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GAY PEOPLE'S CHRONICLE JUNE 20, 1997
August date set for Cleveland Black Gay-Lesbian Pride
Continued from page 1
Black Pride board member Sharon Young hopes that a Black Pride event will get vital information into the hands of people who may not feel comfortable coming to the Cleveland Lesbian-Gay Center or other gay groups.
"People are afraid," Young said of some
individuals feelings regarding the Center and other white-run organizations. “The door is open but they are afraid to come here."
A few people may be wondering, 'Why hold a Black Pride in Cleveland when there already is a Pride day that includes everyone?'
"Why not?" said gay African-American Lincoln Pettaway, who recently returned to
Suburbs add gays to housing laws
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Madeline Cain has promised to sign it.
"I'm really glad that we were able to move forward in this fashion," said council president JoAnn Boscia. "I think this is a real positive move for the community."
Westlake did not take the matter before the city council. Instead, city law director
"We'll go back to other cities after we have some successes under our belt and say, 'Look, you need to do this too.""
David M. Lynch issued a memorandum to municipal departments interpreting the existing Chapter 515 of the Westlake Municipal Code to include sexual orientation. The chapter prohibits housing discrimination based on a number of factors, including sex.
The letter, signed by Lynch and circulated in early June, states: "Be advised that discrimination on the basis of sex includes activities such as discrimination based on sexual orientation. Therefore, enforcement of a pro-
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hibition against discrimination in housing because of sexual orientation is included by law as an area subject to enforcement under the terms of our Code."
"If you receive complaints related to this area, please act accordingly in compliance with this interpretation of Chapter 515," the letter added.
The legal order does not carry the same weight that an ordinance would, and could be eliminated by a new city law director.
However, Lynch said that the effect of his interpretation is to bring about enforcement, and so "this has the same effect as if there were an amendment to the ordinance."
He added that it is possible a potential defendant might try to find an alternative interpretation in a court case, but “some judge would have to disagree with my interpretation" to make it invalid.
The memo does not demand further administrative or legislative action, so Mayor Dennis M. Clough's signature is not required.
Both communities took the action at the request of Stonewall Cleveland members. The gay political organization approached both cities late last year and asked that they amend their current fair housing codes to include "sexual orientation" among the list of protected categories. Other cities were also approached, but were less receptive.
"We'll go back to other cities after we have some successes under our belt and say, 'Look, you need to do this too,' Stonewall member John Farina said.
The next cities that Stonewall plans to approach are the Cleveland suburbs of Euclid and Parma.
"I think the fact that this has been a relatively easy process in the cities we have worked with speaks volumes about how far our community has come in the last few years," Farina added. "We're being viewed with respect, and recognized as the citizens and taxpayers that we are.”
Nine Ohio cities, with an eighth of the state's population, now include gays and lesbians in their civil rights ordinances. Like the four above cities, Oberlin and Yellow Springs have equal housing ordinances. Cleveland, Columbus and Youngstown have measures that cover private employment, public accommodation, and other areas as well as housing. Cleveland's employment ordinance makes job bias a criminal offense, rather than a civil one.
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Cleveland after serving in the military. "Most larger cities such as Atlanta, Houston, Chicago, Washington D.C., and New York have a Black Pride celebration. You would think that more people would be asking why Cleveland doesn't have a Black Pride."
Pettaway said that he has talked to people who have expressed an uneasiness with the idea of another Pride, due to the lines which this event may draw in an already stratified community. "The reality of the situation is that the gay community is already divided." he said. "Cleveland Black Pride is just honest enough to recognize it. The fact of the matter is that gays in Cleveland and the United States as a whole have quite a ways to go before they become inclusive enough to not need a Black Pride."
"A Black Gay Pride Day is so important for black lesbians and gays to feel proud about
who they are," organizers added. “We are not misfits. We are doctors, lawyers, educators, construction workers, secretaries, and a host of other occupations."
As part of their long-range goals, Cleveland Black Pride plans to sponsor a Black Gay and Lesbian Leadership Conference and to continue to host a Black Pride day or weekend each year.
The cost for the August 17 event will be $6 in advance, and $8 at the gate. Call 216-5564704 for more information.
Anyone interested in sending a donation to help support Black Pride '97 can make checks or money orders payable to Cleveland Black Pride, P.O. Box 602093, Cleveland, Ohio, 44102. Cleveland Black Pride is currently in the process of receiving its non-profit certification, which will then make donations tax deductible.
Bar patrons roughed up in raid
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"employees of the bar were selling narcotics."
In a phone interview on Friday, June 13, Hastings confirmed that a "powder substance" was removed from the bar, and that four males were arrested. The four men who were arrested, among them Visions owner Michael Cochrane, were not charged, and were released late Friday afternoon. The bar was open for business Friday evening.
