August 9, 2002

At the intersection of Black and Gay

Sixth annual Black Unity Celebration exceeds expectations

by Anthony Glassman

Cleveland—BlackOut Unlimited, Ohio’s premier organization for African American LGBT people, reached a new pinnacle with its sixth annual Black Unity Celebration, held August 1-4.

The festivities coincided with the 2002 African American Men United Against AIDS regional conference. BlackOut sponsored an MSM (men who have sex with men) Leadership Conference on Thursday, August 1.

The weekend’s festivities opened that evening, with a reception sponsored by the Cleveland Health Department at the Renaissance Cleveland Hotel, the host location for the conference. Roughly 200 people, delegates to the conference and members of the community alike, filled the ballroom at the hotel. Matthew Carroll, acting director of the health department, spoke briefly to assemblage. The following morning, the city presented a proclamation to the conference and further expressed its support in the fight against AIDS.

On Friday, the Black Unity Celebration Evening of the Arts moved to the Cleveland Center for Contemporary Art. Performers ranged from spoken word artist Kevin “Kaoz” Moore and all-female poetry company Eve to the stand-up comedy of Dana Austin, the magic of Richard “Chip” McClendon, female illusionist the Lady Deception, singer Donnell Stephens and dance performances by Nitro and the Cleveland Contemporary Dance Theater under the leadership of Michael Medcalf.

“To me, it was a reflection of what we had in the community,” said Austin, who is also the special projects coordinator for BlackOut Unlimited.

The Evening of the Arts drew 110 people, according to organizers.

Following the art center event, the festivities moved to the Players Club on the city’s near west side for the Verdict House Ball. Houses, which are primarily groups of same-gender loving men, compete in various categories, including most stylish ensemble, most convincing display of heterosexuality and most convincing drag. The house system grew out of dances held in New York during the Harlem Renaissance and were one of the earliest relatively safe gathering places for gay men and lesbians in the country.

Houses from Detroit, New York, Washington D.C., Indianapolis and Philadelphia came for the Verdict ball, which drew 215 to the West 25th St. nightclub.

In past years, the Black Unity Celebration reserved Saturdays for the Exchange, a health summit dealing with issues of importance to the African American LGBT community. This year the aamuaa regional conference supplanted the Exchange. The next event of the weekend brought celebrants back to the Players Club for Sweat 2K2, the dance party that serves as a linchpin for the weekend; 135 people turned out for the party.

The Black Unity Celebration wrapped up, as it always does, with the community picnic, a free event held at Edgewater Park on the shores of Lake Erie. For the first time, however, the picnic was held in the lower pavilion of the park, closer to the beach. The change in venue engendered both advantages and drawbacks. The larger parking lots by the lower pavilion were welcome, but the proximity to the lifeguard stations at the beach required the DJs to keep the volume of the hip-hop and R&B music down.

The hot, sunny weather that had covered Cleveland for most of the week held for the event, with temperatures in the 90s and few clouds in the sky, leaving the roughly 200 to 230 picnickers elated, albeit drenched in sweat. Organizers had the foresight to bring Sweat 2K2 commemorative towels, which had been on sale the previous night, to the picnic, where they did a brisk trade by purveying them to people desperately in need of something with which to mop their brows.

“The picnic was a blast!” Austin exclaimed. “It was a joy.”

“Our whole purpose was to promote HIV and AIDS awareness,” she continued. “We handed out contraceptives, and usually when you do that you see a lot of condoms and lube lying around later. That didn’t happen, so it looks like everyone took them and are going to use them. That is a beautiful thing.”

Safer sex information and AIDS prevention packets were available at all the events, along with material on the full array of programs offered by BlackOut.

While the weekend was difficult to organize, the success was gratifying, according to Austin.

“I have one gray hair on my head and I named it BlackOut,” she laughed. “It was a chore, but it was a labor of love and from what I saw this weekend, it was worth it.”

“As the primary sponsor, BlackOut is pleased with the community response to the weekend,” said Executive Director Larry Webb, “but is even more pleased that the community is owning the weekend more than ever.”

“We look forward next year to providing more educational programming and working with other organizations to meet the community’s needs,” he continued.

The Black Unity Celebration is the only black gay pride in Ohio, putting Cleveland on the map with cities like New York, Washington D.C. and Detroit.

