Candidates for Toledo mayor fielded questions about inclusion and policy at a forum held Tuesday to address issues central to the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community.
The forum, which was hosted by Equality Toledo and OUTLAW, an LGBT student group at the University of Toledo College of Law, was in the Richard and Jane McQuade Law Auditorium.
Participating were mayoral candidates Mike Bell, Sandy Drabik Collins, Mike Ferner, Carty Finkbeiner, Paula Hicks-Hudson, and Sandy Spang. Opal Covey attended but did not participate and sat in the audience.
Candidates’ answers were largely similar on issues of LGBT rights and inclusion.
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Candidates were asked how they would improve the city’s rating in the Human Rights Campaign’s Municipal Equality Index, which last year gave Toledo a score of 58 out of 100. The index rates cities with criteria including relationship with the LGBT community, nondiscrimination laws, and municipal services.
“We know progressive cities do win with inclusive policies,” Ms. Spang said. “Anytime we have a suboptimal treatment of any member of the community, the whole community suffers.”
Equality Toledo asked candidates if they would provide health care coverage for transgender city employees, including hormone therapy and reassignment surgery. All said they would support it or would support looking into it.
Mayor Hicks-Hudson said she would support it and would ask the bargaining units to support it. Mr. Finkbeiner said he would look to other progressive cities and examine the cost.
“To see a city that has shown that they value diversity, look at Columbus,” Mrs. Collins said. “I agree to be successful, we need to be all embracing of everyone.”
Candidates were asked about specific actions that have benefited the lives of LGBT Toledoans.
Ms. Hicks-Hudson said since becoming mayor, she has met with Equality Toledo to find ways to improve city policies and raise the city’s equality index.
Mrs. Collins spoke of her work at the University of Toledo on its anti-discrimination policy, which included sexual orientation.
Mr. Ferner said he was proud to have testified in favor of the municipal ordinance banning discrimination based on sexual orientation while on city council.
Mr. Finkbeiner said he signed a discrimination ban in 1998, and mentioned the 2007 domestic partnership registry in Toledo that went into effect when he was mayor.
Mr. Bell said the city’s equality index was at its highest point while he was mayor.
“I look at it from the standpoint as a minority,” he said.
Ms. Spang said she was proud to have signed on in favor of same-sex marriage ahead of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in June, saying she was “glad I was on the right side of history.”
No candidate told of voting for the constitutional ban on same-sex marriage that Ohioans overwhelmingly approved in 2004. Mrs. Collins said she couldn’t remember how she voted but said she didn’t think she would have.
All candidates said elected officials should not let personal beliefs stand in the way of following the law, specifically on same-sex marriage.
Contact Lauren Lindstrom at llindstrom@theblade.com, 419-724-6154, or on Twitter @lelindstrom.
First Published October 14, 2015, 4:00 a.m.