by Anthony Glassman

Cleveland--The group that organizes the city?s annual LGBT Pride parade and festival elected eight new board members last week, including four who have advocated for change in Cleveland Pride?s direction and leadership.

Board members elected at the November 7 annual meeting were Carol L. Carbary, Hillcrest Hospital development director; Nancy Lee Dybo, a manager for National City Bank; Tamika Jones, who performs as Devinity; Chaw Shawber, R.N.; and photographer Josh Dudeck.

Also elected were three principal partners of Triad Event Management: W. Douglas Anderson, Todd J. Saporito, and Brian Tavolier.

Dudeck led an effort last month against bylaw changes on how the board is elected. A proposal to limit board elections to board members instead of general members was postponed.

The move capped a controversy that had brewed during the summer after a group that included members of the North Coast Athletics Volleyball league petitioned unsuccessfully for a special board election. Anderson, Saporito and Tavolier were among the 14 who signed the petition.

Four board members? terms are still current: retired teacher Judy Benson; retailer Kim Hunyor; Tim McCue, who is Healthy Steps manager for the Cleveland health department; and James Orosz, with the city of Solon?s public works department.

The evening also saw the introduction of the Pride Advisory Board, comprised of four community leaders whose years of experience will be available to guide the board.

The Advisory Board is comprised of Gay People?s Chronicle managing editor Patti Harris; AIDS Taskforce of Greater Cleveland executive director Earl Pike; Dave Ream of Leverage Technologies and Plexus, the LGBT chamber of commerce for northeast Ohio; and Cleveland LGBT Center board president Mary Schwarz.

Cleveland Pride 2008 is set for Saturday, June 21. It will be the event?s 20th anniversary, so the annual meeting kept an eye on the past with a display of items from the LGBT Archives of the Western Reserve Historical Society, as well as posters and Tshirts from past Pride festivals.

Before the board election, members enjoyed a presentation on coming out in past decades.

George Vassos talked about life in the Army during World War II, singing with Andy Griffith and his wife, and his eventual move into academia.

Sitting next to him on the stage at Bounce night club, art dealer and appraiser Bill Tregoning recounted his life with a constant eye on the privilege of his upbringing as a white, Protestant male in America, attributing much of his ease in coming out to that upbringing. He also expressed his surprise when his father was the immediately accepting one, talking his wife down and reminding her that Bill was, no matter what, their son and they loved him.

Tregoning and Vassos told their stories as part of the meeting?s program, dubbed ?Coming Out and Living Proud.?

The Cleveland Pride planning committee meets the first and third Wednesday of each month at 7 pm, at the Cleveland LGBT Center, 6600 Detroit Ave. Anyone wishing to help with Pride is welcome to attend. For more information, go to www.clevelandpride.org.

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