6 GAY PEOPLE'S CHRONICLE January 16, 2009

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Stonewall Dems name new officers

by Cliff O'Neill

Columbus-The Stonewall Democrats of Central Ohio are happy to announce their 2009 executive committee.

The new board, elected January 6, is President Mel Fuhrmann, vice president of Political Strategy Bill Hedrick, VP of Communications Cliff O'Neill, VP of Membership Brett Warner and Secretary-Treasurer Michael Sheline.

Mellissia (Mel) Fuhrmann is a prosecutor with the Columbus city attorney's office. Earlier, she has worked for the Ohio attorney general's office in the crime victims' services section. She is a 2006 graduate of Capital University Law School and a 1998 graduate of Kent State University, with a major in political science. She was a member of the law school Democrats while at Capital. After graduation in 2006, she worked for the Ohio Democratic Party on its Voter Protection Initiative. She has also been active in local politics, serving on the campaigns of Shawn Dingus and Ed Leonard.

Hedrick has previously served as presi-

dent of the Stonewall Democrats of Central Ohio in both 2002 and 2008. He is vicechair of the Franklin County Democratic Party and was a judicial candidate in 2004. Hedrick also serves as president of the BRAVO board and is employed as the first assistant city prosecutor for City Attorney Richard Pfeiffer's office.

O'Neill has been an SDCO member since 2005 and is the president of Rock Ledge Consulting, a Macintosh consulting business in Central Ohio. Prior to moving to Columbus in 2005, O'Neill served on the boards of several LGBT organizations in South Florida and spent over five years as a syndicated writer in Washington, D.C. covering gay and AIDS issues for more than 25 of the nation's alternative weeklies.

Warner has been a member of the SDCO since 2002 and has served as both the VP of communications and VP of membership. He resides in the Beechwold neighborhood of Columbus with his partner of more than 20 years, Bob, and their retired racing greyhound, Duncan. Brett works for Vision Service Plan as a provider networks specialist and has served on that company's Diversity Awareness Team.

Sheline is a life-long Columbus resident and a member of SDCO since 2007. He is a regular volunteer and central committee member of the Franklin County Democratic Party and a volunteer and member of the "Hand Me Down Dobes" Doberman Pincher rescue. Sheline is also the current grant evaluator and fiscal auditorfor the Ohio attorney general's office. He lives in central Columbus with partner of 12 years, Art Wills.

Established in 1997, Stonewall Democrats of Central Ohio is dedicated to ensuring sensitivity, understanding and support for issues of importance to the LGBT and allied communities; educating, promoting and electing Democratic candidates who are supportive of such issues; and organizing, educating and energizing the LGBT and allied communities to work for, support and elect these Democratic candidates.

Cliff O'Neill is the vice president of communications for the Stonewall Democrats of Central Ohio.

Symposium will answer pressing questions

by Sonja Leftwich

Cleveland-The newly restructured Cleveland Black Pride has taken an aggressive approach to supporting and providing much-needed educational services in the black LGBT community.

Their 2009 Annual Symposium offers the community an opportunity to learn and question experts on pertinent and pressing issues within the LGBT communities, and specifically the LGBT community of color.

The February 7 symposium will have four presentations, starting at 12 noon at Cleveland State University's Mather Mansion third floor, 2605 Euclid Ave.

The four sessions, Homophobia in the Black Church; HIV, AIDS and STDs; Do-

mestic Violence in the LGBT Community; and Transgender Issues, will be followed by a panel discussion and anonymous question submission.

The speakers for this year's event are Rev. Hattie Alexander of the New Birth Church in Detroit, Michigan; Rev. Dewery Edwards of Akron; Vera Paul Jarrett, director of the John T. Carey Center for Immunology at University Hospitals; Tamila Campbell, LPN with Caremark Medicare; Det. Deirdre Jones of the Cleveland Police Department's Domestic Violence Unit; Cathy Alexander, former director of the Center for the Prevention of Domestic Violence; Ever Bolden, a transgender man, and Dr. Cynthia Vrabel, medical director of Mental Health Services.

This is the first year that the symposium has been separated from Black Pride, usually the first weekend in August, in an effort to heighten awareness of the symposium. The event continues to be free, provided as outreach to the LGBT community.

Due to the large response received from speakers, Cleveland Black Pride also plans to conduct smaller "coffee house" discussions in the next few months.

For more information, contact www. bgpcleveland.com, www.myspace.com/ clevelandblackprideinc, e-mail symposiuminfo@bgpcleveland.com or

call 216-322-5131.

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Sonja Leftwich is the secretary of Cleveland Black Pride, Inc.

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