GAY PEOPLE'S

Chronicle

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

ROBERT OLAYAS (3)

Sister Olive of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence peruses the goodies offered by vendor Christopher Lonyo of Dade City, Fla., at Dancin' in the Streets.

Street performer Christopher Moskva reaches high off his stilts.

Julie Stanley dances with a flag.

Lower price brings bigger crowd to Dancin' in the Streets

by Anthony Glassman

Cleveland-The rebirth of Dancin' in the Streets and its return as a street festival was truly completed this year, with tickets returning to their 1984 prices for

the event's 25th anniversary on August 23.

Originally started as a street festival on West 9th Street downtown, it expanded throughout the years into an event held in venues like the Nautica Stage and Tower

Inside This Issue

Bet's Cak

City Amphitheatre before flagging attendance saw it canceled by the AIDS Taskforce of Greater Cleveland, the event's beneficiary.

Community activists would not let it die, however, and brought it Continued on page 11

Two cities pass equality measures on the same night Page 2

Community Groups...

Charlie's Calendar

Resource Directory.

The Piers in the '90s

Page 6

Classifieds

Volume 25, Issue 5 August 28, 2009

TG measure may have less support in council

by Eric Resnick

Cleveland-If a proposed city ordinance to bar discrimination by gender identity was put to a City Council vote today, only eight council members are committed to voting for it.

The Gay People's Chronicle asked all 21 councilors if they would support the measure in its current structure. Only ten responded to the written survey.

Councilors were told that all responses were on the record and that non-responses would be viewed as intent to vote against the ordinance.

The eight committed votes for the ordinance are its sponsor and council's only openly gay member, Joe Santiago of Ward 14, with cosponsors Michael Polensek of Ward 11, Joe Cimperman of Ward 13, Matt Zone of Ward 17, and Jay Westbrook of Ward 18.

Joining them are Phyllis Cleveland of Ward 5, Mamie Mitchell of Ward 6, and Dona Brady of Ward 19.

Council president Martin Sweeney of Ward 20 replied, "I do not deal in 'If's.'"

Ward 16 councilor Kevin Kelly wrote, "I am generally in favor but this ordinance needs more discussion before I can absolutely commit to voting for this ordinance." The ordinance passed the Legislative Committee on December 1, 2008.

Afterward, the city law department took the measure back for additional consideration and has not approved it yet, according to Santiago.

It is not clear what the law department's concerns are. Eight other Ohio cities, including Columbus and Cincinnati, have approved these measures without such difficulty, and there is little difference in the language granting the protection. The only differences are in how the ordinances meld with the city's already established codes.

Smaller cities, including Cleveland Heights and Bowling Green, drafted and adopted their measures expanding protection to transgender people in very short periods of time.

The Chronicle's survey suggests, however, that council support for the ordinance is not as strong as originally believed.

Last winter, the measure's backers believed it would have support similar to the domestic partner registry, which passed 13-7.

The Cleveland Stonewall Democrats have endorsed ordinance supporters Mitchell, Polensek, Cimperman, Brady, and Westbrook for re-election.

They also endorsed the uncommitted Sweeney and Brian Cummins over Santiago in the new Ward 14. Cummins did not respond to the survey.

Joe Santiago faces six opponents for council

by Eric Resnick

Cleveland-The city's first openly gay elected official is fighting to hold on to the seat in his newly reconfigured ward.

Joe Santiago, who is one of the most embattled members of city council, was first elected in 2005 to represent Ward 14. He is fighting an uphill battle against six primary opponents, including another incumbent.

The top two in the September 8 primary will face off in the general election on November 3.

A voter-approved charter amendment last fall eliminated two wards, including Brian Cummins' Ward 15 to the south of Santiago's. Cummins is running against Santiago for the new Ward 14, which includes part of the old 15. Also in the field is Santiago's predecessor Nelson Cintron, whom he defeated in 2005.

Cintron, embittered by the defeat but still with a base of support, made what turned out to be

unfounded allegations and led the city's first-ever council recall against Santiago in 2007.

Cintron did not accuse Santiago of violating a law or doing anything unethical or immoral, the usual reasons to recall an official.

Rebecca Kempton, who acted as a spokesperson for the recall group, told the Chronicle on the night Santiago won the recall election that it was over "political disputes," and that Cintron drummed up the other charges because filing the real reason on the recall petition would look like "sour grapes."

Since then, however, Santiago's battles have been with the daily Plain Dealer newspaper.

Shortly after the recall attempt, PD reporters Henry Gomez and Mark Puente began writing that Santiago was the subject of an FBI investigation.

The FBI rarely discloses the targets of its investigations to reporters or interviewees before Continued on page 11