Civil Rights Reporter 

Ohio Civil Rights Commission v. Myers, 2nd District Court of Appeals, Ohio, 2014-Ohio-144 (Jan. 17, 2014)
 
Issue: Is Ohio’s Fair Housing Act, Ohio Revised Code (R.C.) Section 4112.02(H) limited to behavior related to housing transactions and therefore inapplicable to harassment by a neighbor?

Dickinson et al v. Zanesville Metropolitan Housing Authority et al, U.S. District Court, Southern District of Ohio, Eastern Division, 2013 WL 5487101 (Sept. 30, 2013)
 
Issue: Can a female victim of domestic violence state a cause of action under the Fair Housing Act based on sex discrimination by alleging the housing authority failed to act and instead blamed her for violence caused by the father of her children.

The Ohio Attorney General’s Office and the Ohio Civil Rights Commission have been fighting for the rights of disabled Ohioans to have assistance animals since the mid-1990s. Ohio’s efforts, along with those of other progressive states such as New York and California, have led to service animals becoming more commonplace in today’s society.

G. Michael Payton is executive director of the Ohio Civil Rights Commission, which has been protecting Ohioans’ civil rights and battling discrimination since before passage of the federal Civil Rights Act of 1964. A former assistant attorney general, Payton discussed civil rights issues with Stefan Schmidt, an associate assistant attorney general in the office’s Civil Rights Section. Payton started his legal career in the AG’s Civil Rights Section in 1984 and moved over to the Ohio Civil Rights Commission in 1997, becoming executive director in 2001.

Hopefully, your calendar is already marked for the fifth annual Civil Rights Hall of Fame induction ceremony at 10 a.m. Thursday, Oct. 3, in the Ohio Statehouse Atrium. A reception will follow in the Statehouse Rotunda.