On June 18, Hastings said the powder had been tested and determined to be cocaine. He wouldnot say how much powder there was, saying that it relates to the evidence of the case, but said it was a "substantial amount."
The results of the investigation will now be turned over to a grand jury.
"If indictments are issued by the grand jury, [the men] will be re-arrested," Hastings said.
Cochrane said that "five or six small baggies" were found on the floor by agents and confiscated. He believes they were dumped by someone who was carrying them.
Cochrane said he was as surprised by the raid as anyone else. He said he had called someone in the narcotics unit five weeks ago to discuss an ongoing problem he was having with a suspected drug dealer. He identified the person as "Sgt. Mayor."
When contacted by the Chronicle, Cleveland Police Sgt. David Mayor said he "was not allowed to talk to reporters," and referred the reporter to Hastings.
"If they have an owner that recognizes that he has a problem and he's barring alleged drug dealers, then why wouldn't they come work with me?" Cochrane asked. "Why aren't the police coming to me and saying, 'I understand through this Sgt. Mayor that you're barring drug dealers from your bar"? You would think that he would have said, 'Okay, this guy is trying to do what he can do to control these problems.' Unfortunately, it backfired and went the opposite direction.”
Cochrane said that the police were very belligerent towards him, his employees and customers during the raid.
"They got egg on their face when they went in there with this attitude that everyone was involved in some sort of drug cartel that everybody in Visions, including the owner, the patrons and the doorman was in cahoots," Cochrane said. "They got very frustrated when they could not find what they wanted to find. Based on what their informants told them, they expected to get a huge amount of illegal substances."
"I still cannot believe this happened," said bar patron Ron Greenwald. "It was so surreal that some of us thought it was a joke. We thought they might be strippers."
Greenwald soon realized that it was not a joke when he said one of the officers "smacked me against the head for no reason."
Jim Bloor was also present during the raid and said patrons who failed to get out of the way fast enough for storming police were shoved into brick walls and assaulted with rifle butts. Some of these people, Bloor said, were women and people with AIDS.
"No one offered any resistance," Bloor said. "No one knew what was going on. It was like, 'Is Andrew Cunanan in here?" " (Cunanan is a gay man wanted by the FBI for a series of murders). He added that those who asked police why they were being detained were told to "shut the fuck up," while others had rifle barrels shoved
into their necks, effectively pinning them to the wall. Bloor said that when he tried to observe what was happening, police yelled at him and told him to turn around and face the wall.
Greenwald said he heard officers ask a female who was present, “Are you a man or a woman?" Bloor said he talked to a man who had a rifle shoved against his neck. "When the guy said [to police], 'Do you have to stick me with that rifle?' the officer answered, 'I could stick it up your butt, but I think you'd like that." "
Cochrane said that he heard the word fag used repeatedly by police, and that they referred to the club's male DJ as a "little princess."
Witnesses said that it was a full fifteen minutes into the raid before an officer announced that a search warrant had been issued "for this bar, and all the customers in it."
Individuals were told to face the wall and put their hands in the air while police frisked them, emptying pockets and wallets. People were then sent out of the bar one by one.
After he was searched, Greenwald recalls being told by police, “Leave now, don't look back, keep walking and don't congregate in front of the club."
Sgt. Hastings said that while a SWAT team's actions during a raid may seem heavy-handed to civilians, their primary purpose is to ensure the safety of everyone involved.
"We don't know what's in there," Hastings said. "Usually guns and drugs mix. We don't want the officers' or patrons' safety compromised. We have to go in very carefully at first before we can secure the premises."
ACLU executive director Christine Link said that misbehavior by police during a drug raid is not uncommon, and that the court's sympathy is usually on the side of the police.
"The courts are generally disinterested unless you can produce somebody who has broken bones, or damaged major organs," Link said. "Being roughed up and having cops being mean to you is generally not something the courts have sympathy for regardless of who you are. The reality is that in urban areas, the police are given wide girths on this stuff."
Link added that she did not want to discourage people from filing complaints with the Cleveland police's civilian review board if they felt they were mistreated or treated differently because they were gay.
Hastings added that individuals who feel they may have been mistreated by police during the raid can file a written complaint at any Cleveland police district station or at the civilian review board in room 15 of City Hall.
Linda Malicki of the Cleveland Lesbian and Gay Center said the center could act as a liaison with the police department, but only if people come forward. So far, only one person has registered a complaint at the center.
"We need people who were there and eyewitnesses to call us and make reports to us," Malicki said. "They can do it anonymously, but without eyewitness reports, we can't move.’
Bloor remembered a time a few years ago when he had been the victim of a gay bashing in Los Angeles.
"They were not as hateful as these cops were. I was more afraid of these cops than I was of the gang members that bashed me. Any confidence comic once held for the police has been completely destroyed."
Dawn Leach and Tom Rappa contributed to this story.