Toledo Blade—declaring that you "do not support boys playing in girls’ sports" and dismissing state-mandated exclusion as "settled law" that you will uphold—was such an alarming betrayal.

Reducing transgender girls to "boys" is not medical science; it adopts the deliberately dehumanizing rhetoric of extremist political movements seeking to isolate vulnerable children. We have watched with dismay as Democratic candidates like Rep. Marcy Kaptur join this race to the bottom with anti-trans campaign ad buys, while the Ohio Democratic Party apparatus actively silences dissent from its own Pride Caucus leaders. Leaders like Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear have proven that true leadership defends vulnerable youth without cowering to right-wing extremism. Even Republican Governor Mike DeWine vetoed House Bill 68 after listening to pediatricians and families; for a Democratic physician to position herself to the right of that veto is unconscionable.

Your words have life-or-death consequences for young Ohioans. According to Ohio High School Athletic Association (OHSAA) data, among nearly 350,000 Ohio student-athletes, only 17 transgender girls participated in sports over an eight-year period. There was never an athletic crisis in Ohio schools; there was a functional, medically monitored policy. Yet the harm of state-sanctioned exclusion is tragically real: peer-reviewed research, including studies from the Trevor Project, confirms that anti-trans rhetoric and legislation correlate with up to a 72% increase in suicide attempts among transgender and nonbinary youth.

Gender policing never stops with transgender people. Restricting who qualifies as female inevitably subjects cisgender women and girls—especially those whose natural builds or athletic strength deviate from stereotypical femininity—to suspicion, invasive surveillance, and humiliation.

The high stakes of this election demand moral courage and principled strategy. As Ohio’s only two openly transgender elected officials—Dion Manley of the Upper Arlington School Board and Amy Heutmaker, Trustee in Russell Township—stated, recognizing the high stakes of this election does not excuse your remarks. While many of us, the undersigned, will cast our ballots for you this November, we recognize that many trans Ohioans and allies will ultimately choose not to vote or volunteer for a candidate who erases trans identity. We are also horrified about the prospect of campaigns across the country interpreting an Acton win as a sign that all Democratic candidates must throw trans kids under the bus for political gain.

We similarly cannot understand or excuse your troubling remarks about local law enforcement cooperating with federal agencies, especially following the tragic suicide of 20-year-old Wright State student Pierre Damas Bel who was fitted with an ICE ankle monitor following the revocation of Temporary Protected Status for Haitians. In Central Ohio, our communities mobilized against the detention and deportation of Mohan Karki, a Bhutanese-Nepali refugee father in Blacklick torn from his infant daughter after 14 years of legal residence. In addition to defending qualified immunity to shield police officers from accountability, these statements on the campaign trail legitimize the destruction of Ohio families and threaten the bedrock base and multiracial coalition required to defeat the overt extremism of Vivek Ramaswamy.

Calling you in is an invitation to moral consistency. We urge you to immediately take the following actions:

1. Retract and publicly apologize for misgendering transgender girls and legitimizing exclusionary legislation as "settled law."

2. Reaffirm your commitment to evidence-based medicine and public health, recognizing that the safety and dignity of transgender and intersex youth require affirmation and social inclusion.

3. Rescind your support for qualified immunity and local police cooperation with ICE, standing unequivocally with Ohio's Haitian, Latine, Syrian, Bhutanese-Nepali, and broader immigrant communities facing state violence.

4. Meet directly with Ohio's transgender elected officials, community leaders, and advocates rather than permitting party leadership to silence community dissent.

The mandate of a physician is to do no harm. The duty of a governor is to protect all who call Ohio home. We ask you to return to the integrity and evidence-based leadership that first earned our trust, and prove that no Ohioan’s humanity is up for negotiation.

A complete works-cited list of every source referenced in this letter is available here:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1pruZFahiSPSPpUHsra1bJy2e6JoSDxgKBrzf4HJaFn0/

Sincerely,

Concerned Ohioans for Intersectional Justice

Signatories

Community Leaders and Organizational Affiliations (affiliations listed for identification purposes only)

Timothy Gemperline, Miami Valley Unitarian Universalist Fellowship, Dayton, Montgomery County

Reeha Gurung, OPAWL, Pickerington, Fairfield County

Geraldine Hartman, Civil Rights Advocate (Montgomery County Jail Coalition, Trans Unity Coalition, OPAWL, Gatlyn-Dame Group, Gem City Action Group, Have A Gay Day volunteer), Dayton, Montgomery County

Jessica Kessel, Owner, Needle Ink and Thread, Dayton, Montgomery County

Alexandria King, President, Brite Signal Alliance, Fairborn, Greene County

Daniella Martinez, Manager, HotMess Sports, Dayton, Montgomery County

Meiya Neet, Member, OPAWL, Cleveland, Cuyahoga County

Jesse Neubauer, JPMC Workers Alliance, Columbus, Franklin County

Adlai Neubauer, Reynoldsburg Resistance, Reynoldsburg, Franklin County

Sabrina Ray, TransHearts, Dayton, Montgomery County

Maggie Reck, Clergy, Dayton, Montgomery County

Madhu Sharma, Executive Director, International Institute of Akron, Akron, Summit County

Gerald Smith, Board Member, LGBTQ Coalition of Ashtabula OH, Ashtabula, Ashtabula County

Kimberlee Welch, OPAWL, Cleveland, Cuyahoga County

Healthcare and Mental Health Professionals

Bahar Bassiri Gharb, MD, PhD, Plastic Surgery, Cleveland Clinic, Westlake, Cuyahoga County

