Photo by Shahed Hasnat
Bobby Weston saw much to love in Dublin when he and his husband, Cole, moved here in 2020 – excellent schools, a rich community – but there was one thing missing: there was no established LGBTQ+ presence.
“There is a beautiful community here, an absolutely beautiful, diverse community,” Weston says, “but there’s nothing gay.”
Weston quickly set out to change that.
Through Rainbow Dublin, which held its inaugural Coming Out Party in August, Weston is offering support and resources to the city’s LGBTQ+ community.
Weston took inspiration from Rainbow UA, an alliance aiming to support the LGBTQ+ community in Upper Arlington, to form a similar group for Dublin. Weston’s work organizing a Dublin Pride march also helped to demonstrate a desire within Dublin for an LGBTQ+ advocacy group.
Setting Sights on Change
The Human Rights Campaign, the largest LGBTQ+ civil rights organization in the U.S., conducts an assessment, the Municipal Equality Index (MEI), of American cities in terms of their support for the LGBTQ+ community. In 2020, Dublin scored a 44 out of 100. In comparison, Columbus scored the maximum.
“The Human Rights Campaign, I kind of look at almost like an open book test – literally the answers are right in front of you,” Weston says. “It literally creates a roadmap for you: ‘This is how you get our points.’”
Weston went through the MEI items and highlighted major spots for improvement in Dublin. He used those issues – ranging from employment and housing to a nondiscrimination order and human rights commission – to propose potential goals for Rainbow Dublin in an associated Facebook group.
Those responses prompted a list of goals for the nascent organization including garnering a nondiscrimination order for the City of Dublin, getting city leadership’s public position on LGBTQ+ equality and establishing a youth bullying prevention policy for city services.
“I knew for certain that, with my group, the nondiscrimination order was going to be No. 1,” Weston says. “Of course, goals will change over time because, eventually, the nondiscrimination order is going to happen.”
Dublin has made notable progress in recent years, Weston says. He points to the work of Chief of Police Justin Páez as being instrumental in improving Dublin’s score on the MEI from a 31 in 2019 to a 44 in 2020. Weston says Páez played an influential role in the city instituting a nondiscrimination policy for city employees, reporting hate crime statistics to the FBI and creating LGBTQ+ liaisons to assist in reviewing city policy.
The liaisons provide a community connection to the city manager’s office and police department. The two appointees are J.M. Rayburn, an urban planner for the City of Dublin, and officer Amber McCloskey.
“The city is making a conscious effort to do the right thing,” Rayburn says. “I’m happy to be part of that journey as, I’m sure, is officer McCloskey.”
In 2020, Dublin announced a Community Task Force and Chief’s Advisory Committee to advise on how to best approach issues of social justice and discrimination in the city. That task force provided recommendations, which were accepted by Dublin City Council, and now are under consideration for implementation.
Stronger Together
Making Dublin a supportive, welcoming home for members of the LGBTQ+ community goes beyond just city officials though, Rayburn says. He points to Rainbow Dublin as an example of another positive force.
“Everyone has a role in advancing LGBTQ+ protections and equality,” Rayburn says. “The government definitely has a role but so does the community, and having an organized advocacy group, I think, really tightens up the whole thing.”
Rainbow Dublin’s Coming Out Party helped to solidify the organization’s potential. Weston says the event attracted hundreds of people, including principals and teachers from local schools, and raised money to cover the administrative expenses of establishing and maintaining a nonprofit. Rainbow Dublin has since expanded its leadership to a six-person board.
Connecting with educators was especially important as Rainbow Dublin, such as the LGBTQ+ liaisons, often speaks with and offers resources to young people or parents. Rayburn stresses the value of demonstrating that support for the LGBTQ+ community.
“If you think about how Pride started with the Stonewall riots, it was really because of police oppression and other things the police were doing that the LGBTQ community thought was unfair and unjust,” he says. “To then fast-forward 50-plus years later and have our chief of police leading off this inaugural pride event and then have the bridge lit up in rainbow, I thought that was a really cool moment and I hope it was impactful for the parents and also the kids to see that this is a welcome mat.”
Cameron Carr is the associate editor. Feedback welcome at ccarr@cityscenemediagroup.com.
