GAY PEOPLE'S

Chronicle

Ohio's Newspaper for the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Community⚫ www.GayPeoplesChronicle.com Volume 25, Issue 10 November 6, 2009

Eight out candidates

DALE PRESTON FOR OBERLIN COLLEGE

win in Ohio cities

State now has more openly gay and lesbians officials than ever before

by Anthony Glassman

Of a dozen openly gay or lesbian candidates in Ohio elections this week, eight have won, giving the state more out elected officials than it has ever had before.

All of the candidates sought seats on city councils or school boards. Three newcomers were elected, while five more will keep their offices. A sixth incumbent lost her bid for re-election.

In Cuyahoga County, Nickie Antonio of Lakewood and Mark Tumeo of Cleveland Heights were both re-elected to their city councils on November 3.

Tumeo edged out the nextclosest vote-getters, Mary Dunbar and Jason S. Stein, to keep his seat. Four council seats were up for election. Tumeo, along with fellow incumbents Bonnie Caplan and Edward Kelley, will join newcomer Cheryl Stephens in those positions.

In Lakewood, incumbent Antonio was the top vote-getter for three at-large council seats. She will join Brian Powers and Monique Smith on the council. Ryan Patrick Demro, another incumbent who has been accused of being anti-gay, came in fourth, losing his seat.

In Akron, Sandra Kurt, a founder of the Stonewall Democrats of Summit County, beat out her Republican opponent to win 57.8% of the vote for the Ward 8 city council seat. Judge Jerry Larson, who was appointed by the governor to fill a vacancy on the Akron Municipal Court, bested two opponents to take almost 48% of the vote.

the

Kevin Johnson won Ward 1 seat on the Portsmouth city council, near Ohio's southern tip, with 59% of the vote. His opponent Michael Mearan received 41%.

Carol Fey took a seat on the

school board in the Columbus suburb of Bexley with 48 percent of the vote, compared to just over 42 percent for opponent Marlee Snowdon.

In Dayton, Joe Lacey was handily re-elected to the school board. With the top four vote-getters winning their seats, Lacey, first elected in 2005, came in second. All four were incumbents. Only newcomer James Weir, with the fewest votes, failed to get a seat on the board.

Eric Resnick, a long-time Gay People's Chronicle staff reporter and a 1996 congressional candidate, was elected to the Canton school board. Resnick won 50% of the vote in a field of three, with 1,600 more votes than the nearest candidate, William Smith. Incumbent Ron Duff came in last.

Resnick ran on a platform urging that a tax levy be put on the ballot to raise funds needed for a projected shortfall in state school appropriations, arguing that the schools presented the best chance to rebuild the struggling city.

Not everyone won, however. In Medina, just south of Cleveland, Jay Smith lost his bid for an at-large council seat to Paul Rose, Sr., who took just over 61 percent of the vote.

In Thorn Township, east of Columbus in Perry County, Marci McCaulay was edged out for one of two township trustee seats. Rick Wilson led the pack by a large margin, taking 685 votes, followed by Dale Factor with 413 votes. McCaulay lost by a mere seven votes, with 406. In Trenton, near Cincinnati in Butler County, Kyle Peavley came in fifth for the city council race. He will not be on city council this term.

Sophia Rodriguez also lost her re-election bid for Celina City Council president to Jason

Inside This Issue

No more 'them' and 'us'

Bishop V. Gene Robinson speaks to a crowd of nearly 500 people at Finney Chapel on Oberlin College's campus on October 27 Robinson was chosen as the Episcopal bishop of New Hampshire in 2003, the first time an openly gay person has held the post. His elevation exposed deep rifts in the global Anglican Communion between progressives, primarily in Europe and North America, and conservatives in the "global south" and their allies in the post-industrial west.

Robinson treated guests to his life story, from his youth in Kentucky to delivering the invocation at the kickoff for President Barack Obama's inauguration.

He pressed for those who benefit from racism, sexism and homophobia to help in the fight against those institutionalized forms of discrimination.

"It won't be over until there's no more 'them' and 'us,' " he was quoted by Holly Roney in the Oberlin Review. "We can keep up our strength because we know how this is going to end."

King, 58 to 42%. Rodriguez has held the post for two years. Celina is near the Indiana border, about 25 miles southwest of Lima.

The eight candidates that won this week will join two other out Ohio officials to give the state ten openly gay or lesbian elected

-Anthony Glassman

Two out of three ain't bad

Wins in Washington and Kalamazoo

officeholders when they take soothe a likely loss in Maine

their seats in January. The other two are Wood County Commissioner Tim Brown, who is up for re-election next year, and Montgomery County Common Pleas Judge Mary Wiseman, whose term ends in 2011.

Ban on HIV+ people entering U.S. will end in January

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by Anthony Glassman

Olympia, Wash.-In two out of three LGBT-related issues around the nation in the general election, the pro-gay sides were victorious on November 3.

In Washington, the pro-gay side kept a domestic partner law that conferred most of the state rights of marriage on unmarried, registered couples, beating back a strong challenge by just 2.2 percent of the vote.

The issue has been a contentious one, with anti-gay groups successfully delaying the release of names on the petitions placing the issue on the ballot. They argued that those who had signed the petitions faced threats and recriminations if their names were placed before the public.

Community Groups .......

Charlie's Calendar ......

Resource Directory

Pictures of Lily

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Classifieds ......

In Kalamazoo, Michigan, voters approved adding LGBT people to the city's antidiscrimination ordinance.

The measure included both sexual orientation and gender identity, adding those terms to the city's protections for employment. housing and public accommodations. It passed with 7,671 votes. compared to 4,731 against.

"This marks an important victory for Kalamazoo, where voters have affirmed that lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people are part of the fundamental social fabric of the city, which now joins nearly 20 other cities in Michigan that have enacted nondiscrimination ordinances," said Rea Carey, executive director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force. "In affirming fairness, voters also rejected a reprehensible right-wing campaign grounded in lies and fear-mongering."

Things were not looking so rosy Continued on page 2