2 GAY PEOPLE'S CHRONICLE June 1, 2012

www.GayPeoplesChronicle.com

Body Language sold to owner of Southern LGBT stores

by Anthony Glassman

Cleveland-A year short of the store's 30th anniversary, Paul Zeitzew is selling Body Language, a fixture at West 115th Street and Lorain Ave.

Zeitzew will be 80 in July, and quipped, as he has many times before, "I didn't plan to be the oldest man in America selling dildos."

The store is being purchased by Darian Porter, owner of Inz and Outz, LGBT stores with locations in Memphis and Little Rock.

Body Language is one of the longestrunning LGBT commercial establish-

NAACP

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wrote the textbook on mobilizing the masses for jobs and freedom," Jealous told the Creating Change audience.

The announcement at the NAACP's Miami quarterly meeting came ten days after President Obama made headlines by affirming that he believes same-sex couples should be allowed to marry-a statement he has been reluctant to make since running for the White House.

The board of the 103-year-old civil

ments in Cleveland. It was founded in 1984 by activists Linus Herrell and Ray Burton. When Herrell's health began to fail, his partner Steve Schochet bought it from him. Herrell passed away in 1990.

In 1993, Schochet sold the store to Zeitzew, who expanded the store, tripled its sales and began selling over the internet as well as in the brick-and-mortar establishment.

The other early LGBT establishments still operating in the city are the Leather Stallion Saloon, the Paradise Inn, and Flex, originally the West 9th Street Club

rights group passed a resolution stating: "The NAACP Constitution affirmatively states our objective to ensure the 'political, educational, social and economic equality' of all people. Therefore, the NAACP has opposed and will continue to oppose any national, state, local policy or legislative initiative that seeks to codify discrimination or hatred into the law or to remove the Constitutional rights of LGBT citizens. We support marriage

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The store, and Zeitzew himself, have long supported Pride and the Cleveland LGBT Center, among other community organizations. During the Cleveland Leather Awareness Weekend's first years, Body Language was a pioneer in its vendor mart. The store has brought in special guests ranging from noted authors to impressively endowed porn stars, and Zeitz insisted on stocking a selecti of LGBT literature beyond the pornographic, even when sales did not neces-

equality consistent with equal protection under the law provided under the Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution. Further, we strongly affirm the religious freedoms of all people as protected by the First Amendment."

In releasing the statement, NAACP board Chair Roslyn Brock said that the NAACP's mission "has always been to ensure the political, social and economic equality of all people." And she promised

sarily warrant it, making sure there were items for women as well as men at the store.

He is a former president of Chevrei Tikva Havurah, the LGBT synagogue now operating under the auspices of the Fairmount Temple. Through his work with Body Language, Zeitzew received awards from the Cleveland LGBT Center, Northern Ohio Coalition, Inc. and the AIDS Taskforce of Greater Cleveland.

After 19 years of dedication, “I just want to do nothing until I get tired of that," he said.

the NAACP would “oppose efforts to codify discrimination into law."

The New York Times reported that its sources indicated only two board members failed to support the resolution. The board includes 69 people.

The organization's press release about the board's vote explained that its support for marriage equality was "deeply rooted" in the constitutional guarantee of equal protection of the law.

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