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GAY PEOPLE'S CHRONICLE April 6, 2012
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www.GayPeoplesChronicle.com
NOM in hot water for memos on pitting gays vs. blacks
by Anthony Glassman
Washington, D.C.-The group leading the national campaign against marriage equality has been widely criticized after documents were released last week showing it tried to drive a wedge between the LGBT and African-American communities. The memos also described efforts to recruit pretty but vapid celebrities to counter Hollywood's
influence on the "culture wars."
The National Organization for Marriage's papers were obtained on March 26 through a Maine Ethics Commission complaint filed by Fred Karger, a California LGBT activist who has been battling the group because of their involvement in Proposition 8. They were publicized by the Human Rights Campaign.
The Maine case came about after a 2009
campaign to void a new marriage law there. NOM, which routinely dodges campaign contribution laws to hide its donors, is contesting a Maine requirement that it reveal them. So far, it has not done so.
NOM has said it will campaign against a new Maine initiative to enact full marriage by ballot this fall.
The group's August 11, 2009 National Strategy for Winning the Marriage Battle includes "The Latino Project: A Pan-American Strategy," the "Not a Civil Right" Project and the Next Generation Leaders Project, among other initiatives.
That document includes the statement, Continued on page 4
Student sues school for banning pro-gay T-shirt
by Eric Resnick
Cincinnati-A gay high school student has filed a federal lawsuit against his school district, claiming they violated his constitutional right to wear a T-shirt declaring "Jesus is Not a Homophobe."
The student, Maverick Couch, is suing the Wayne Local School District and Waynesville High School principal Randy Gebhardt. He is seeking an injunction to restrain the school from interfering with his right to wear the
shirt, and monetary damages.
The suit was filed April 3 in U.S. District Court in Cincinnati. Lambda Legal is representing Couch with Cincinnati attorney Lisa Meeks.
Waynesville is in northern Warren County, about 15 miles southeast of Dayton, in a socially conservative area of the state.
Sing this Easter at Grace
Easter Vigil; Saturday, April 7, 8:30 p.m.
Grace hosts a variation of the Traditional Easter Vigil, beginning with a bonfire, sacred stories and s'mores. We end with a taste of resurrection. Trumpets and Organ will lead us with Fanfare and Variations on Noël Nouvelet as we sing the first Easter Hymn, Now the Green Blade Rises.
Resurrection Mass; Easter Sunday, April 8, 10:00 a.m. As we celebrate the Resurrection of Jesus the Christ, Grace members, and friends and family throughout the greater community are encouraged to sing and share God's love freely gifted to us in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus the Christ. Trumpets and Organ will again lead us as we sing and experience the classic music of the "Hallelujah Chorus" from the Messiah by Handel, the Old Hundredth by R. Vaughan Williams, and the Symphonie V Toccata by Charles-Marie Widor. Grace will then host a festive Easter reception.
Grace Lutheran Church
13001 Cedar Road Cleveland Hts., OH 44118 www.graceheights.org
Fairmount Temple and Chevrei Tikva Welcome
RABBI BEN STERNMAN
"Being Gay and Being a Rabbi”
Rabbi Sternman was a member of Fairmount Temple and Chevrei Tikva (the GLBT group) in the 1990s before leaving Cleveland and his job to begin rabbinical school. After being ordained, he served at congregations in
Texas and New York.
All are welcome to join us on:
FRIDAY, APRIL 20TH
6:15 PM Shabbi
Being Gay and Being a Rabbi
Joumey, Rabbi Stemmar
story and the challenges
he has encountered.
ANSHE CHESE FAIRMOUNT TEMPL
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discussion
Reish
SAVE THE DATE Friday, June 22, 6:15 p.m. Shabbat Service Celebrating Gay Pride 23737 Fairmount Blvd., Beachwood, OH 44122
www.fairmounttemple.org
216-464-1330
According to the complaint, in April, 2011, Couch wore a T-shirt with a rainbow Ichthys, or sign of the fish, and the slogan to observe the National Day of Silence.
