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GAY PEOPLE'S CHRONICLE

An Independent Chronicle of the Ohio Lesbian and Gay Community

Loading the boat

CHRISTINE HAHN

Lynn Dilworth and Dennis McMahon of the Cleveland City Country Dancers promenade around the ring during the club's annual "Load the Boat" Fly-in. An estimated 150 square dancers from around the country came to town to take part in the dancing and fun over the Columbus Day weekend.

Volume 9, Issue 8 October 15, 1993

Court challenge tries to stop Cincinnati's Issue 3

Cincinnati-A ballot measure that would overturn the city's gay rights ordinance is discriminatory and un-American, and should be removed from the ballot because proponents have misled voters about the issue, says a lawsuit filed October 8 by the League of Women Voters, Equality Cincinnati, and a group of individuals. The suit seeks the removal of Issue 3 from the November 2 ballot.

Hamilton County Common Pleas Judge Richard Niehaus denied the request to temporarily block the county elections board from proceeding with the referendum. But he agreed to hear arguments on October 15.

Alphonse Gerhardstein, the lawyer who filed the lawsuit, said voters who signed petitions to place Issue 3 on the ballot were improperly informed that the Cincinnati human rights ordinance gives special rights to gays, lesbians and bisexuals.

The elections board could seek dismissal of the case or ask Niehaus to let the election go forward but delay counting ballots on Issue 3 until the issues raised by plaintiffs are decided after the election.

Elections board spokesman Robert Bedinghaus said ballots already have been printed with Issue 3 on them.

Issue 3 would prohibit the city from enforcing a provision in its human rights ordinance, adopted last fall, that bars discrimination against gays and lesbians. Media campaign begins

In an effort to fight Issue 3, Equality Cincinnati has put up 40 billboards around the city and will air a substantial amount of television ads in mid-October to urge residents to defeat the city issue November 2.

The ads feature a hooded Klansman, Adolf Hitler and 1950s anti-Communism crusader Sen. Joseph McCarthy. The billboards have received much comment, both pro and con. Says Betsy Gressler of Equality Cincinnati, "We're getting good and bad responses,

McMickle is more politician than enemy accusations from our opponents that we're

by Charlton Harper

Members of the gay community have recently voiced some concern about the candidacy of Rev. Marvin McMickle for Shaker Heights School Board. At debate are views McMickle expressed this summer about civil rights legislation for gays and lesbians. Area clergy claiming to represent the African American community united in an effort to give a "black response" to possible legislation that would amend the Civil Rights Bill of 1964, adding protection to gay men and lesbians. In a Call and Post article of June 17, McMickle was quoted as saying: "We come out of a very deep conviction that the gay and lesbian lifestyle poses, for us, profound problems of morality . . . It is not a biblically sanctioned lifestyle and it is

not the kind of lifestyle we would like to see. imposed by legislation upon the country." In a recent telephone conversation, McMickle tried to clear the air. "This is the only instance in which I've spoken about the issue and only within the context of the 1964 Civil Rights Bill. I understand the concern that three or four lines in a Call and Post article can make."

McMickle says that for him it's a matter of "equitable enforcement procedures,” and whether or not the 1964 bill is the appropriate means of legislation. Because blacks and women can experience discrimination almost instantly, with very little involvement from the offending party, penalties for discrimination are set to necessarily reflect the inescapable reality of skin color or gender.

Since most gay men and lesbians are not visually identifiable as such, and able to move a bit further through a process before they may be discriminated against, the 1964 bill does not allow for their protection.

But McMickle is not unaware of the discrimination that gay people are subject to. His concern, he says, is that "we not try to address all issues of discrimination under the umbrella of one law."

The idea of amending the 1964 bill is moot at this point, says Gregory King of the Human Rights Campaign Fund. Because that bill calls for quotas and affirmative action, measures that the gay community at large are not calling for, "efforts are being made to craft a free-standing bill that can Continued on Page 6

Re-evaluating my racism

After the story "Black gays in fishbowl' tell of frustration" appeared in the September 17 issue, some of the participants of the fishbowl, members of SOAR, and representatives from the LesbianGay Community Center met with the publisher and the managing editor of the Chronicle to discuss their concerns about the article and the Chronicle in general. This story is an observation by Publisher Martha Pontoni about what she learned during the meeting about racism in the community and at the Chronicle. As a result of the meeting the Chronicle has made a commitment to donate an ad in the paper to support SOAR, do ongoing

anti-racism work, write this article and continue to explore racism in our community through the Community Forum pages of the paper.

by Martha Pontoni

I was not looking forward to this meeting. I really felt that we (the staff of the Chronicle) had done a good job covering the fishbowl event and I didn't understand what the problem was. I do now and I understand why the participants of the meeting were upset. I'm glad the meeting took place because I certainly learned a great deal about myself and how to help the Chronicle respond to the needs of its readers.

I learned that even with the best intentions the article in question needed to be written as a subjective article, “I saw, I felt..." instead of the traditional journalistic objectivity. The People of Color who bared their souls did so that the

people listening would better understand what they as People of Color, experience in this community. The quotes did not have to be attributed to individual people, that was irrelevant. It was important that the white people listen and take in what was being said. It was equally important for the People of Color who participated to be safe to say what they needed to Continued on Page 2

calling them Hitler. We're just showing that discrimination always starts against one group. We're placing this within a historical context."

Equality Cincinnati is made up of members of local gay, religious and civic organizations, including Gay and Lesbian March Church and the League of Women Voters. Activists, Mount Auburn Presbyterian More than half of its board members are not gay. The president of the group, Gilbert Continued on Page 6

Military gay

ban halted temporarily

San Francisco-The issue of gays in the military has reached a new milestone: the Department of Defense has, for the time being, lifted all restrictions on lesbian and gay servicemembers and recruits. This is to comply with a federal appeals court that refused to overrule a judge's order to allow gays in the military. The appeals court also rejected a request for an emergency stay of the ruling by the Clinton administration.

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on October 8 denied the Defense Department's request to either suspend or overrule a September 30 decision by U.S. District Judge Terry Hatter Jr. of Los Angeles. Hatter ordered an end to discrimination in a written Continued on Page 6

'AIDS in Second Tier

City' series presents the voices of some living with AIDS

czar

AIDS Christine Gebbie talks about McClintock Project with ACT UP

INSIDE

New Pagan 22

church dispels myths and explains its preChristian traditions

Lesbian life in the 1950s and 1960s is related in Forbidden Love film this weekend

News Briefs

Editorial, Community Forum Postings

Entertainment

Calendar.. 28 Resource..30 Personals.. B-2