GAY PEOPLE'S

Chronicle

Ohio's Newspaper for the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Community www.GayPeoplesChronicle.com

There's nothing like a dame

ROBERT OLAYAS

Mark Fant, left, Virgilio "Bhong" Fajando and Gamaliel Eguia give their best Dreamgirls impression, singing "One Night Only" in the North Coast Men's Chorus' spring concert on April 4. "On With the Show" featured songs from the last 60 years of Broadway musicals.

The oldest were 1943's Oklahoma!; Carousel, which made its Broadway debut in 1945, and 1949's South Pacific. The show continued through the 1960s with pieces from Sweet Charity, Dames at Sea, Bye Bye Birdie and others before entering the days of the modern classics with selections from Stephen € modern classi Sondheim's Sweeney Todd and A Little Night Music. Grease, of course, was represented, along with newer shows based on older material, like Mary Poppins, Big River, and Jersey Boys,

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The all-original Songs for a New World was represented with "I'd Give It All for You," and Wicked showed its green head with a medley. Next up for the chorus is "Totally Awesome '80s," their annual Pride concert, on June 20 and 21. For more information, go to www.ncmchorus.org.

-Anthony Glassman

Gay men tortured to death in Iraq

by Anthony Glassman

Baghdad, Iraq-Gay men in Iraq are being subjected to an increasing wave of violence as clerics call for their deaths.

On April 2, two gay men were shot by members of their tribe after leaders ordered their executions, days after the murder of four other gay men. A café in Sadr City, a neighborhood of Baghdad led by

anti-American cleric Muqtada alSadr, was burned. The café was a popular meeting spot for gay men, who were largely ignored during Saddam Hussein's reign.

Al Arabiya, an Arabic news network based in the United Arab Emirates, also reported that men suspected of being gay are being tortured to death throughout the country.

One form of abuse is reportedly the use of an Iranian-made surgical glue

Inside This Issue

Born to Trouble

The of

BOY TRANBLE!

Boy

which bonds permanently to skin. Gay men, and those suspected of being gay, are captured and have their anuses glued shut. They are then forced to drink a diarrhea-inducing fluid, which ruptures their intestine and painfully kills them.

Videos of the torture are being sent over the mobile phone network in the country, Iraqi human rights Continued on page 5

Change minds first, then laws, says ACLU's Matt Coles

Page 2

Community Groups

Charlie's Calendar.....

Resource Directory.

Worth 1,000 words Page 8

Classifieds ......

Volume 24, Issue 22 April 24, 2009

Over half of council to march in Pride parade

A dozen Cleveland council members to be grand marshals

by Anthony Glassman

Cleveland-This year, Cleveland Pride will have a dozen grand marshals for the parade and festival on June 21-all Cleveland city council members.

The selection reflects events in December, when the Cleveland City Council passed a domestic partner registry, which takes effect May 7.

The Pride committee selected twelve of the thirteen city council members who voted for the registry, out of 21 total. The only missing one is council president Martin Sweeney.

Pride president Todd Saporito said that the group chose to include only the rank-and-file council members because they were the ones who had put in the work to get the measure passed.

The grand marshals are almost a who's who of LGBT-supportive council members, including the city's only openly gay council member.

They include Dona Brady of Ward 19, Anthony Brancatelli of Ward 12, Joe Cimperman of Ward 13, Kevin Conwell of Ward 9, Brian Cummins of Ward 14, Martin Keane of Ward 21, Kevin Kelley of Ward 16, Mamie Mitchell of Ward 6, Michael Polensek of Ward 11, Joe Santiago of Ward 14, Jay Westbrook of Ward 18 and Matt Zone of Ward 17.

Conwell and Mitchell were the only African American council members to vote for the partner registry. Two other East Side councilors who voted against the measure said that they were pressured by local pastors to vote against it. "These city council members

deserve to be recognized for voting affirmatively for Cleveland's domestic partner registry," Cimperman said. "We are truly honored to be acknowledged by Cleveland Pride. We are proud of our stance in helping the LGBT community to make progress in its pursuit of equal rights."

Cimperman was one of the partner registry's champions in council.

For Joe Santiago, council's only openly gay member and only the second Latino to sit on the body, it's a triple honor, since it will be the third time he has been asked to be a grand marshal.

"It's a great honor," he said. "People don't understand the importance of serving as a grand marshal. It's very exciting."

"My colleagues and I have been working diligently to make Cleveland a progressive city for all people," he continued. "Now is the time to come together to improve our city all its residents."

Columbus Pride will be having their parade on the same day as Cleveland for the first time since 2000. Organizers have sent out invitations to prospective grand marshals but have not yet received replies, said coordinator Jan AdamsRichards.

The two festivals are working closely together this year to present a weekend of Pride festivities in northeast and central Ohio. Columbus Pride is providing reciprocity for those who attend Cleveland Pride: Admission to the weekendlong Columbus Pride festival is free with a Cleveland Pride wristband.

Democratic and labor groups join on two bills

by Eric Resnick

Washington, D.C.-What do LGBT job bias protections have to do with workers' ability to join unions? Plenty, according to the Stonewall Democrats and Pride at Work. The two groups have teamed up to pass a pair of bills related to both.

The National Stonewall Democrats are an LGBT group operating within the Democratic Party. Pride at Work is an LGBT group within the AFL-CIO.

have

Together, the two launched a project to help push the Employment Non-Discrimination Act and the Employee Free

Choice Act through Congress.

ENDA, which has not been introduced yet this year, protects LGBT workers from discrimination by sexual orientation or gender identity.

EFCA was introduced in the House by California Democrat George Miller and in the Senate by Massachusetts Democrat Edward Kennedy. It will make it easier for workers to organize, join unions and bargain collectively.

The joint project, launched April 20, is designed to bring organized labor to support LGBT issues in a more genuine way,

Continued on page 2