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GAY PEOPLE'S CHRONICLE

September 25, 2009

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www.GayPeoplesChronicle.com

Incumbent is 'cautiously optimistic' in ten-way race

by Eric Resnick

Cleveland Heights-The city's first openly gay councilor faces a crowded field in his bid for re-election.

Mark Tumeo, 50, a professor of civil and environmental engineering at Cleveland State University, says he's "cautiously optimistic" in the ten-way contest for four seats. Two of the others, Mayor Ed Kelley and Bonnie Caplan currently serve with Tumeo on the council. A third incumbent, Nancy Dietrich, is not seeking re-election. The top four votegetters will be seated.

All seven Cleveland Heights councilors serve at large. Tumeo was elected in 2005, credited with defeating the anti-gay Jimmie Hicks, who, among other things, sued the city in an attempt to jettison a domestic partner registry passed by voters.

Jason Stein, who would like to become the city's first Orthodox Jewish elected official, is among the field this year. He also ran in 2005. The remaining candidates are Gary Benjamin, Mary Dunbar, Fran Mentch, Toby Rittner, Cheryl Stephens and Keba Sylla.

Tumeo is endorsed by the Cleveland Heights Democrats, the Cuyahoga County Democrats, the Cleveland Stonewall

Democrats and the Lesbian and Gay Victory Fund, a Washington, D.C. group that backs gay and lesbian candidates. He is expecting some endorsements from labor organizations

to come.

During his first term, Tumeo guided the city to make its website more interactive.

"Now you can pay your taxes, your water bill and sewer bill online and all forms are available as PDF files," Tumeo said.

"The website is a tool in today's age," Tumeo said. "People who look at the city go there first."

Tumeo carried the ordinance passed last month to add gender identity and expression to the city's anti-discrimination which already includes sexual orientation. He also introduced the first resolution proclaiming Pride Month in his first year in office, and every year since.

Currently, he is working on a bio-tech incubator to go into a vacated drug store.

Tumeo said he's trying to get funding through a congressional earmark to create the start-up facility to produce hand held bioelectrical devices that would, among other things, predict seizures.

According to Tumeo, Cleveland Heights faces challenges with economic

development, home foreclosures, and maintaining services amid a declining population. To deal with this, Tumeo is a major proponent of regionalization, including his proposal of consolidation with neighboring University Heights.

"The next four years will be about looking at our government structure to see if we are organized most efficiently in order to deliver services," if he is re-elected, Tumeo said.

"We have to look at reducing our costs and our carbon footprint," he added. He wants to see investment in green homes, too.

Tumeo returned to Ohio from Alaska in 1997. He taught at the University of Alaska, where he and fellow faculty member Kate Wattum successfully sued for domestic partner benefits.

Before winning the suit, he was the target of vandalism and death threats. The university tried to fire him, but could not, due to tenure.

Tumeo faces nothing like that as a member of the Cleveland Heights council.

Tumeo has support in the city's large Orthodox Jewish community, and his being gay rarely comes up unless he brings it up, as was the case when talking to a young school student about bullies. Tumeo told the student

he was bullied in school because he is gay.

For Tumeo, being the first openly gay official in what is arguably Ohio's most LGBTfriendly city is an honor.

"Whenever someone is the first, there's a tendency to benchmark that person," Tumeo said. "People look to see how you're going to act."

"I'm responsible and I take care of all of Cleveland Heights like a good council person does. Being gay doesn't mean that I have been different.'

Tumeo's partner, Jeff Stark, attends some campaign events, but does not work on the campaign. Stark's family does, though. Tumeo's campaign is on line at www.tumeoforcouncil.org.

BRIAN DEWITT

'Kill gays' singer's Columbus show moved to new venue

by Anthony Glassman

Columbus-Jamaican dancehall singer Buju Banton's latest U.S. tour has felt the sting of LGBT protests, and cancellations continue to plague him.

Shows in Columbus and Cincinnati were both canceled following protests against the singer, whose most famous song, "Boom Bye Bye," promotes shooting gay men in the head, burning them with acid and setting them on fire.

But the Columbus show is back, at a new location. Originally slated for Lifestyles Pavilion, it has been moved to the Alrosa Villa nightclub and a day earlier, October 2.

