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December 19, 2008 GAY PEOPLE'S CHRONICLE

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Fire damages café and shops near Tool Shed bar

by Anthony Glassman

Cleveland-The Tool Shed and Man's World, two gay bars on the near west side of the city, had a close call Sunday night as a fire in the basement of their building damaged two other storefronts.

Ohio City Café's dining area was heavily damaged, along with much of a clothing and alterations shop next door to it on West 29th Street.

The Shed, Man's World, the Dean Rufus House of Fun, other stores and the apartments above them all filled with smoke, but the firefighters kept the blaze from spreading.

The fire was spotted just after 11 pm on December 14, although building and bar owner Richard Husarick believes it might have been smoldering in a basement employee lounge for as much as an hour beforehand.

A homeless man was staying in the room where the fire began.

"We have an employees' lounge area under the café and the clothing store, a microwave, sofa, television, for them to go down and have lunch, take a break, whatever they need to do," Husarick said. "I met this kid... at my church, he said he was a homeless person and he was looking for some work."

"I gave him some work around our building, and told him if he didn't have a place to stay he could stay in our lounge area so he wasn't out in the cold," he continued.

The man had been in the basement before the fire started and then left.

"I don't know if he's frightened or scared," Husarick noted. "They're looking for him right now."

The water and heat have been restored to the apartments above the damaged shops. Husarick said December 16 that was hoping to have power restored within a day so tenants could return home. He expects insurance would take about a month to pay for repairs, but he has already been in contact with contractors.

In the meantime, the Ohio City Café kitchen is intact, and Husarick hopes to put tables and chai out on the ance floor of the Shed so that the café can operate out of the bar during the day.

"We're going to have them open on the Tool Shed side during the day so they can maintain and operate until we can get them back open," he said. "Beverage Distributors gave us a sign to put out there saying they're remodeling."

While smoke from the fire spread throughout the building, the damage was far less severe than it could have been had the blaze not been brought under control so quickly.

At the Dean Rufus House of Fun, where half the stock is clothing, owners Dean Rufus and Tom Bayne said they had smoke damage.

Throughout the ordeal, people gathered at Man's World waiting for the all-clear. The area has seen its share of problems in the last year.

Last December, tenant Joey Melaragno was shot in his neighbor's apartment upstairs during what was believed to be a drug

ANTHONY GLASSMAN

Firefighters in reflective gear check the Ohio City Café for remaining sparks after

a December 14 fire damaged it and several adjacent businesses.

deal gone bad, and in August two men attempted to carjack community activist Jon Brittain a block from the bar, bringing an immediate increase in security.

Husarick mentioned that efforts were under way to get a grant for surveillance

cameras in the area to keep an eye on the streets, similar to those in other Cleveland neighborhoods. Business owners have agreed to help cover the difference if the camera systems cost more than the grant provides.

Registry

Continued from page 1

published by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life titled "Same Sex Marriage," an interview with Rick Santorum.

A former Republican U.S. senator from Pennsylvania, Santorum is known for a number of anti-gay statements, including his 2003 equation of gay sex with "man on dog."

Black councilors lobbied by ministers

Before the Finance hearing, it became known that a politically active group of influential, mostly black ministers called United Pastors in Mission were starting to oppose the measure.

The group's president is Rev. C. Jay Matthews of Mount Sinai Baptist Church. Matthews also chairs the local NAACP's Black Leadership Commission on AIDS. United Pastors in Mission's director is Rev. Marvin McMickle of Antioch Baptist Church, who is active in Democratic Party politics and was considered to fill the 11th District seat when Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones died.

Antioch has a noted AIDS ministry and McMickle authored the book A Time to Speak: How Black Pastors Can Respond to the HIV/AIDS Pandemic.

Neither minister is generally considered to be anti-LGBT, however, both clearly have a role in trying to thwart the registry. Matthews and McMickle deny doing it themselves, but colleagues of theirs lobbied black, east side councilors, threatening them with recall if they voted for the registry, or with opposition in the next election.

Ward 1 councilor Terrell Pruitt was appointed to fill a vacancy created when Nina Turner was elected to the Ohio Senate. However, to keep the seat, Pruitt needs to win a special election on December 23 in what has become a close race.