Yes, Ohio does have same-sex marriage

Two women, one transgender, joined in legal matrimony

by Anthony Glassman

Columbus—In a completely legal, state-sanctioned same-sex marriage, Dawn Kereluik and Katheryn Neudecker were married in a civil ceremony in the Franklin County probate court on July 31.

The couple took advantage of the fact that Kereluik, as a transgendered woman, will always be viewed as a man under Ohio law. The state does not allow the sex on birth certificates to be changed, even after gender reassignment surgery.

“I had to bring additional documentation, like my birth certificate, but it was worth it,” Dawn Kereluik enthused.

Her spouse, Katheryn, has adopted the last name Kereluik as well. She has already received her new driver’s license and, according to Dawn, Katheryn’s new social security card should arrive in the next few weeks.

The two were wed at about 2:45 pm, and had their reception at the Grapevine Café at 6 pm, joined by roughly 30 friends.

The Franklin County probate court web site lists their marriage, with Dawn Kereluik as groom and Katheryn Neudecker as bride, although Judge Lawrence A. Belskis was more gender-neutral when the ceremony finished.

“I now pronounce you married,” he intoned.

Compared to the preparations involved, which included gathering documentation and checking with the court that it would allow the marriage to take place, the event itself was rather quiet, according to Dawn.

“As Mary Ann [Horton, a friend of the couple] put it, the activist in me would have liked it to have attracted more attention, but I’m glad it went off like it did,” she said.

The Kereluiks’ is not Ohio’s first same-sex marriage. A number of couples with a transgendered member have been married around Ohio, and a Texas Supreme Court ruling that gender at birth is gender for life opened the door for two lesbian couples to contravene that state’s ban on same-sex marriage.

“This isn’t the first one in the state,” said Horton, “but previous ones have been done quietly. I’m delighted that Dawn and Katheryn have chosen to make their marriage more visible.”

“Ohio bases the right to marry on the sex on your birth certificate,” she continued. “Since Ohio doesn’t change birth certificates when a transsexual changes their sex, we’re in an interesting situation for transsexuals: Gay and lesbian marriages are legal in Ohio but heterosexual ones aren’t.”

“It really highlights the absurdity of our marriage laws,” she concluded. “They should either change the laws to permit all same-sex marriages or to change Ohio birth certificates.”

According to Horton, only Ohio, Idaho, Tennessee and Florida bar transsexuals from altering their birth certificates after gender reassignment surgery.

The women have, however, gained myriad benefits enjoyed by heterosexual couples across the world.

“If one of Katheryn’s girls gets injured, I can just take her to the hospital instead of searching around for the power of attorney document,” Dawn noted. “It’s very major. Being married gives you a lot of rights and we think everyone should have them, which is why we’re making a lot of noise about it.”

Settlement of suit won’t end Cincinnati boycott

Repeal of Article 12 and 20 other demands remain

by Eric Resnick

Cincinnati--The settlement of a lawsuit over police harassment and racial profiling does not mean the end of a boycott of the city.

The repeal of the anti-gay Article 12 of the city’s charter and more than 20 other demands must be met before the boycott is lifted, according to Coalition for a Just Cincinnati spokespeople Amanda Mayes and Rev. Stephen Scott.

The settlement ended a lawsuit against the city and the Fraternal Order of Police by the Black United Front and the American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio, which accused police of singling out and harassing blacks.

U.S. District Judge Susan Dlott approved the settlement August 5, though the parties reached agreement on April 3.

The agreement calls for greater police oversight and for the activist groups to be more cooperative with police.

The suit was filed by the ACLU and the Black United Front in 2001, shortly before the city erupted in three days of riots over the shooting death of a black man by a white officer.

“The issues of the boycott are wider than just police accountability,” said Mayes, “and until those other issues are addressed, the boycott will continue.”

Stonewall Cincinnati supported the Black United Front in their litigation efforts and joined the coalition in the call for the boycott.

Stonewall’s involvement with the coalition has divided the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community of Cincinnati. Some believe Stonewall should be visible and supportive of the boycott, others disagree.

Stonewall board member Doreen Cudnik called the collaborative agreement “a very necessary step in the right direction,” but also emphasized that the boycott is about issues not addressed by the federal suit, including the repeal of Article 12. That measure, passed in 1993 as Issue 3, bans the city from enacting any civil rights protections for gays and lesbians.

