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GAY PEOPLE'S CHRONICLE March 9, 2012
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www.GayPeoplesChronicle.com
Maryland governor signs marriage equality law
by Anthony Glassman
Annapolis, Md.-March came into the state capital like a lion. The roar was the cheer of the crowd watching as Gov. Martin O'Malley signed the state's law legalizing same-sex marriage in Maryland.
"For a free and diverse people, for a people of many faiths, for a people committed to the principle of religious freedom, the way forward is always to be found through greater respect for the equal rights of all, for the human dignity of all," O'Malley said. "Religious freedom was the very reason for our state's founding. At the heart of religious freedom is the freedom of individual conscience."
Marriage
Continued from page 1 Campaign may cost $10 million
An initiative campaign to repeal the marriage ban amendment will likely cost $8-10 million, and require tens of thousands of volunteer hours. In comparison, the 2011 Ohio referendum that preserved the bargaining rights for public employees cost the losing side $12 million and the winning side $42 million.
Ohio's LGBT community has proactively waged two initiative campaigns, both successfully: the 2003 Cleveland Heights measure that created the domestic partner registry, and the 2004 initiative that repealed the anti-LGBT Charter Article 12 in Cincinnati.
In both instances, a significant amount of work was done prior to proposing anything for the ballot. In Cleveland Heights, Heights Families for Equality began organizing, training volunteers, working with field experts from the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, and raising preliminary funds a year earlier.
In Cincinnati, the same process took two years, and both were still difficult cam-
"If there is a thread that unites the story of our people, it is the thread of human dignity, the dignity of work, the dignity of family, the dignity of every child's home, the dignity of every individual,” he continued. "We are one Maryland, and all of us, at the end of the day, want the same thing for our children: to live in a loving, stable, committed home protected equally under the law."
A reception open to the public followed at the governor's mansion.
Opponents of marriage equality have filed paperwork to begin the referendum process. They are attempting to get repeal on the November ballot. If they fail, the
paigns. During his later presentation to the summit, newly-elected Cincinnati Councilor Chris Seelbach, an organizer of the Citizens to Restore Fairness repeal group, talked about that effort and the work done beforehand.
James said early in his presentation that this proposal came about after a month of social media and on-line organization that started out as a campaign to cajole Columbus Mayor Michael Coleman into joining a list of U.S. mayors that support marriage equality. But it quickly grew into a statewide ballot initiative.
"It's important and necessary that we pursue this," James said. "We can walk and chew gum at the same time. We're adults."
"We have stirred it up a bit," James said. "This is what democracy looks like."
Of the successful online petition effort aimed at Coleman, James continued, "This is growing bigger than we thought it would be. We need to expand beyond central Ohio."
"And at the end of March we'll birth a petition," James said.
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Worth coast men's chorus
richard cole, artistic director
PRESENTS
CLEVELAND
ROCKS
SATURDAY, MARCH 24, 2012
8PM
SUNDAY, MARCH 25, 2012 3PM
Waetjen Auditorium Cleveland State University Music & Communications Building 2001 Euclid Ave. Cleve and, Ohio 44115 Advance Sales $10-$35 Door Sales $15-$40
marriage law goes into effect in 2013.
The will need to get 56,000 valid signatures to put the measure on the ballot. Behind the effort is the Maryland Catholic Conference, MDPetitions.com, spearheaded by Del. Neil Parrott, and the Maryland Marriage Alliance, comprised primarily of black ministers.
Polling in the state has shown a starkly divided populace, with 50 percent supporting marriage equality and 44 percent opposed.
Maryland is the third state this year whose legislature has passed a marriage equality bill. Washington's was signed into law by Gov. Chris Gregoire, while New Jersey's
was vetoed by Gov. Chris Christie, who said he thought the matter should be put on the ballot for the people of New Jersey to decide.
With the marriage bill passed, the legislature is now turning its attention to a bill that would add gender identity and expression to state anti-discrimination laws. The Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee held a hearing on the bill on February 28. A similar bill passed the House of Delegates last year but died in the state senate. This year's iteration prohibits discrimination in housing and employment, like last session's bill, but also adds public accommodations.
Activists from across Ohio gather at summit
by Eric Resnick
Columbus-Participants in the eighth annual Leadership Summit were pumped up by presentations by members of Congress and candidates for Congress, emphasizing the importance of the LGBT constituency within the Democratic Party.
Tim Ryan of Youngstown and Akron, and Mary Jo Kilroy of Columbus talked about the pro-LGBT bills they support and their records. Ryan has no primary. Kilroy does, and her primary opponents in the newly-created 3rd Congressional District are former House Minority Leader Joyce Beatty and State Rep. Ted Celeste. Celeste appeared with his older brother, former Ohio governor Richard Celeste. Beatty reminded voters that she sponsored the first gay-inclusive hate crime bill in Ohio.
Senator Sherrod Brown was represented by his aide Max Blachman. Blachman, who is gay, told the summit that the Ohio Senate race will determine whether Harry Reid or Mitch McConnell will lead the U.S. Senate.
Openly gay candidates Sandra Kurt, running for Summit County Council and Terry Brown, running for Franklin County Recorder, also addressed the group.
The summit also featured representatives of small, medium and large cities, talking about pro-LGBT activity in their areas. Introducing the panel, Equality Ohio's program director Kim Welter pointed out that some Ohio cities have passed many measures. "We have communities who don't know what to do next."
Discussing small cities was Leslye Huff of East Cleveland. Huff talked about that city's new human rights ordinance.
Medium cities' concerns were addressed by Rick Incorvati of Springfield. The Springfield city commission had
failed to pass their human rights ordinance the week before.
Gay Cincinnati Councilor Chris Seelbach told of his ordinance to give health benefits to domestic partners of city employees. That ordinance will pass this spring.
Lunch speaker Marc Spindelman, a gay Ohio State Law School professor who has written extensively on marriage equality, spoke about "More than Marriage."
Spindelman's said LGBT rights are following two separate tracks in the United States the "civil rights model" and the "politics of the dispossessed."
Spindelman described the civil rights model as operating at federal and state levels. It is a legislative agenda that currently includes marriage and other political landmarks.
"Each milestone broadens acceptance of same-sex couples and marriage will follow as a matter of course,” said Spindelman.
Spindleman says the politics of the dispossessed is an agenda of people in the most need and at the most risk of never being given a fair shake.
Spindelman described those folks as including incarcerated people, homeless youth, those who are HIV positive, the hungry, the trafficked and others who don't always have the advantage of "respectability."
"There are no rewards and no headlines for those working for the dispossessed," Spindelman said, "and meeting their needs often requires the community to air dirty laundry, which risks setting the legislative agenda back."
"It's not necessary to run the agendas square and hard against each other," Spindelman continued. "We need to map ways to run the civil rights agenda and the agenda of the dispossessed together."
ERIC RESNICK
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ESCENE
Former Ohio House Minority Leader Joyce Beatty was one of several candidates who spoke to the Leadership Summit.