Columbus Gay Realtor

Starbucks, Google, Alcoa Latest Major Corporations to Endorse Marriage Equality in Washington State

2012-01-25T16:24:00.001-05:00

FORIMMEDIATE RELEASE: January 25, 2012
Zach Silk | Washington United for Marriage

Starbucks, Google, Alcoa are latest MajorCorporations to Endorse Marriage Equality in Washington State

Major employers join more than 100 small,medium and large businesses supporting equal civil marriage for lesbian and gaycouples

OLYMPIA – Washington United for Marriage, a broad statewide coalition oforganizations, congregations, unions and business associations that will workto obtain civil marriage for lesbian and gay couples in Washington State, todayannounced that Starbucks, Google, Alcoa and dozens of additional smallbusinesses are supporting marriage equality legislation, SB 6239 and HB2516. These companies bring the total number of supportive businesses toover 100, including industry leaders such as Microsoft, Nike and Group Health Plan.

“We thankStarbucks, Google, Alcoa and the more than two dozen other businesses thatrecently came out publically in support of marriage equality,” said Lacey All,Chair of Washington United for Marriage. “Marriage equality provides amultitude of intangible benefits to Washington businesses. Recognizingthe relationships of all – irrespective of sexual orientation – means an openand innovative business climate that ensures fundamental fairness and basiccivil rights for all. The addition of these companies continues to showthat momentum in Washington State is on the side of equality for allWashingtonians.”

At thistime, six states plus the District of Columbia recognize marriage for same-sexcouples under state law: Connecticut, Iowa, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, NewYork, and Vermont. Nine states—California, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois,Nevada, New Jersey, Oregon, Rhode Island, and Washington—provide same-sexcouples with access to the state level benefits and responsibilities ofmarriage, through either civil unions or domestic partnerships. Same-sexcouples do not receive federal rights and benefits in any state.

WashingtonUnited for Marriage Business Coalition
16Copenhagen
A NewChapter
Adrift Hotel
Alcoa, Inc.
AmericanFamily Insurance
Area 58 FineArt
AtticusCoffee & Gifts
Attorney atLaw, P.S.
BarbaraGrant Consulting Group
Big Mario'sPizza
BimbosCantina
Bizible
Blue MoonBurgers
Boo Radley's
BrandQueryLLC
BrandQuery,LLV
BusinessDiversity Counseling Services
CapitolFlorist
CentralPhysical Therapy & Fitness, Inc.
CG TechServices, Inc.
Cha ChaLounge
Choke ShirtCompany and Prints
Chris PorterMedical
Clean AirLawn Care
ConnerRemodeling &Design, INC.
Connors andCompany
Concur
Cordova LawFirm
CupcakeRoyale
Dani WeissPhotography
DBL PropertyMaintenance
DMLInsurance Services, Inc.
Elliot BayBook Co.
Freeman LLC
Fun Fitness
Fuzed Travel
Group HealthPlan
Go GreenDirectory
Google
Havana
HillsideQuickie Restaurants
Inn atDiscovery Coast
IntegratedFinancial Group
James Braden
Jason Rumohr
JSW Ventures
Juju
KellyPrinting & Graphics
Kill RockStars
KingsHardware
Lagoma Lodge
Law Office ofAllen Draher, PLLC
LGBTQCounseling Servicecs
Liberty Cafe
Local 360
Local GrownCafe
Local RootsFarm
Microsoft
Moe Bar
Mx2 ComputerConsulting
Nike
NorthmoonArtistic Creations
OntoEntertainment
Out ThereMonthly: The Inland NW Guide to Outdoor Recreation
PacificForest Resources
Pike StreetFish Fry
Poquitos
PortlandArea Business Association
PrecisionDoor Service
Rain CityEntertainment
RealNetworks
Ric-O-Shay
Screenplay,Inc.
SeattleCigar Expo
Seattle GayNews
SeattleInteractive Conference
SeattlePopcorn Company Inc. DBA Uncle Woddy's Caramel Corn
SeattleRestaurant Alliance
SeattleTattoo Expo
SerendipityCatering
Skylark Cafe& Club
Spitfire Bar& Grill
SpokaneWireless Inc.
Starbucks
Stoel Rives
TangoRestaurant
The 5 PointCafé
The ClarkCompany
TheCrocodile
The Red Door
The Saint
The WeddingGentleman
Thinking CapCommunications & Design
ThirdPlanetProductions
Thom'sHand-Brewed Coffee
True North,PLLC
Tula'sRestaurant and Jazz Club
Tutta BellaNeapolitan Pizzeria
Unicorn Bar
VeriteCoffee
VistaDiagnostics International
Vulcan
Wed4LessNorthwest
WhidbeyWayfarer Farm
Wild SageAmerican Bistro
ZenithDiversity
Zim's MobileComputer Services LLC

WashingtonUnited for Marriage is a coalition of organizations, congregations, unions, andbusiness associations working together to secure civil marriage for loving,committed gay and lesbian couples. To find more information and learn how youcan help, visit WashingtonUnitedForMarriage.org. Engage with Washington United forMarriage on social media at Twitter.com/WA4Marriage and at Facebook.com/WashingtonUnited.