The date was left open by the cancellation of his Cincinnati stop, where he was to play Annie's Entertainment Center on Kellogg Ave, just blocks from Adonis, a gay and lesbian nightclub.

In all, 13 shows have been canceled on the tour, although the new Columbus date and an October 21 Austin, Texas show were added.

Two other shows in Texas were nixed, one in Dallas and one in Houston. Austin is a relatively liberal town, and it's unclear what reaction promoters will get from the populace, known for their left-wing politics and love of music.

Banton has also lost shows in Richmond,

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Va., Chicago, Minneapolis, Salt Lake City, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Tampa and Orlando. There was no Cleveland show.

Banton first came to prominence in 1988 with the release of "Boom Bye Bye," recorded when he was 15.

In 2004, he was charged with participating

House

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Dispatch that it would get a hearing, but that he doesn't see a need for it.

"Other people are getting that evidence and information [of discrimination], but I am not," Harris told the Dispatch. "I talk to business people all the time, and they're saying it's not an issue."

The Chamber of Commerce intends to try for its amendments again in the Senate, where they will be taken more seriously and possibly be used to prevent a vote on the bill's merit, or complicate conference negotiations.

The National Federation of Independent Business of Ohio, a close ally of the Chamber, is now weighing in against the bill. They are a constituency that Harris, a former Chevrolet and Cadillac dealer, takes seriously.

The federation's legislative director Ty Pine told the Dispatch, "We recognize the reality that this is going to mean, quite potentially, additional lawsuits against employers, many of which will not have committed discrimination and will not have been found as such but will still have to pay exorbitant legal bills."

The wrangling started even before the House reconvened, with two Republican members of the Rules and Reference Committee, Minority Whip John Adams of Shelby and Assistant Minority Whip Kris Jordan of Delaware, missing a September 14 meeting in an apparent attempt to keep the bill from coming to the floor at all. Both voted against it in the full House vote.

Ironically, Jordan replaced the bill's former Republican sponsor Jon Peterson, who retired last year.

'These are not special rights'

Democratic sponsor Dan Stewart of Columbus began the House floor debate by telling members that passing EHEA is "the moment history has brought us to."

"This has nothing to do with gay marriage, and these are not special rights," Stewart said.

Stewart reminded members that both Ohio's House and Senate include sexual orientation and gender identity in their nondiscrimination rules, as does the State of Ohio in an executive order signed by Governor Strickland in 2007.

in a group attack on six gay men in Kingston, Jamaica, but was later acquitted.

He was a 2007 signatory of the Reggae Compassionate Act, a "treaty" under which reggae and other Caribbean artists pledged not to perform songs with violent homophobic content, but he later denied having signed the document.

Stewart recalled the testimony of Jimmie Beall, a teacher who was fired by a central Ohio school system for being lesbian.

"This is a gifted teacher who had received awards and I have become friends with this teacher over time," Stewart continued.

"I understand how deeply she's loved," said Stewart. "I'm a Facebook friend and I see the messages from former and current students in her new position about how she helped guide them."

"Why would we want to fire someone like that?" Stewart said. "It does happen. It did happen, and it will continue to happen unless we enact House Bill 176."

The chamber chuckled when Stewart talked about the gay couple living across the street from him "who have been together longer than both of my marriages combined."

Stewart said that at the time of the Declaration of Independence, "all men are created equal" had a different meaning than it does

now.

"Of course, we were only talking about white men who own property, but over time we have adjusted and amended as we've made the changes necessary as we've grown as a nation," Stewart said.

"I think it's one of the great things about democracy that we can grow and amend and change," Stewart said. "From time to time we have made positive changes to recognize injustices and discrimination."

"We don't have to agree with or be like someone else to afford them the same rights we have. We only have to understand that we hold these truths to be self-evident, and that the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness includes the ability to make a living and to have a roof over your head."

Dodging the Chamber's amendment

Most of the 80 supporters wearing Equality Ohio buttons in the gallery were probably unaware of what played out before them after Stewart spoke.

Some of the attorneys in the Democratic caucus used a parliamentary maneuver to keep the Chamber of Commerce amendment from coming to a vote, which allowed party members to later vote unanimously for EHEA.

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