SOCIAL SCIENCES DEPT. PERIODICAL
Where Sold 60 Higher outside Ohio
GAYLE'S CHRONICLE
An Independent Chronicle of the Ohio Lesbian and Gay Community
Volume 9, Issue 9 October 29, 1993
Cincinnati campaign comes down to the wire
by Charlton Harper
A petition seeking the removal of Issue 3 from Cincinnati's November 2 ballot was denied by Hamilton County Common Pleas Court Judge Richard Niehaus on October 25. The referendum to repeal the city's yearold lesbian-gay civil rights ordinance will proceed as scheduled.
The suit, filed October 8 by Equality Cincinnati, the League of Women Voters, and several individuals, said Issue 3 was discriminatory, and that proponents had misled petition signers to believe that the city's human rights ordinance gave "special rights" to lesbians and gays.
Efforts by Equality Cincinnati to defeat the measure will also continue.
Says Nancy Minson, president of Equality Cincinnati, "This [Niehaus' decision] has done nothing as far as the campaign goes. It is not a great loss. It has succeeded in bringing wider public attention to the misleading language that is on the ballot."
Niehaus had earlier denied a request to temporarily block the elections board from proceeding with the referendum.
Minson notes that campaign spending
has been evenly matched by both sides, with recently-filed campaign finance reports showing roughly $155,000 for both, though "we've been outspent by our opponents in every area except yard signs." The yard signs, numbering around 2,000, are matched
Vote No
no
by the presence of Equality billboards. "You can't go anywhere in the city without seeing one of our billboards," adds Minson. There are 40 of the boards, pictured below, with photos of Hitler, a Klansman, and 1950s witch-hunter Sen. Joseph McCarthy.
Never Again
On Issue 3
Decision awaited in Amendment 2 trial
Denver-District Judge Jeffrey Bayless beard final arguements October 22 in the trial challenging the constitutionality of Colorado's Amendment 2 and began deliberating whether he should strike down the anti-gay measure. While he did not say when a ruling might be expected, he did say "The sooner I will be able to rule, the happier I will be."
In closing arguments, Jean Dubofsky, the former state Supreme Court justice representing Amendment 2 challengers, said Colorado gays "are not here asking protection from discrimination-only the right to seek such protection, if necessary."
State Solicitor General Tim Tymkovich, defending the measure, argued that Amend-
ment 2 "is not a question of natural law or religion or moral judgment.”
"It's a question of whether public policy should be extended to a private group. And the people of Colorado made that decision on November 2," Tymkovich said.
The state, in defending Amendment 2, said gays earn more than average, have demonstrated their political clout many times and do not deserve protected status.
Final witnesses gave testimony October 20. A long list of witnesses, many of them lawyers or scholars in political science or philosophy, testified for both sides.
Questions still remain about the future of boycott efforts againt Colorado. Terry Schleder, who many view as the only active
says
member of Boycott Colorado Inc., the boycott will proceed, regardless of any ruling on Amendment 2, until Colorado passes a statewide bill protecting gays from discrimination.
However, efforts at introducing a lesbian-gay civil rights amendment to the state constitution are slowing. People for a Stronger Colorado, a group trying to repeal Amendment 2 with such an amendment, says it is far short of its goal of the 71,000 signatures it feels are needed to get the issue on the 1994 ballot. The group says that it has collected about 56,000 signatures, more than the 49,279 required, but still not the extra 30 percent it wants in case some signatures are declared invalid. ✓
Lakewood's Christian candidate speaks
by Tim Hilyard-Newborn Greg Cunningham is one of the candidates running for the position of City Councilman-at-Large in Lakewood. On June 25 the Chronicle ran an article about Cunningham's bid for office and his involvement with the Christian Coalition.
At the age of 24, Cunningham's political background is rather limited. In high school, he attended a program sponsored by the American Legion, in which high school students from across Ohio are sent to a campus to conduct elections in a mock government. Cunningham won his bid for "mayor" in his "city."
What he lacks in political acumen, he makes up for in honesty so rarely seen in a politician, and in passionate beliefs.
Cunningham desired the chance to speak to the gay community in response to the article so as not to be pegged as just the head of the Christian Coalition and a potential enemy. What follows are excerpts from a recent interview.
Tim Hilyard-Newborn: What made you decide to run for Lakewood City Councilman-at-Large?
Greg Cunningham: I became fascinated with our founding fathers. I started to do a lot more research. You start reading and you
see what the general attitude was back then and you think, we've lost our way... Specifically in political life, corruption used to be the exception, rather than the rule. Now corruption is the rule rather than the exception. I got a little irritated when I started realizing how much the political life affected our everyday living... Why Lakewood specifically? Well, I live here and I wanted to get involved... It is a learning experience.
How did you become involved with the Christian Coalition? Somebody had gotten a hold of my Continued on Page 3
Minson also notes that "Almost half of the money raised by our opponents, $75,000, came from Colorado for Family Values." That anti-gay group has extended its efforts beyond state borders in an effort to duplicate its earlier success with Amendment 2.
The fight against Issue 3 has been notable for the wide-ranging support Equality Cincinnati has received from leading mainstream community groups. A major win was the recent support from the Archbishop of Cincinnati, Daniel Pilarczyk. The daily Cincinnati Enquirer, and the Cincinnati Herald, the city's African-American newspaper, have also come out against Issue 3. Equality Cincinnati is also remarkable Continued on Page 3
Noll resigns Center board
by Kevin Beaney
Dolores Noll resigned her seat on the Board of Trustees of the Lesbian-Gay Community Service Center of Cleveland during an October 26 board meeting. She had resigned the board presidency after a heated exchange at the regular board meeting a week earlier on October 19.
Noll and the Center board have recently been accused of a racist attitude and agenda by board member Peggi Cella, a woman of color who has been urging that the Center "do its anti-racism work" as its first priority before approaching the people of color community. While the board is now moving forward with anti-racism training, it had already invited two people of color to apply for vacant board positions.
At the October 19 meeting, Cella objected strongly to the extended invitations, and directed her anger only at the white male members of the board, and at the president, according to a white male board member. Noll felt that resigning as president was "the right thing to do," and would hopefully remove an obstacle to the board's moving forward. Her decision to leave the board entirely came following a dispute about how to proceed with nominees for election.
Noll has served as president since June, 1992, succeeding Robert Laycock. Second vice president Joan Organ has become president pro tem, as first vice president Nick Palumbo's term ended this year.
The Center's annual meeting is scheduled for October 27, after the Chronicle's press deadline. Organ planned to ask the membership to vote to delay board elections until a special general membership meeting on January 12. That will give the board an opportunity to complete more anti-racism work and give the nominating committee time to revise its slate of board candidates. Noll said she will make a statement in the upcoming weeks about the events leading to her resignation.
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Check out the Stonewall political survey to see how candidates relate to gay issues
13
Dobama and Karamu u stage
a hard look at issues of race and class in American society
15
INSIDE
Comic Visto n of Charles
I udlam is seen in his Ridiculous Theatrical Company
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The struggle ecognition
for !
of women as part of the AIDS crisis is a slow uphill battle
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