- 30 -

Columbus Dispatch: Harrison West and Clintonville lose development fights

2012-01-24T18:48:00.000-05:00

The story is here

Two city neighborhoods lose development fights

Harrison West apartments, Clintonville parking lot OK’d

By Doug Caruso

The Columbus Dispatch Monday January 23, 2012 11:31 PM

Columbus City Council members approved two construction projects tonight despite opposition from residents who urged them to uphold city-approved neighborhood plans.

About 100 people packed the council chambers, about half of them from the Harrison West neighborhood just south of Ohio State University and about half from Clintonville.

In the Harrison West case, the council unanimously approved allowing the Wagenbrenner Co. to build a 108-unit apartment building on a 1.9-acre parcel that was planned for no more than 75 units. In the second, council members voted 6-1 to allow the Wesley Glen Retirement Center to build a 120-space parking lot on residential land on Fenway Road to the north of its campus.

Councilwoman Priscilla R. Tyson cast the no vote.

Harrison West neighbors said that Wagenbrenner officials told them as recently as April that the site near their homes in the developer’s Harrison Park neighborhood would hold 42 condominiums. The plan for 108 apartments is too dense, and at four stories too tall, they said. They also said it will cause more traffic and attract single young adults instead of families.

“This proposal violates the entire spirit of the Harrison West plan,” Adam Deutsch, president of the Harrison Park Homeowners Association, told the council. “You’re setting a precedent that says to developers, ‘It’s open season on Harrison West.’”

Developer Mark Wagenbrenner defended the proposal, saying the entire Harrison Park development on former industrial land near the Olentangy River was planned for 345 units. This project won’t change that overall density, he said.

The project changed to apartments from condominiums, he said, because that’s where the market is. Eventually, he said, the company plans to sell the one- and two-bedroom units, but nobody wants to buy condominiums now.

Councilman A. Troy Miller, the council’s zoning chairman, said he was persuaded to vote yes because the 345-unit limit on the whole development won’t be exceeded, and by Wagenbrenner’s past record.

“His work has been very good,” Miller said. “We’re not talking about a question of an unknown developer making these changes.”

In the other case, both the Clintonville Area Commission and the city’s zoning office opposed the parking lot because it encroaches on a residential area designated in the neighborhood’s plan.

Apologetic officials from the retirement home said they got into a parking crunch when they built a new activity center for their residents on a former parking area. Despite several attempts to come up with a plan that would appease neighbors, they were unable to do so, said Michael Shannon, the attorney for the retirement home.

D Searcy, a member of the area commission, said the retirement home has other options, including a lot across N. High Street that’s already zoned for commercial use. She said the center’s operators should have known when they built the activity center that parking would be a problem.

But two other members of the area commission, Jennifer Kangas and John DeFourney, told the council that the plan to place the parking on Fenway near High Street is the best option for solving Wesley Glen’s problems. DeFourney, the area commission president, signed up to speak against the zoning change, then asked council members to approve it.

Miller said a zoning change was necessary to help the center’s employees: “We’re trying to take care of those who are taking care of elderly individuals.”

dcaruso@dispatch.com

HRC: Romney’s Tax Returns Reveal Donations to Anti-LGBT Groups

2012-01-24T17:07:00.000-05:00

Romney Gave to Massachusetts-based GroupAdvocating for Ex-Gay Movement

Washington – The tax returnsfor Mitt Romney's charitable foundation reveal that the GOP presidentialhopeful has given at least $35,000 in recent years to groups actively workingto halt the spread of LGBT equality and, in some cases, intentionally demonizeLGBT people. The revelation comes two weeks after Romney said in New Hampshirethat he opposed discrimination against LGBT Americans. But according to CNN,Romney donated to the extremist group Massachusetts Family Institute, as wellas the Becket Fund. The Massachusetts Family Institute received $10,000from Romney in 2006, while the Beckett Fund received $25,000 in 2009. Thedonations came from the Tyler Charitable Foundation, set up and funded by theRomneys.

“This is just another example of Mitt Romney saying one thing while doing thecomplete opposite. It’s crystal clear that while Governor Romney claims tooppose discrimination, he is beholden to groups who make it their mission tovilify LGBT people,” said Human Rights Campaign President Joe Solmonese. “Romney’sfinancial support of extremist groups is indicative of a politician with risingnational ambitions who knew he had to cozy up to those on the far-right inorder to secure his party’s nomination.”

The Massachusetts Family Institute has long been a vocal opponent of marriageequality, and believes sexual orientation is a choice that can be cured. Fromtheir website:“Our compassion is for those struggling with same-sex attraction and we encouragethe healing of individuals who wish to change their choice of lifestyle…”

The group also is ruthless in its dedication to distorting programs intended toreduce bullying and make schools safer, more welcoming environments for allstudents. It says gay-straight alliances may violate the Constitution andparental rights, and says associated programming pushes a radical,pro-homosexual agenda. The organization has said HRC’s Welcoming Schoolsinitiative isn’t actually about addressing and preventing dangerous bullying,but instead is aimed at teaching “children at the youngest ages abouthomosexual relationships and same-sex parenting.”

