‘I witnessed evil’: Anti-LGBTQ+ hate groups support Ohio’s public drag ban. Ohio’s proposed drag ban received its second hearing Wednesday before members of the House Judiciary Committee. ✏️ @hcomeriato.bsky.social thebuckeyeflame.com/2025/10/30/a...

Ohio Republicans want to end emergency mental health services for minors in latest push for ‘parental rights.’ Eliminating access to temporary mental health care program for minors could place Ohio’s LGBTQ+ youth at risk. ✏️ @hcomeriato.bsky.social thebuckeyeflame.com/2025/10/23/o...

Sweet Spot revives Ohio’s underground party scene with the weirdest sapphic rave of the decade. Cleveland’s only sapphic rave injects a decades-old party scene with something ‘new and fresh and weird.’ ✏️ @hcomeriato.bsky.social thebuckeyeflame.com/2025/10/13/s...

Dayton Metro Library hosts free transgender history summit on October 4. ‘Don’t struggle alone in despair. Let’s strive together. Come fill your cup with hope and community.’ ✏️ @hcomeriato.bsky.social

Reviving Gay Fad Studios: How an LGBTQ+ couple created a midcentury glass destination in central Ohio. ‘This is so much more than a business for us. It’s about being bold and dreaming big.’ ✏️ @hcomeriato.bsky.social penning an INCREDIBLE read.

Two Ohio LGBTQ+ elected officials targeted online after Charlie Kirk’s death. The two office-holders experienced online harassment and a death threat leading to an FBI arrest. thebuckeyeflame.com/2025/09/17/t...

A new bipartisan bill seeks to reinstate the national suicide hotline services for LGBTQ+ youth that Trump cut. This is an especially vulnerable group who are now without specialized 988 services at a time when they need it most.

Stepped outside of my comfort zone to write this story about a really cool group of players in a military simulation video game! Absolute pleasure to work with @aftermath.site and @rcmacleod.bsky.social. Please give it a read!

NEW EPISODE! This News is So Gay (8/20/25): Marriage Equality Fearmongering & Disappearing Queer Data. Featuring: @jazzmyth.bsky.social (@19thnews.org), @juanmichaelii.bsky.social (The Sero Project) and @hcomeriato.bsky.social (The Buckeye Flame) thebuckeyeflame.com/2025/08/20/t...

Hap-brie Sunday! We're so grate-ful that you sharp folks lived life on the wedge this week and ate up this gouda story! thebuckeyeflame.com/2025/08/15/m...

FDA approves new injectable HIV medication amid cuts to federal AIDS programs. Injection administered every six months will protect Ohioans from contracting HIV. ✏️ @hcomeriato.bsky.social thebuckeyeflame.com/2025/07/28/f...

Cleveland welcomes new WNBA franchise team, embraces out LGBTQ+ athletes. 3,000 season tickets sold in the first 30 hours: ‘We’re seeing a whole new audience stepping forward.’ ✏️ @hcomeriato.bsky.social thebuckeyeflame.com/2025/07/24/c...

Great reporting by my colleague, @hcomeriato.bsky.social.

Local AIDS activists deliver coffins to steps of Cleveland City Hall. ACT UP Cleveland performs ‘political funeral’ amid federal cuts to HIV/AIDS funding. ✏️ @hcomeriato.bsky.social

Experts say rash of Pride flag vandalism across Ohio points to shifting trend in anti-LGBTQ+ violence. Read all about what anti-LGBTQ+ incidents can tell us about cultural ‘turf wars’ in Ohio and beyond. ✏️ @hcomeriato.bsky.social 🗣️ @glaad.bsky.social thebuckeyeflame.com/2025/05/19/o...

On April 29, members of the Ohio House General Government Committee heard public testimony on Ohio House Bill (HB) 196, which could force some transgender candidates to out themselves in order to run for public office and could increase challenges to their candidacies. ✏️ @hcomeriato.bsky.social

While this report presents itself as an apolitical “review of evidence and best practices,” it deserves the same scrutiny and careful fact-checking as any government-produced document. Journalists should quote it only with appropriate context and after thorough vetting.

The actual findings of the new HHS gender-affirming care report don’t really line up with what the agency is saying about it.

Ohio ACT UP chapter meets to discuss ‘shocking’ leaked budget that slashes HIV/AIDS funding. AIDS advocacy group pushes for strategic plan to keep Ohioans living with HIV on life-saving medications. ✏️ @hcomeriato.bsky.social

Ohio Supreme Court allows ban on gender-affirming health care for transgender minors to continue. Following months in court, Ohio’s ban on health care for trans youth with take effect after a new high court ruling thebuckeyeflame.com/2025/04/29/o...

New toolkit outlines roadmap for Ohio schools before anti-LGBTQ+ forced outing law takes effect. HB 8 will affect school communities across the state beginning in July. Here’s what to expect and how to respond. ✏️ @hcomeriato.bsky.social

A pair of Republican lawmakers have proposed legislation that could force trans candidates to disclose their former legal names in order to run for public office. Conservative Reps. Rodney Creech & Angie King each faced transgender opponents in the 2024 general election. ✏️ @hcomeriato.bsky.social

"They want us dead": Ohio AIDS activist makes desperate call to action amid federal funding cuts "They are not coming for your pronouns. They are coming for your life." ✏️ @hcomeriato.bsky.social

In my latest for @thebuckeyeflame.com, Ohio Senate Bill 53 would give private citizens a wide berth to sue protesters for damages caused by “vandalism or riot activity.” Attorneys with the National Lawyers Guild are worried it could be used to target pro-LGBTQ+ demonstrations across the state.

In my latest for @thebuckeyeflame.com, the Ohio Fairness Act is introduced for the 12th time, despite waning bipartisan support for LGBTQ+ civil rights. The bill would extend equal civil rights to LGBTQ+ Ohioans, but is not expected to pass. Sen. Nickie Antonio says it’s important to keep trying.

In my latest for @thebuckeyeflame.com, Trump bans transgender women from competing in women’s sports via executive order. State Rep. Gary Click (the primary architect behind Ohio’s trans sports ban AND the state’s ban on gender-affirming health care for trans youth) attended the signing in-person.

In his first 10 days, Trump issued multiple executive orders that seek to change government policy around gender. We have: - What to know - Coverage best practices - Questions to ask - Key terms and background - Journalistic resources - Reading to catch up

Trump referenced Imane Khelif while signing an executive order to ban trans girls from girls' school sports. The anti-trans hatred directed at Khelif — and the narrow beliefs about femininity being projected onto her — are part of how anti-trans rhetoric fuels violence towards women of color

Designs for a new school in Tipp City, Ohio, include three bathrooms with individual, locking toilet rooms and communal hand washing spaces open to all students, regardless of gender. The plans have sparked anti-transgender backlash – and may be illegal to construct under Ohio's new bathroom ban.