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GAY PEOPLE'S CHRONICLE JUNE 25, 1993

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Ohio anti-gay groups gearing up for initiatives

by Terry Kinney

Cincinnati-Somewhere in Ohio, sometime soon, right-wing activists will challenge protections gained by lesbians and gays as a minority group, says the leader of a Cincinnati anti-gay group. Groups that present themselves as advocates of "family values" plan to make gay rights their dominant issue of the 1990s, he said.

"Anyone who's opposed to the militant homosexual agenda can see this is going to be the issue of the '90s. I wouldn't be surprised if it surpasses abortion," said Phil Burress, president of Citizens for Community Values, a group that claims to represent 16,000 families in the Cincinnati area. "It's a cultural war, no question about it.' Burress said he did not know where the battle would begin. More than 36 "profamily" groups at the state level and more than 20 local organizations are reviewing the issue, he said.

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However, Dean Garbenis, a spokesman for CCV, told a Christian activist training seminar in Columbus last month that his group will try to get a repeal of the Cincinnati ordinance on the November ballot. The group will also continue its effort to get the Advocate removed from the Goshen, Ohio public library shelves, he said.

Burress said his group has a list of nearly 5,000 volunteers in the 13-county Cincinnati area, four paid staffers and a budget goal of $320,000. The network includes more than 600 churches, he said.

A number of Ohio cities, including Cincinnati and Columbus, have gay civil rights laws on the books. The college towns of Athens and Yellow Springs have also passed such ordinances; Athens' was repealed by voters in 1990.

"The militant homosexuals are demanding and pushing their values on the rest of us, and that is going to cause a response," Burress said.

Richard Buchanan, a gay lawyer who provided wording for much of the gay civil rights ordinance adopted by Cincinnati City Council last November, denounced Burress' statements as hysteria, adding that it's Burress who wants to impose his values on the public.

"We've heard threats that they intend to mount a petition campaign," he said. "They need to know that not only will the gay and lesbian community fight them, the community of Cincinnati will fight them every step of the way."

"It was a very narrow group of people who opposed the [Cincinnati] ordinance," he said. "There was no massive turmoil after the ordinance passed, no major companies have moved out of the city, no landlords have sold their property."

"The major concern of the anti-choice, fundamentalist organizations is to keep the gay and lesbian community tied up in these little battles and hopefully exhaust us and our resources until they are able to force their type of morality on all people," Buchanan said.

"This is part of an organized group of people who not only don't like homosexuals but don't want women to have careers, they don't want women to have access to adequate health care, including abortions, and they don't want people of color to have any programs that will give them a hand up," he said.

Mike Radice contributed to this story.

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Local churches form anti-right wing alliance

by Charlton Harper

If members of the religious right have targeted Northeast Ohio as an easy mark in their political attack on human and civic issues, then they haven't been to church lately. Area leaders of the United Church of Christ, Unitarian Universalist, Presbyterian and other congregations are currently coalescing in an attempt to stop the religious-right agenda.

The new coalition's leaders see it as a pro-active move, not a defensive one, stemming from rich church traditions of liberal, people-oriented policies. Still in the planning stages and not yet named, the coalition seeks to create a recognizable community of religious leaders that affirms gay and lesbian diversity and welcomes dialogue on gay issues.

"There is a basic human right to be spiritual," says Rev. Mary Grigolia of the South West Unitarian Universalist Church. "All people have gifts to bring to the spiritual community. The church needs to break with silence and provide that place."

However, the coalition is not limited solely to the clergy. Meetings held at the Archwood United Church of Christ have included members of the lay community as well as representatives from within the lesbian and gay community. "We do not

see this as a single-issue organization,"

said Rev. David Bahr of the Archwood

U.C.C. "Intolerance is not what religion is

about and there is a significant number of people who want to say this."

Another point of prime focus to the coalition is the issue of abortion and women's rights of choice. Rev. Bill Nelson of the First United Church of Christ has been a leader of free choice advocacy and a member of Clergy for Choice, a coalition of 130 area clergy who support a woman's right to choose an abortion.

Clergy for Choice is currently involved

in mobilizing and planning for the July 918 arrival of Operation Rescue, a nationwide assault alliance of right-to-lifers. Cleveland area clinics and medical professionals who support choice are major summer targets of the group.

"The public is unaware of clergy who support choice," says Nelson. "Yet we cannot be just supportive, but must be proactive as well."

But getting the message to the public is a major hurdle echoed by several clerics. With the cultural face of America changing rapidly, many church leaders are reaching out to those who have traditionally seen religion as the enemy.

Grigolia stresses the importance of pluralism in the community, but knows it's a tough sell to those who have been scarred and hurt by past church experiences. One attempt of hers to reach a wider gay public was by addressing the Cleveland Gay Pride Festival crowd on June 19.

With the future indicating rough political times ahead for the gay community and the women's community, gays and lesbians may not be alone in the struggle against warped religious agendas and zealots. Ironically, it may be organized religion that leads the way.

Israeli army adopts

pro-gay policy

The Israeli army said June 11 it has formally adopted a policy of drafting gays and would not automatically bar them from serving in sensitive or special posts. The new policy formalizes the army's existing practice of not excluding lesbians and gays. Israel has a mandatory draft for all 18year-old men and women. Most men also serve in reserve units at least 40 days a year until the age of 55.