GAY PEOPLE'S

Chronicle

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

Volume 27, Issue 21 April 6, 2012

BRIAN DEWITT

Theresa and Regina Hayes of Cleveland join hundreds of other couples in a kiss as the mass wedding ceremony concludes.

Tom Morgan of Get Equal leads the crowd in a chant: "I am somebody. I deserve full equality right now."

Jonathan Simcox and Steven Ondo hold their rings to be blessed by Father Michael Brown, off camera at right.

I do

Hundreds of couples marry in Cleveland mass wedding

by Anthony Glassman

and Brian DeWitt

Cleveland-Thousands of people poured onto Lakeside Avenue in front of City Hall on March 24 for a rally for marriage equality. Later, almost 250 couples were wed in the Galleria in a symbolic mass wedding.

The event was the brainchild of Adam Hoover, a 17-year-old from the Cincinnati exurb of Harrison who had already organized similar events in Cincinnati and Columbus last fall. The big difference between Cleveland and the other two cities, he said, was "only 3,300 more" people attending this most recent rally.

He put attendance at 3,645 people after repeatedly counting the crowd in the Galleria with a hand counter. By contrast, the largest number of people in a Cleveland LGBT Pride parade was 3,022, in 2006.

Ed Mullen, the executive director of Equality Ohio, emceed the

rally from the steps of City Hall. The organization spent around $3,000 on the rally, and rented out the Galleria for the wedding ceremony. Above City Hall, a rainbow flag flew.

Mullen credited Mayor Frank Jackson's chief of government affairs Valarie McCall for her help in closing Lakeside Avenue for the event, which Councilor Joe Cimperman also attended.

The mass wedding was broken into two ceremonies, as the 247 couples that had registered were too many for the space available. They were held in the food court, which was emptied of its tables and festooned with flowers.

When couples registered, they were given tickets, and the tickets' colors matched placards taped to the stage to denote different faith traditions. Wedding emcee Jamie

Continued on page 9

Ohio equality bill gets a House hearing

by Eric Resnick

Columbus-The Ohio House Committee on Commerce and

Labor heard sponsor testimony on 2

the Equal Housing and Employ-

ment Act on March 28. Backers hope the bill will have additional hearings.

The measure, known as EHEA, is sponsored by Reps. Ross McGregor of Springfield, a Republican, and openly lesbian Nickie Antonio of Lakewood, a Democrat.

It would bar discrimination by sexual orientation or gender identity in public and private employment, housing and public accommodations. Twenty-one states and 17 Ohio cities have similar laws in place, but there is no equivalent federal one.

Versions of the measure have been introduced in the Statehouse since 2003. EHEA passed the

Inside This Issue

National Freedom to Marry will. not back the Ohio effort

Democratic-controlled House in 2009 by a vote of 56 to 39, but did not clear the Senate. That year, McGregor co-sponsored it with former Rep. Dan Stewart of Columbus.

The Commerce and Labor committee has nine Republicans and six Democrats. Among the Republicans are McGregor and Terry Blair of Washington Township, who were among the five Republicans who voted for the bill in 2009. Also a member, however, is Lynn Wachtman, a lead opponent who repeats a common talking point that the bill violates antigays' religious liberty.

With Republicans now in control of the House, William Batchelder of Medina serves as speaker.

Batchelder was a vocal opponent of the measure in 2009, and Continued on page 9

News Briefs..

Page 3

Charlie's Calendar

Resource Directory....

A ballad for the ages

Page 6

Classifieds....