GAY PEOPLE'S CHRONICLE February 24, 2012

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www.GayPeoplesChronicle.com

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Stonewall Dems endorse 20 in primary

by Rob Rivera

Cleveland-At their January 28 and February 16 general meetings, the membership of Cleveland Stonewall Democrats voted on endorsements for the March 6 primary election.

In order to receive an endorsement, the candidate had to submit a questionnaire and get the votes of at least 60% of the voting members. The membership heard from candidates and had the chance to ask questions of them before voting.

Endorsements carry through to the November 6 general election should candidates win the primary election.

The endorsement process is something Cleveland Stonewall Democrats are very proud of. It is a thorough and thoughtful process and an important part of the group's work to move the equality agenda forward.

The conversations had throughout this process play a key role in building strong relationships that advance the mission of enacting pro-equality policies and laws at all levels of government. Members heard from an amazingly diverse group of candidates, some with long pro-equality records and several new faces.

The group is particularly excited to back

the candidacy of Jim Helmink, an openly Ohio Supreme Court

gay

candidate running for Ohio House District 60, which includes portions of Lake County.

UTE* 12-31-2014: Yvette McGee Brown

Rob Rivera is president of Cleveland Cuyahoga County Prosecutor

Stonewall Democrats.

U.S. Senate

Sherrod Brown

U.S. House

District 9: Dennis Kucinich District 11: Marcia Fudge District 16: Betty Sutton

Ohio House

District 6: Anthony Fossaceca District 11: Sandra Williams District 13: Nickie J. Antonio District 14: Mike Foley District 16: Todd LeVeck District 60: James Helmink

Subodh Chandra

Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court

FTC* 1-2-2013: Stuart A. Friedman FTC 1-5-2013: John P. O'Donnell FTC 1-12-2013: Cassandra Collier-

Williams

UTE 1-2-1015: Keith E. Belkin UTE 1-5-2015: Cullen Sweeney UTE 1-1-2017: Steve Gall

Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court Juvenile Division

FTC 1-1-2013: Frankie Goldberg FTC 1-2-2013: John H. Lawson

Cuyahoga County Issue 15

Health and Human Services Renewal Levy: Yes

* UTE is unexpired term ending, FTC is full term commencing.

Summit to review Ohio and local advances

by Zac Branstool

Columbus-LGBT activists from across Ohio will discuss the accomplishments of the past year and the challenges of the next one at the eighth annual Leadership Summit on March 3.

The conference, sponsored by the statewide LGBT political group Equality Ohio, will be from 11 am to 3 pm on that Saturday, at First Congregational Church UCC, 444 East Broad St. in Columbus. Parking for the summit is available in the church's lots.

The primary focus this year will be on efforts to achieve marriage equality in Ohio. Recent efforts striving for marriage equality will make this a hot issue for discussion and debate and makes this year's summit more important and timely than ever.

Secondary discussions will focus on ex-

panding the geographic and substantive scope of local LGBT-centric ordinances.

Ohio State University Law School fessor Marc Spindelman will deliver a keynote address, "More than Marriage," at lunch, and Cincinnati City Councilor Chris Seelbach will serve on the panel discussing local ordinances.

Additionally, there will be presentations from Ian James, who will be talking about the Ohio Freedom to Marry effort and the constitutional amendment, and Tom Nobbe, executive director of the 2014 Gay Games in Cleveland and Akron who will be giving an update on the status of the Games. Events for the day include:

Group welcome and introduction Successes and challenges in 2011 and

goals and challenges for 2012

Lunch (catered by J. Gumbos, with both vegetarian and vegan option.)

• Panel discussions on marriage equality and local advances, followed by breakout

sessions

The event is free, and those interested can register online at https://equalityfederation. salsalabs.com/o/35026/p/salsa/event/ common/public/?event_KEY=1542.

Please note that Columbus' monthly Gallery Hop occurs on March 3 as well. Come for the summit and stay for the hop!

Zac Branstool is Equality Ohio's director of communications.

Rally for marriage equality at Public Square

by Robert Kullman

Cleveland-Support Gay Marriage in Ohio, a Facebook community, has announced March 24 as the date for its Ohio

Wills

Trusts

Living Wills

Powers of Attorney

Domestic Partnership Agreements

Probate Administration Guardianships Shared Custody Agreements

Street Protest for Gay Marriage and Full Equality.

The main rally will take place at Public

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Square, from 11 am to approximately 2 pm.

The purpose of this protest is to bring to life opposition to the ban on same-sex marriage in the Ohio state constitution. The LGBT community wishes to educate the public on the discrimination that has been written into the Ohio constitution and demand equal civil rights under the law.

Support Gay Marriage Ohio is a Facebook community of over 184,000 people wanting to change discriminating laws in Ohio. The group was started by a 17 year old high school student from Harrison, Ohio.

Protests have already taken place last fall at the Statehouse in Columbus and Fountain Square in Cincinnati, both of which were covered by local media outlets.

Currently the Facebook event created for this protest has over 1,600 people saying they will attend, with over 16,000 yet to respond. More information is available at www.facebook.com/events/

297446103621236.

Robert Kullman is an organizer of the Support Marriage Equality demonstration.

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Volume 27, Issue 18

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