Pruitt co-sponsored the registry ordinance, but voted against it.

Asked directly if he had been strongarmed by ministers, Pruitt said "Yes."

Pruitt said he still supports the registry, calling it "a good concept, a good idea."

Pruitt said the threats caused him to withdraw support for the registry and vote against it, and that it was purely related to his special election.

ROBERT OLAYAS

Rep. Dennis Kucinich, a former Cleveland councilor and mayor, returned to the Finance Committeee to speak in favor of the registry.

"I couldn't risk having the ministers, who don't have all the facts, on the pulpits preaching against me on Sunday," Pruitt said.

McMickle said that he has no opinion one way or another about the registry and came to the Finance Committee hearing to "see what was happening and what it was all about."

He denied taking any position opposing the measure, and wrote a letter to the daily Plain Dealer challenging a story that implied that he had.

Zack Reed, who represents the east side Ward 3, voted against the registry. But he said of McMickle, "He said things privately that are different from what he said publicly."

Reed said he was not intimidated by what ministers said, but others were.

Reed said he opposed the registry all along because he "doesn't think legislation should deal with private issues."

"My job is not to deal with households," Reed said.

Reed did, however, say he would vote for an ordinance to add gender identity to the city's non-discrimination codes.

"I have been a friend to the LGBT community and I will continue to be," Reed said.

Coats said he was "philosophically uncomfortable" with the registry. He did not know that opposite-sex couples could register, too.

"It would not have made a difference had I known," Coats said.

However, Coats agreed that the ministers were having an effect on black councilors.

"The ministers in my community are dead against it," Coats said.

Asked if he had been threatened with recall, Coats said, “I was not, but certainly the implication was there."

Matthews said that originally he did not oppose the registry, but began to oppose it when he was not consulted.

"The more I read and talked, the less I understand it," said Matthews, "and I spent a day talking to members of council and the legal department." Matthews was at the Finance Committee hearing, and said he does not understand why the ordinance was rushed.

"The rush created chaos," said Matthews. The registry ordinance was never on a fast track. It was introduced in August.

Matthews said his group is "not a monolithic community" and that not all members oppose the registry.

UPM will lead ballot measure

"It is our aim to put it back in front of council," Matthews said of the registry.

Matthews said he was not sure how it would be done, but talked about putting the measure on the ballot for the public to decide.

"If Cleveland votes for the registry, it takes nothing from me," Matthews said. "I could live with that."

"There may be others who choose to do other things," Matthews said.

Matthews said a group of ministers was

meeting to decide what path to take to put the measure on the ballot.

"Council chose to exercise their option," said Matthews. "Some of us have chosen to exercise our option."

Asked if he would lead the group, Matthews said, "I'm not considered the leader. There are others who may be farther ahead."

Cleveland's charter gives two ways to put a matter before the voters.

The referendum option gives opponents 40 days to gather signatures equivalent to 10% of the total vote in the last municipal election. That was in 2005, when 102,283 ballots were cast, meaning 10,228 signatures are needed. If they succeed, the ordinance would be halted until a special election is held.

The other way is through initiative. This would involve collecting 5,000 signatures to put a new ordinance on the ballot repealing the one council passed.

The only difference is timing. A successful referendum drive would stop the registry from taking effect; an initiativewhich can be done any time-would challenge what was passed whether it is in effect or not.

Matthews said the only decision for his colleagues is to decide which path to take.

LGBT community is mobilizing

The Very Rev. Tracey Lind, the out dean of Trinity Cathedral, met with members of Matthews' group.

She will not discuss what was said. Her spokesperson Rebecca Wilson said Lind believes "conversations between faith leaders should be private and prayerful." Whatever transpired, however, did not dissuade the registry opponents.

Another group led by David Caldwell is organizing to protect the registry should it make the ballot.

Caldwell led Heights Families for Equality, the group that created the Cleveland Heights registry by initiative.

Caldwell, a nationally known expert on ballot initiatives, has since served as a resource and trainer for the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force and was the field director for the campaign attempting to defeat Florida's 2008 marriage ban amendment.

Both groups are expected to launch campaigns within weeks.