The LGBT rights movement has learned over the years that asking is important -- often the difference between winning and losing.

• We ask local voters to support LGBT rights issues at the polls.  By asking, we open conversations that provide an opportunity to educate fellow members of our community, to listen to their concerns, and to persuade them to support our rights. These conversations help us to identify the voters we need to get to the polls during elections.  They also help us to build a far larger LGBT rights movement including everyone who believes that gay rights are fundamental civil rights.
• We ask local LGBT rights supporters to help in the work of protecting and advancing our rights.  When we ask, we discover that more people are willing to help advance and defend LGBT rights.  We discover that some people who are already helping are willing to help more if they see a way to do it.  We know that when a large enough group of ordinary people work together, they can do extraordinary things.  We also know that there is an untapped pool of leaders in the community if you are imaginative about looking for them.
• We ask our supporters to take on meaningful roles in participating -- and leading -- our campaigns.  By asking, we open conversations that allow us to discover people’s interests and strengths, and our supporters envision themselves as members or leaders of the team, rather than mere spectators cheering us on.  Many of Ask Cleveland's leaders are new to the LGBT rights movement.  Some are new to politics altogether.

Right now, we’re asking  you to get involved with our current campaign ... to:

Stop Transgender Discrimination!

Ask Cleveland's Stop Transgender Discrimination campaign is working to pass a Cleveland city law which would prohibit discrimination in employment, housing, and public accommodations based on gender identity and gender expression.

Legislation relating to gender identity was introduced last August, and has been stalled since.  It was scheduled to be voted on in December -- but amid the uproar over the Cleveland domestic partnership registry, the vote was postponed.

Ask Cleveland believes there's nothing inevitable about the LGBT community being outcampaigned by our opposition.  We have a choice.  We could continue to be a community of a few, quietly lobbying behind the scenes, asking our legislators to resist the popular outcry they hear when they stand up for us.  Or we could mobilize our supporters, and create an even louder popular outcry of our own.  Ask Cleveland knows from experience that if we look, we'll find people willing to fight for equal rights -- from transgender people themselves, to allies from the lesbian, gay and bisexual communities, to progressive straight allies.  The vast majority of people who support LGBT rights don't participate in the political process.  But during our campaign to defend the registry, Ask Cleveland learned that there is enormous potential in the community if we ask people to help.

Ask Cleveland is not going to let the opposition outcampaign us again.