Nickie J. Antonio's story

Born on June 2, 1955 and raised in Cleveland, Nickie J. Antonio is the first member of the LGBTQ+ community ever elected to the Ohio General Assembly. A trailblazer in both the Ohio House and Senate, Antonio rose to positions of leadership in both chambers. She is also the first woman to represent District 23 in the Ohio Senate, where she serves as Minority Leader.

Antonio recalls that her mother could not buy a house after her parents divorced in the 1960s, even though she had a full-time job. “She needed a male, a male's name on the mortgage. I was 10 and that was stunning to me,” recalls Antonio. As a teenager, Antonio won a scholarship to Lutheran West High School and worked to pay the rest of her tuition. The first in her family to graduate from college, Antonio worked her way through Cleveland State University where she earned her Bachelor of Science in Education.

Antonio taught special education in Cuyahoga County during the 1980s. Assigned a basement classroom, Antonio remembers asking herself, “Why are we down here? Why can't we change things?” To effectuate change she earned her Master of Public Administration at Cleveland State while raising her daughter and working full time. In 1991 Antonio became Executive Director of the Women’s Center of Greater Cleveland, a nonprofit outpatient drug and alcohol treatment program.

Antonio and her wife, Jean Kosmac, married in 2015 and have two daughters. When their eldest took up skateboarding, Antonio lobbied Lakewood City Council for a skate park. She recalls simultaneously thinking "I'm really tired of explaining what's important for families" and "I could do that job." Antonio made history in 2005 as the first member of the LGBTQ+ community elected to the Lakewood City Council. She was reelected in 2009.

In 2010 Antonio again made history as the first member of the LGBTQ+ community elected to the Ohio House of Representatives. She was reelected three times and served as both Assistant Minority Whip and Minority Whip. In 2018 she became both the first woman elected to represent Senate District 23 and the first member of the LGBTQ+ community elected to the chamber, where she served as Assistant Minority Leader. She was reelected in 2022 and elected Senate Minority Leader in 2023. A champion of women’s and LGBTQ+ rights, Antonio has introduced the Ohio Fairness Act in every legislative session since 2011. The bill would prohibit discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity.

Antonio’s many awards include the Cleveland Stonewall Democrats’ Leadership Award, the Cleveland State University Distinguished Alumni of the Year Award from the Maxine Levin College of Urban Affairs, the Cuyahoga Democratic Women’s Caucus Outstanding Advocacy Award, the Croucher Family Award from the Ohio Domestic Violence Network, the Ohio Farm Bureau’s Friend of Agriculture Award, the Louis B. Stokes Award from Cleveland Jobs with Justice, and the Ohio Democratic Party’s Gertrude W. Donahey Award.