Rev. Scott pastors First Recovery Christian Fellowship and chairs the Baptist Ministers Conference of Cincinnati in addition his work with coalition. He said the demands that will bring about an end to the boycott are clear, and have only been partially satisfied by the settlement.

“This is our package. These are our demands,” said Scott, “and until we address them all, the boycott is on.”

TG firefighter sues city for attempting to force him out

by Eric Resnick

Youngstown--A transgender firefighter is suing the city of Salem and seven city officials that he says attempted to force him out of the fire department.

The federal civil rights suit, filed July 19 in U.S. District Court, claims discrimination, sex stereotyping, and invasion of privacy.

In his complaint, Lt. Jimmie Smith, a 21-year veteran, says that Capt. Thomas Eastek, Fire Chief Walter Greenamyer, Mayor Larry DeJane, Law Director C. Brooke Zellers, City Auditor James Armeni, and City Service Director Joseph Julian held an illegal meeting discussing Smith’s gender identity disorder and conspired to discharge him on April 18, 2001. The meeting came after Smith discussed his condition with Eastek, his immediate supervisor.

Eastek has also been named as a defendant for taking the information to Greenamyer against Smith’s wishes.

Also present at the meeting was now-deceased city safety director Henry Willard, who was outraged by it and immediately telephoned Smith to tell him what the others were planning.

As part of the plan, Smith claims, the civil service commission was to require him to submit to three psychological evaluations by physicians of the city’s choosing.

Smith says that Greenamyer hoped that he would either resign or refuse to comply with that demand, which would have begun the process to discharge him for insubordination.

Civil Service Commission Chair Harry Dugan is also named as a defendant in the suit for denying Smith due process at a disciplinary hearing held May 21, 2001.

Smith was suspended for one day a moth earlier for an alleged minor violation of department policy.

That suspension was overruled by Columbiana County Common Pleas Judge David Tobin last October 11. Tobin ruled that Greenamyer did not promulgate his policy clearly.

Neither the commission nor Tobin addressed the underlying discrimination issues.

Smith says that after Greenamyer had the meeting with Eastek and the other officials, word of his condition spread, causing him to be ostracized by co-workers and the subject of gossip around town.

The suit asks for monetary and compensatory damages of $218,000 and punitive damages of $500,000.

Smith intends to begin his transition from male to female in the near future. He is represented by Macedonia attorney Randi Barnabee, who is also transgender.

According to Barnabee, the case is considered complex by the court and will take a year or more before trial is set.

The case has been assigned to Judge Peter C. Economus.

News Briefs

Compiled from wire reports by Brian DeWitt, Anthony Glassman and Patti Harris.

Lesbian fans stage kiss-in at WNBA game

New York City—Lesbian fans of the New York Liberty basketball team, accusing its management of ignoring them, protested by smooching in the stands during a nationally televised game.

The love-in, conducted during the WNBA team’s August 2 night game against the Miami Sol, was organized by “Lesbians for Liberty,” a group which complained the team catered to other groups, holding events to mark Father’s Day and Black History Month.

The kisses took place during breaks of the nationally televised game.

In an e-mail encouraging the display, the lesbian group asked, “Are you tired of the WNBA and the New York Liberty denying that lesbians are packing Madison Square Garden week after week for women’s basketball games?”

Other protesters marked the team’s “Banner Night” promotion by holding up “Lesbians for Liberty” signs.

The team issued a statement saying its games “bring together all facets of the city, including the gay and lesbian community.”

The professional Women’s National Basketball Association, a branch of the men’s NBA league, includes the Cleveland Rockers.

Taxes pay for religion, suit claims

Atlanta—A lesbian counselor and a Jewish therapist are among the people suing Methodist Children’s Home in suburban Decatur, claiming that the group uses state tax money to push its religious beliefs on the children it serves.

Aimee Bellmore claims she was fired from Methodist because of her sexual orientation, and psychologist Alan Yorker alleges that he was denied employment because of his religion.

The suit, announced July 31, charges that, despite taking public tax dollars as a major part of its operating budget, Methodist Children’s Home provides services to youth, including gay and lesbian youth, more in keeping with its religious doctrines than with sound professional practices.