Sindhia Colburn, Licensed Psychologist, Reynoldsburg, Franklin County

Teresa Lucas, RN, Have A Gay Day, Springboro, Warren County

Gwendolyn Gilmore, Dayton, Greene County

Emily Gonzales, Lakewood, Cuyahoga County

Kathleen Hawkins, Dayton, Montgomery County

Wynter Johnson, Springboro, Montgomery County

Zeyd Khan, Cleveland, Cuyahoga County

Bruce Kidney, Dayton, Montgomery County

Darshika Koirala, Columbus, Franklin County

Ri Molnar, Fairborn, Greene County

Nicole Poynter, Tipp City, Miami County

Nova Ray, Dayton, Montgomery County

Catherine Renfrow, Dayton, Montgomery County

Sruthi Pillai, Beachwood, Cuyahoga County

Concerned Individuals

Amberly Abney, Dayton, Montgomery County

Liz Akbay, Dayton, Montgomery County

Alice, Hilliard, Franklin County

Renee Argento, Akron, Summit County

Rae Baba, Akron, Summit County

Catharine Baek, Willoughby, Lake County

Ava Bales, Dayton, Montgomery County

Jessica Baumann, Dayton, Montgomery County

Matous Becker, Akron, Summit County

Samantha Winters Beneke, Rock Creek, Ashtabula County

Kate Bentley, Columbus, Franklin County

Hannah Binion, Blanchester, Clinton County

Marion Black, Cleveland, Cuyahoga County

Hannah Booth, Dayton, Montgomery County

Kathie Bowers, Dayton, Montgomery County

Elias Brumbaugh, Dayton, Montgomery County

Anna Burr, Cleveland, Cuyahoga County

TeJal Cartwright, Dayton, Montgomery County

Cassandra Chang, Cuyahoga County

Cameron Coen, Cincinnati, Hamilton County

Meghann Crowley, Willoughby, Lake County

Alice Diebel, Dayton, Montgomery County

Mary Doss, Dayton, Montgomery County

Lauren Doss, Hilliard, Franklin County

Chelsea Erling, Cleveland, Cuyahoga County

Lisa Factora-Borchers, Columbus, Franklin County

Daisy Fannin, Dayton, Montgomery County

Marty Gehres, Dayton, Montgomery County

Jonathan Gibby, Akron, Summit County

Mark Gmeiner, Dayton, Montgomery County

Mary Graves, Ashtabula, Ashtabula County

Ethan Grier, Toledo, Lucas County

Sarah Gwinnup, Dayton, Montgomery County

Aleks Harkavy, Dayton, Montgomery County

Joshua Hastie, Enon, Clark County

Mariah Higgins, Dayton, Montgomery County

Jona Hilario, Columbus, Franklin County

Elaine Hsiao, Akron, Summit County

Andie Hutchinson, Montgomery County

Irene Imboden, Tipp City, Miami County

Autumn Ingram, Arcanum, Darke County

Rae Irons, Geneva, Ashtabula County

Morgan Jenkins, Westlake, Cuyahoga County

Skyler Knight, Dayton, Montgomery County

Cristen Koch, Oregonia, Warren County

Sharon Koelblinger, Kent, Portage County

Rachel Kollmorgen, Dayton, Montgomery County

Spencer Layne, Lake County

Lexi Leonard, Middletown, Warren County

Mark Libbey, Akron, Summit County

Roberta Longfellow, Dayton, Montgomery County

Aliza Lopes-Baker, Cleveland, Cuyahoga County

Rebecca Marquardt, West Chester, Butler County

Cherry Mcdavid, Cincinnati, Hamilton County

Melinda, Cleveland, Cuyahoga County

Kevin Meyer, Miamisburg, Montgomery County

Mikaela Mills, Columbus, Franklin County

Jeradon Mura, Cleveland, Cuyahoga County

Rebecca Nelson, Columbus, Franklin County

Ella Okin, Cleveland, Cuyahoga County

Michelle Oyakawa, Columbus, Franklin County

Christine Page, Rock Creek, Ashtabula County

Francine Pardee, Cleveland, Cuyahoga County

Tina Porter, Dayton, Montgomery County

Joel Pruce, Dayton, Montgomery County

Dina Rathburn, Diamond, Portage County

Journey Rather Rather, Akron, Summit County

Morgan Rockhold, Doylestown, Wayne County

Grace Romig, Painesville, Lake County

Sarah Schmidt, North Canton, Stark County

Brigitte Sears, Dayton, Montgomery County

Michelle Sese, Cleveland, Cuyahoga County

Andrew Shenal, Akron, Summit County

Priya Sivagnanam, Galloway, Franklin County

Scott Snyder, Greenville, Darke County

Isaac Spicer, Fairborn, Greene County

Emily Spinelli, Cincinnati, Hamilton County

Dr. Susan Z. Swan, Cleveland, Cuyahoga County

Davin Tackett, Dayton, Montgomery County

Elin Tam, Hilliard, Franklin County

Dresden Thornweaver, Ashtabula, Ashtabula County

Rachael Toth, Cleveland, Cuyahoga County

Nolan Vandervaart, North Canton, Stark County

Monix Villamar, Yellow Springs, Greene County

Nicholas Ward, Cincinnati, Clermont County

Susan Ward, Columbus, Franklin County

Annie Wendt, Columbus, Franklin County

Erin Wozniak, Canton, Stark County

Cheryl Wozniak, Canton, Stark County

David Wozniak, Canton, Stark County

Wilbur Wright III, Canton, Stark County

Tessa Xuan, Cleveland, Cuyahoga County

(121 signatories as of November 6, 2026; the petition continues to collect signatures at actionnetwork.org)