GAY PLE'S

An Independent Chronicle of the Ohio Lesbian and Gay Community

Dining for dollars

Steffan speaks at HRCF fundraiser

by Kevin Beaney

On February 26 Cleveland joined the growing list of 25 cities that hold a fundraiser to benefit the work being done by the Human Rights Campaign Fund (HRCF), a national lesbian and gay advocacy group based in Washington.

Co-chaired by Anthony Scafaro and Wendy Zahler, the "Come Out for Equality" benefit attracted people from throughout Northeast Ohio and Western Pennsylvania, and featured a dinner and dance at Sammy's Metropolitan in the Huntington Building. Eleanor Hayes, WJW-TV 8 news anchor and more recently owner of the McDonald's restaurant in University Circle, was the master of ceremonies. Earlier in the day, Tim McFeeley, HRCF's executive director, noted that the most critical issue facing the lesbian and gay community nationwide, and where most of the money raised at this benefit would go, is in "fighting the anti-gay ballot initiatives we believe will be propounded by the radical right in eight or ten states in 1994." McFeeley was on hand to address the dinner crowd of more than 230.

The featured speaker for the evening was Joseph Steffan, the U.S. Naval Academy midshipman who in 1987 was dismissed for

Continued on Page 4

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CHRONICLES

TOM RITTER

Massachusetts state gay youth official David LaFontaine, high school student Rebecca Spence, and teacher Al Ferriera told a conference that their state's lesbian-gay-bi youth protections were equally possible in Ohio.

Volume 9, Issue 18 March 11, 1994

CLEVELAND PUBLIC LIBRARY

SOCIAL SCIENCES DEAT

New PAC formed

for initiative fight

Takes over from Citizens for Justice

Columbus-Gay civil rights leaders from across the state met here on March 6 to continue mapping out strategies to fight a possible anti-gay initiative, now a more immediate threat than it was two months ago.

Last month, a right-wing coalition called the Ohio Pro-Family Forum met secretly in Columbus to discuss seeking a ballot initiative possibly an amendment to the state constitution-that would prevent the state or cities from

Putting an end to teens' isolation

by Charlton Harper “There's an exciting revolution in the United States," said David LaFontaine, chairman of the Massachusetts Governor's Commission on Gay and Lesbian Youth. His remarks were part of the keynote address at the February 25 conference, "From Isolation to Solutions," a day-long series of workshops and seminars at the Cleveland Clinic addressing the needs and problems of lesbian, gay and bisexual youth. The event was sponsored by the Cuyahoga County Board of Mental Health, the Lesbian-Gay Community Service Center of Greater Cleveland, the Cleveland Clinic Foundation and

the Cleveland Foundation. Attending the conference were educators, mental health professionals, spiritual and community leaders, gay teens and parents.

LaFontaine's keynote address focused on the success his state has achieved in passing state legislation that protects gay teens and bans anti-gay discrimination in the schools. Governor William Weld signed into law such legislation in 1993. LaFontaine brought the message that what Massachusetts has achieved is equally possible here in Ohio. He was joined by Al Ferriera, an openly gay Boston high school teacher, and Rebecca Spence, an out lesbian high school

INSIDE

student at Concord Academy in Massachusetts.

Facing the hard cold facts surrounding gay teens was the catalyst for change in Massachusetts. Figures from many studies show that nearly 30 percent of all teen suicides involve gay youths. There are also staggering numbers that show wide-spread drug and alcohol use among gay teens. Risks of contracting AIDS and other STDs, Continued on Page 8

including gays, lesbians and bisexuals in anti-discrimination laws. The group has not stated its exact intentions but is expected to make an announcement near the end of March.

The 30-some leaders and representatives of gay-supportive groups who attended the March 6 meeting had hoped to begin the footwork in a campaign to combat the right-wing threat.

What they discovered instead was a changing of the guard within their own ranks. Ohioans Against Discrimination (OAD), a new political action committee, is taking over the reins of the campaign from Citizens for Justice, an offshoot of the statewide group Out Voice.

The move effectively eliminates Columbus attorney Jerry Bunge's job as Citizens for Justice project director.

Citizens for Justice has "not been able to raise the money to mount a statewide campaign," said OutVoice Chair Glorianne Leck of Youngstown. "I don't see friction at this point-it's a done deal.”

OAD is headed by Meg Richards of Cincinnati and includes several

Continued on Page 8

Florida vote stops on a technicality

Tallahassee, Fla. Floridians won't be voting this fall on a proposal to ban all local laws protecting the rights of lesbians and gays: the state Supreme Court says the measure can't go on the ballot.

In the 6-0 opinion on March 3, the court threw out the proposed constitutional amendment on procedural grounds because it failed to meet two requirements to make the ballot: all initiatives must deal with only one subject and the summary that appears on the ballot must clearly summarize the text of the amendment.

The head of the American Family Association of Florida, a conservative religious group that proposed the amendment, virtually ruled out redrafting the proposal for another try this year. Opponents had asked the court

to reject the measure on constitutional grounds, but the justices didn't go that far.

Attorneys who argued against the measure praised the ruling.

"It is the first time in the latest wave of anti-gay and anti-democratic initiatives that a state court has struck a measure from the ballot." said Suzanne B. Goldberg, a New York attorney for the Lambda Legal Defense & Education Fund. "The Florida Supreme Court's ruling is a critical national precedent. It makes clear that civil rights are not special rights—and it deals a powerful blow to the national radical right attack on lebians and gay men and civil rights generally."

The measure was one of 11 pending or potential state ballot initiatives, including one in Ohio, Continued on Page 4

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