Seven Georgia taxpayers, including Bellmore and Yorker, are filing the suit with the assistance of the gay and lesbian Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund.

The suit, which names both the home and the state’s Department of Human Resources, seeks to stop state funding of the organization while it engages in what the plaintiffs argue is religious discrimination and indoctrination of youth.

Judge stops Ypsilanti vote

Ypsilanti, Mich.—A Washtenaw County judge ordered an anti-gay referendum to be taken off the November ballot on August 2, ruling that it could rescind the city’s entire human rights ordinance.

In addition, Judge Donald Shelton ruled that the organizers listed on the petitions were not the true backers of the measure. Its real backers, he ruled, are Thomas Monaghan, founder and former owner of the Domino’s pizza chain, the Thomas More Law Center’s Richard Thompson and Gary Glenn, president of the American Family Association’s state chapter.

The Ypsilanti Campaign for Equality, the group that filed suit against the referendum, had argued that the petition drive violated state election law by misrepresenting who was behind the effort.

Monaghan, who founded the Ave Maria Foundation after relinquishing control of his pizza chain to his children, paid for the petition-gathering effort before the referendum group, Ypsilanti Citizens Voting Yes for Equal Rights not Special Rights, came into existence.

The amendment to the rights ordinance adding sexual orientation was approved in 1997, sparking a city-wide referendum the following year in which the ordinance was upheld by over 60% of city voters.

The judgment must be approved by the Michigan Court of Appeals, who are expected to give their response before the August 13 deadline for adding items to the November ballot. The referendum group appealed Judge Shelton’s refusal to dismiss the suit, and the Court of Appeals sent it back to Shelton for decision.

Rocker mouths off again

Dallas—Pitcher John Rocker, formerly of the Cleveland Indians and now with the Texas Rangers, is in hot water again for spouting homophobic comments in a Dallas café on August 4.

Rocker said he was with his girlfriend the previous day at Breadwinners Cafe and Bakery when some customers began badgering and pestering him. The restaurant is located in a gay-friendly neighborhood.

Richard Garcia, who waited on Rocker and his girlfriend, said the ballplayer was not provoked. Garcia said Rocker called a male couple sitting at a nearby table “fruitcakes” as he got up and left.

“That’s nothing someone should hear from somebody who’s supposed to be a role model,” Garcia said. “Just because you’re a superstar, that still does not license you to say that.”

Rocker said he finished his meal and left the eatery. According to reports, in the parking lot he yelled something at a transgendered woman from his car window. When she yelled back, he got out of his vehicle and engaged in a ten-minute screaming match with her.

“You’re nothing but a fucking freak,” Outsports.com reported Rocker as saying. “I hope you get AIDS and die.”

Rocker was reviled for disparaging remarks he made about gays and minorities in a Sports Illustrated interview before the 2000 season.

Soulforce gets local chapters

Cleveland—Soulforce, a national organization that works to end “spiritual violence” against LGBT people, announced August 2 that it now has 16 local affiliates, including one in Cleveland and one in the Tri-State area around Cincinnati.

While the local groups are autonomous, member agree to uphold the principles of Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr. of nonviolent resistance. Members also agree to “work relentlessly to apply those principles for the liberation of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people.”

Soulforce has been most visible at national conferences of religious denominations that do not accept LGBT people. They have protested at the Southern Baptist Convention, meetings of Catholic bishops and the Methodist convention in Cleveland two years ago.

In Cleveland, Liberation Soulforce can be contacted through Vicki Miller at Liberation UCC, 216-521‑5556, soulforceclev@aol.com, or online at www.liberationucc.com.

Soulforce Tri-State, covering the junction of Kentucky, Indiana and Ohio, can be reached through Pam DeFusco, 859-356‑1381, or e-mail pamydefusco@aol.com.

Bishops can’t agree on gays

London—An international panel of Anglican bishops that includes the next archbishop of Canterbury is unable to reach agreement on issues related to homosexuality after three years of discussions.

The dozen participants said they were unable to agree about “a single pattern of holy living” for gays; on interpretation of relevant Bible passages; or on the relation between biblical authority and reason, experience and tradition.

Ordination of actively gay priests and blessing of same-sex couples are considered the most divisive issues in the international Anglican Communion, which includes the U.S. Episcopal Church.

