COLUMBUS, Ohio – In the wake of highly publicized assaults at a Cleveland LGBT bar last month, a new bipartisan bill introduced Friday would expand Ohio's hate crime law to include sexual orientation, gender identity and disability.

Rep. Nickie Antonio, a Lakewood Democrat, introduced the bill that she said had a group of 15 Republican and Democratic co-sponsors.

"The majority of Ohioans value fairness and do not support hate crimes committed against any group," Antonio said in a release. "All Ohioans should be protected from intimidation and fear."

Under Ohio law, only crimes committed against someone based on the victim’s race, color, religion or national origin receive the enhanced bias charge.

The expansion comes after police arrested two individuals last month in connection to two assaults at Cocktails, a West Side LGBT bar. But because state hate crime law did not include sexual orientation, prosecutors could not bring enhanced bias charges against the suspects.



The crimes gained traction as Cleveland is preparing to host the 2014 Gay Games, along with Akron. But organizers said the crimes will have no affect on security planning, and they hoped the attention the crimes received could be an opportunity to raise awareness of LGBT issues.

"Next year, Northeast Ohio will be on the international stage as the host of the Gay Games," Antonio said. "We need to assure all visitors that Ohio welcomes and protects all families to our state.”

Antonio's office points to statistics from the Ohio Department of Public Safety that said crimes 16 percent of hate crimes are based on sexual orientation, ranking it behind race, and disability, at 48 percent and 18 percent, respectively. Ten percent of hate crimes are based on the victim's ethnicity, and eight percent on religion.

In the omission of sexual orientation from the intimidation statute, Ohio joins just 14 other states, including Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, West Virginia and Michigan.

States that do have hate crime specifications regarding sexual orientation in place include Texas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Kansas, Arizona and Missouri, according to the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force.

Past efforts at expanding the hate crime statute to cover sexual orientation have deflated. A 2011 bill authored by Columbus Democrat Rep. Michael Stinziano would have inserted "sexual orientation, gender, identity and disability" into the hate crimes statute. The bill, HR 235, died in committee.

This attempt also comes after CeCe Acoff's body was found in an Olmsted Township pond in April. Acoff, a transgender individual whose legal name was Carl and identified as a woman, had been stabbed repeatedly.

Police arrested Andrey Bridges, and he is awaiting a pretrial hearing on Oct. 21 under suspicion of murder.