4 GAY PEOPLE'S CHRONICLE April 6, 2012

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'Joyful Noise' to break day of silence

Cleveland-Hundreds of people from Cleveland's LGBT community and their allies will come together April 20 to support the hundreds of thousands of students across the country who take a vow of silence to bring attention to anti-LGBT name-calling, bullying and harassment in schools.

The Break the Silence event, "A Joyful Noise," will be held at the Terrace Club at Progressive Field from 5:30 to 10 pm and will include guest speakers State Rep. Nickie Antonio; Catherine Criswell, the director of the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Civil Rights for Cleveland and Akron; national and Northeast Ohio Gay, Lesbian and

Straight Education Network representatives plus a performance by the North Coast Men's Chorus.

According to an Ohio research brief based on data from GLSEN's 2009 National School Climate Survey, 9 in 10 LGBT students in Ohio experienced verbal harassment because of their sexual orientation and 7 in 10 because of the way they expressed their gender.

To view the full research brief of GLSEN's findings for Ohio or for further information on GLSEN's three-city "Break the Silence" tour throughout Ohio, see www.glsen.org. Sponsored by Plexus LGBT Chamber of

On being gay and a rabbi

by Laura Munson

Beachwood-Fairmount Temple is proud to welcome Rabbi Ben Sternman to the synagogue as part of the temple's Chevrei Tikva Victor Karp Memorial Weekend.

Rabbi Sternman was a member of Fairmount Temple and Chevrei Tikva (the LGBT group) in the 1990s, serving as president of the Young People's Congregation and on other committees and boards. In 1998, he left Cleveland to begin rabbinical school, HUC-JIR in Jerusalem and New York. After being ordained, he served at congregations in Texas and New York and was just named to the pulpit at Adat Chaverim in Plano, Texas.

All are welcome to join us on Friday, April 20 for a 6:15 p.m. Shabbat evening service. Speaking on "Being Gay and Being a Rabbi: A Jewish Journey," Sternman will share his personal story and the challenges and surprises he has encountered along the

way.

The following day, join Sternman at 9:15 a.m. for Torah study, followed by a Shabbat Minyan at 10:30 a.m.

Sternman will be guiding a discussion on Parashat Shemini and the issue of "Keeping Silent: Masking One's Emotion.”

Following the Minyan, Sternman will lead a noon Lunch and Learn on "David and Jonathan, Yochanan and Reish Lakish: Biblical and Rabbinic Love Stories." While the luncheon is free thanks to a generous donor, we are asking for the donation of non-perishable food to be donated to JFSA Food Pantry. RSVPs are needed for the luncheon by contacting Cathy Lipton at 216447-9539 or Clipton@fairmounttemple.

org.

Fairmount temple is located at 23737 Fairmount Blvd. in Beachwood.

Laura Munson is the communications director of Fairmount Temple.

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Commerce, Linear Creative, the North Coast Men's Chorus and the Plexus Education Foundation, this will be one of the largest gatherings of community members in support of GLSEN's National Day of Silence throughout the country.

Called a "Friend-Raiser," it will serve to bring the LGBT community and the community-at-large closer together and raise awareness of the National Day of Silence and the organizations involved.

✓

Raymond W. Jasinski is the event coordinator for A Joyful Noise.

NOM

Continued from page 2

"We also recognize the opportunity—the disproportionate potential impact of proactively seeking to gather and connect a community of artists, athletes, writers, beauty queens and other glamorous noncognitive elites across national boundaries." They note Carrie Prejean, the beauty queen who spoke out against same-sex marriage.

The part of the strategy document that has raised the most ire, however, is the "Not a Civil Right" Project, which claims, "The majority of African-Americans, like the majority of Americans, oppose gay marriage, but Democratic power bosses are increasingly inclined to privilege the concerns of gay rights groups over the values of African-Americans."

It called for a $1.5 million budget to "fine, equip, energize and connect AfricanAmerican spokespeople for marriage; to develop a national media campaign around their objections to gay marriage as a civil right."

It also called for establishing opposition to same-sex marriage as a marker of Latino identity, and as a form of rebellion for youth to oppose assimilation into Anglo society. "NOM's underhanded attempts to divide will not succeed if black Americans remember their own history of discrimination. Pitting bigotry's victims against other victims is reprehensible; the defenders of justice must stand together,” said Julian Bond, chairman emeritus of the NAACP.

The National Black Justice Coalition's executive director, Sharon Lettman-Hicks, noted, "These documents expose NOM for what it really is a hate group determined to use African American faith leaders as pawns to push their damaging agenda and as mouthpieces to amplify that hatred."

"NOM is fighting a losing battle," she added. "With these memos made public, the black faith community must refuse to be exploited and refuse to deny their fellow brothers and sisters equal protections under the law."

She also noted that Coretta Scott-King and Rep. John Lewis, both civil rights pioneers, supported same-sex marriage. ✓

Coleman

Continued from page 1

is currently employed by the Obama reelection campaign.

Coleman works for the Ohio State HighPatrol as a drivers' examiner.

way

"I was really disappointed with council's decision," Coleman said. "Based on the live interview, it appears that they picked their choice ahead of time. I could have brought so much to the leadership of our city."

Coleman said in the meantime he will seek appointment to the Board of Zoning Appeals or the Cemetery Commission.

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