Panelists included Archbishop Rowan Williams of Wales, Prime Minister Tony Blair’s choice to be the next archbishop of Canterbury and spiritual leader of world Anglicanism.

The panel urged further dialogue on whether Christian holiness should “exclude or include homosexual behavior within committed relationships.”

It acknowledged the gravity of Anglican disagreement on this, calling it “a burden and a distraction” for the church’s mission.

Survivor benefits suit moves ahead

Vancouver, B.C.—The British Columbia Supreme Court will allow a $240 million class action lawsuit against the Canadian government by gays and lesbians for survivor benefits under the Canada Pension Plan.

Justice Marion Allan found a class action case was appropriate to determine the issues raised by Eric Brogaard and Gail Meredith in their lawsuit against the Attorney General of Canada.

“In the absence of a class proceeding, there could be a proliferation of individual actions seeking virtually identical relief,” Allan wrote in her decision.

The lawsuit alleges the federal government discriminates because it collects pension plan premiums from all Canadians but denies survivor pensions to gays and lesbians whose partners died before Jan. 1, 1998. The government imposed that cut off date in 2000, when it passed a law granting a variety of rights to same-sex couples.

The lawsuit seeks benefits for all gay and lesbian survivors retroactive to April 17, 1985, the day equality guarantees were enshrined in the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. A similar lawsuit has been launched in Ontario.

Meredith lived with her partner Judy Paterson for 15 years before Paterson died ten years ago. Brogaard lived with Orville Germak for more than 22 years until Germak died in 1993.

No date has been set for the British Columbia case. The Ontario case begins in November.

In unrelated cases, couples in the same two provinces, plus Quebec, are suing to have Canada grant marriage to same-sex couples.

Schools may pay harassed student

Reno, Nev.—Washoe County school trustees will consider paying a gay former student $451,000 to settle claims of discrimination and harassment. The proposed settlement also would amend three district policies to better protect the civil rights of gay and lesbian students.

If approved by both sides, the settlement would resolve a two-year federal court case in which Derek Henkle accused district teachers, principals and police officers of failing to intervene when classmates harassed and assaulted him because he is gay.

The school board will take a final vote on the settlement Aug. 27.

According to court documents, the harassment was so pervasive--ranging from verbal taunts to being punched in the face and lassoed around the neck--that Henkle transferred to three different high schools to escape it.

When he was 16, he enrolled in the adult education program at Truckee Meadows Community College and later earned his general equivalency diploma in Atlanta. Henkle claims the harassment prevented him from getting his high school diploma and undermined his professional marketability.

According to court documents, school staff witnessed several incidents but refused to intervene and instead told Henkle to keep his sexuality private, a request his lawyers said violated his First Amendment right to freedom of speech and expression.

Anti-gays distort King’s views

Miami—A flier using the image of Martin Luther King Jr. to help defeat a gay civil rights law distorts the civil rights leader’s views, a spokesman for the King Center said.

The flier urges residents to vote to repeal Miami-Dade County’s gay civil rights ordinance on Sept. 10, saying: “Martin Luther King Jr. would be outraged! If he knew homosexualist extremists were abusing the civil rights movement to get special rights based on their sexual behavior.”

Although King never publicly discussed his views on homosexuality, he told his wife he was concerned about discrimination against gays and lesbians, said Lynn Cothren, special assistant to Coretta Scott King.

“I appeal to everybody who believes in Martin Luther King Jr.’s dream to make room at the table of brother- and sisterhood for lesbians and gay people,” Coretta Scott King said August 1.

Mardi Gras has money woes

Sydney, Australia—Organizers of one of the world’s best-known gay pride events appointed outside administrators August 2 in an effort to save it from financial collapse.

A slump in visitors after the Sept. 11 attacks and spiraling insurance costs forced the company in charge of the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras to post a $500,000 Australian ($270,000 U.S.) loss this year.

The Mardi Gras is one of the largest gay pride festivals in the world, and Sydney will play host to the Gay Games in November.

The company that runs the parade, Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras Ltd., said it decided on “voluntary administration” after its own efforts to restructure its debt failed.

The outside administrators said in a statement they were confident they could solve the company’s financial problems.

From its roots as a gay civil rights march in 1978 that degenerated into a riot, the event has blossomed into a multimillion-dollar business and three-week cultural festival that draws thousands of tourists to Sydney each year.