What are Ohio lawmakers doing to protect gay people? Not much.

COLUMBUS – Bob and Brian Buckeye can marry, but they could still be fired or denied a place to live in most of the state simply because they are gay.

Only 13 cities, including Cincinnati, prohibit workplace or housing discrimination based on sexual orientation — whether a person is lesbian, gay or bisexual — and gender identity, which includes transgender residents. Ohio is one of nearly 30 states with no statewide ban against such discrimination, meaning nearly 82 percent of Ohioans live in an area without protection.

“Statewide protections are paramount,” said Alana Jochum, the Northeast Ohio director for Equality Ohio, which is launching Ohio Competes with the American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio and the Human Rights Campaign to lobby for non-discrimination laws.

Many Ohioans agree with Jochum. About 68 percent supported laws protecting LGBT people from job discrimination; 84 percent thought such laws already existed, according to a 2013 Public Religion Research Institute poll. Even white evangelical voters and Republicans, who opposed gay marriage in the poll, supported protecting LGBT people from discrimination.

Despite widespread public support, lawmakers haven’t passed a law. Multiple previous efforts, even bipartisan ones, have failed.

Gov. John Kasich, who plans to announce his presidential bid next week , has hinted at support for both non-discrimination and religious freedom laws in the past. However, the governor was vague about his position when speaking with reporters after the U.S. Supreme Court decision, saying he already reauthorized an order to protect state employees against discrimination based on sexual orientation. It does not include protection for transgender people or employees of private businesses.

“We’ll see where all this goes. Let’s not create problems where there frankly is none — or very little,” Kasich said.

How big is the problem?

It’s not clear how frequently people are discriminated against based on sexual orientation because no statewide data exists. The Ohio Civil Rights Commission has no numbers on sexual orientation or gender identity complaints because they have no authority to investigate them without a statewide law, Executive Director Michael Payton said.

Cincinnati’s ban against LGBT discrimination has seen little use. No employment discrimination complaints were filed with the city, and Housing Opportunities Made Equal only fielded a handful of calls, officials said. Reports of LGBT discrimination in housing are dwarfed by complaints based on race or disability, Executive Director Jeniece Jones said.

Columbus received five complaints last year involving discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity — 4 percent of all reports. In 2013, a gay teacher was fired from a private Catholic school in Columbus. It’s unclear whether the city law would have trumped the school’s protection under the First Amendment’s freedom of religion. Her complaint was settled, and she did not return to work.

However, Ohio hasn’t had the high-profile scandals that other states have seen. An Indiana pizzeria’s owners who said they would refuse to cater a gay wedding created a firestorm. An Oregon bakery refused a gay couple looking for a wedding cake. Nationwide, nearly 2,500 reports of discrimination against LGBT people have been sent to the U.S. Equal Opportunity Commission since January 2013. About 1,080 were dropped because they had no merit.

But Jones said that doesn’t prove discrimination doesn’t exist, only that people aren’t coming to her organization for help. Cincinnati’s ordinance only protects people within the city limits. Those in the surrounding communities have little recourse, she said.

“We recognize that it’s probably a big problem,” Jones said.

What are Ohio lawmakers doing about it?

Since the U.S. Supreme Court decision last month, same-sex marriage advocates have shifted their sights to non-discrimination. City non-discrimination laws, while helpful to make LGBT people feel welcome in an area, are poor substitutes for statewide protection, Jochum said.

Advocates are working with Ohio lawmakers to introduce a bill, but nothing will be proposed this summer, Equality Ohio spokesman Grant Stancliff said.

Advocates are hopeful that Speaker Cliff Rosenberger, R-Clarksville, will be more open to non-discrimination laws than his predecessor, Stancliff said. “We feel pretty good about the leadership in House and Senate.”

Rosenberger told the City Club of Cleveland earlier this year that a compromise was possible between the LGBT and religious communities: “I don’t think those that are part of — whether you’re the far right or you’re part of the religious beliefs that you hold — want to see those in the LGBT community discriminated upon. And I don’t think those in the LGBT community want to see the rights of those who have strong religious beliefs discriminated upon.”

A UCLA Law think tank estimated an Ohio law banning discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity would create about 100 more complaints for the Ohio Civil Rights Commission and cost an estimated $214,500 each year.

Meanwhile, House Republicans are working on two proposals to protect religious freedom. One bill, introduced this week, would allow clergy to avoid officiating same-sex weddings. Another would allow businesses, such as florists or bakeries, to refuse to participate in gay unions without facing lawsuits.

“No one should be punished for exercising their constitutional rights to the exercise of their religion. This legislation will protect these rights,” Rep. Ron Young, R-Leroy Township, wrote in an email to other lawmakers.

jbalmert@gannett.com

Twitter: @jbalmert