Gebhardt called Couch to his office and instructed him to turn the shirt inside out. Couch complied.
Couch discovered that he should have the right to wear the T-shirt, and wore it Continued on page 10
Maverick Couch
king the
ESUS IS NOT HNOPHORE
equa
Anti-gay bus tour to be opposed at most Ohio stops
by Anthony Glassman
Steubenville, Ohio-The anti-gay Family Research Council's national bus tour will swing through Ohio in mid-April, with stops in nine cities across the state.
In most of those, Get Equal is coordinating events opposing the "Values Bus" tour stops by the FRC and the Heritage Foundation.
The first stop is in Steubenville on April 9, followed by Columbus on the April 10. On the 11th, there will be stops in Fairfield and Cincinnati, followed by Franklin on April 12 and Findley on April 13.
Toledo will have to deal with them on April 14, followed by stops in Westlake and Cuyahoga Falls on April 15.-
As of March 27, only the Steubenville and Franklin stops were going unopposed. In Fairfield, the counterprotest will be at 6320 South Gilmore Road at 6 pm; in Cuyahoga
Falls, it will be at River Square at 3 pm.
The first two stops will be "Your Money, Your Values, Your Vote" rallies, while the Cincinnati stop will be a voter registration event at Cincinnati Christian University. In Fairfield, they are calling the stop an “Empower U Event."
The Toledo, Cuyahoga Falls and Dayton stops are being linked to the Tea Party, while in Westlake, they will be at Church on the Rise.
According to the bus tour's website, the Heritage Foundation's focus will be on a budget plan, while the Family Research Council offers "Materials on Defending Life, Marriage and Religious Liberty."
Information about the Cuyahoga Falls protest can be found at the event's Facebook page, which also lists organizers who can be contacted. It is at www.facebook.com/ events/327960333929970.
Coleman not chosen for Medina council; he may run
by Eric Resnick
Medina-The City Council passed over an LGBT activist and former Equality Ohio staffer for appointment to a vacant seat, but he is keeping the door open to run for the seat in 2013.
Had he been appointed, Dan Coleman, 27, would have been the city's first openly gay official. Coleman sought the appointment to fill the unexpired Ward 1 seat vacated when Andrea Burdell-Ware moved out of the city and resigned.
Council chose local restaurateur Brian Hilberg, 43, on March 26. Also in the run-
ning was former Ward 1 councilor John Wetzel, 83.
Medina is often viewed as a distant suburb of Akron, about 20 miles to the east, and of Cleveland, the same distance north.
Coleman and his partner Jay Smith are politically active in Medina. Smith ran for an at-large council seat in 2009, with his campaign managed by Coleman. He was defeated, then was appointed to the city's Utility Rate and Review Commission and the Uptown Park Advisory Committee. He Continued on page 4
Marriage is banned, but Ohio judge divorces men
by Anthony Glassman
Columbus-A judge who handles alternative resolutions to disputes granted two gay men a divorce in mid-March, seeing an apparent gap in the state's same-sex marriage ban amendment.
The men, Jonathan Baize and Stephen Wissman, were married in New York in September, and later decided to divorce.
Baize's attorney, Thomas J. Addesa, said that Judge Donald Cox granted the divorce after a perfunctory ten-minute hearing.
While the 2004 amendment to the Ohio constitution defines marriage as an opposite-sex institution, Adessa told the Colum-
bus Dispatch that it does not mention di-
vorce.
Apparently Cox, a former Cuyahoga County judge, agreed. Appointed by the court in Columbus, he has been assigned cases in 25 counties across the state and handles around a thousand divorces a year. Anti-gay groups filed a brief urging Cox not to grant the divorce, citing the amendment. According to their argument, granting the divorce would indicate governmental recognition of Baize and Wissman's marriage, which would contravene the marriage ban amendment.
Continued on page 9