Romney also gave a significant sum of money to the Becket Fund for ReligiousLiberty, which describes itself as a nonprofit, nonpartisan, interfaith groupdedicated to protecting the expression of religious traditions. The group isvehemently anti-marriage equality, and has argued that allowing committedsame-sex couples to marry would trigger a wave of litigation for religiousorganizations objecting to performing or recognizing such ceremonies in statesacross the nation. The organization also compared pro-equality demonstrationsduring the time when Proposition 8 was a hot-button issue in California to theactions of the terrorist organization Al-Qaeda.

The Human RightsCampaign is America’s largest civil rights organization working to achievelesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender equality. By inspiring and engaging allAmericans, HRC strives to end discrimination against LGBT citizens and realizea nation that achieves fundamental fairness and equality for all.

Andrew Sullivan: How Obama's Long Game Will Outsmart His Critics

2012-01-23T22:17:00.000-05:00

The story is here

Jan 16, 2012 12:00 AM EST

The right calls him a socialist, the left says he sucks up to Wall Street, and independents think he's a wimp. Andrew Sullivan on how the president may just end up outsmarting them all.

You hear it everywhere. Democrats are disappointed in the president. Independents have soured even more. Republicans have worked themselves up into an apocalyptic fervor. And, yes, this is not exactly unusual.

A president in the last year of his first term will always get attacked mercilessly by his partisan opponents, and also, often, by the feistier members of his base. And when unemployment is at remarkably high levels, and with the national debt setting records, the criticism will—and should be—even fiercer. But this time, with this president, something different has happened. It’s not that I don’t understand the critiques of Barack Obama from the enraged right and the demoralized left. It’s that I don’t even recognize their description of Obama’s first term in any way. The attacks from both the right and the left on the man and his policies aren’t out of bounds. They’re simply—empirically—wrong.

A caveat: I write this as an unabashed supporter of Obama from early 2007 on. I did so not as a liberal, but as a conservative-minded independent appalled by the Bush administration’s record of war, debt, spending, and torture. I did not expect, or want, a messiah. I have one already, thank you very much. And there have been many times when I have disagreed with decisions Obama has made—to drop the Bowles-Simpson debt commission, to ignore the war crimes of the recent past, and to launch a war in Libya without Congress’s sanction, to cite three. But given the enormity of what he inherited, and given what he explicitly promised, it remains simply a fact that Obama has delivered in a way that the unhinged right and purist left have yet to understand or absorb. Their short-term outbursts have missed Obama’s long game—and why his reelection remains, in my view, as essential for this country’s future as his original election in 2008.

The right’s core case is that Obama has governed as a radical leftist attempting a “fundamental transformation” of the American way of life. Mitt Romney accuses the president of making the recession worse, of wanting to turn America into a European welfare state, of not believing in opportunity or free enterprise, of having no understanding of the real economy, and of apologizing for America and appeasing our enemies. According to Romney, Obama is a mortal threat to “the soul” of America and an empty suit who couldn’t run a business, let alone a country.

Leave aside the internal incoherence—how could such an incompetent be a threat to anyone? None of this is even faintly connected to reality—and the record proves it. On the economy, the facts are these. When Obama took office, the United States was losing around 750,000 jobs a month. The last quarter of 2008 saw an annualized drop in growth approaching 9 percent. This was the most serious downturn since the 1930s, there was a real chance of a systemic collapse of the entire global financial system, and unemployment and debt—lagging indicators—were about to soar even further. No fair person can blame Obama for the wreckage of the next 12 months, as the financial crisis cut a swath through employment. Economies take time to shift course.

But Obama did several things at once: he continued the bank bailout begun by George W. Bush, he initiated a bailout of the auto industry, and he worked to pass a huge stimulus package of $787 billion.

All these decisions deserve scrutiny. And in retrospect, they were far more successful than anyone has yet fully given Obama the credit for. The job collapse bottomed out at the beginning of 2010, as the stimulus took effect. Since then, the U.S. has added 2.4 million jobs. That’s not enough, but it’s far better than what Romney would have you believe, and more than the net jobs created under the entire Bush administration. In 2011 alone, 1.9 million private-sector jobs were created, while a net 280,000 government jobs were lost. Overall government employment has declined 2.6 percent over the past 3 years. (That compares with a drop of 2.2 percent during the early years of the Reagan administration.) To listen to current Republican rhetoric about Obama’s big-government socialist ways, you would imagine that the reverse was true. It isn’t.

The right claims the stimulus failed because it didn’t bring unemployment down to 8 percent in its first year, as predicted by Obama’s transition economic team. Instead, it peaked at 10.2 percent. But the 8 percent prediction was made before Obama took office and was wrong solely because it relied on statistics that guessed the economy was only shrinking by around 4 percent, not 9. Remove that statistical miscalculation (made by government and private-sector economists alike) and the stimulus did exactly what it was supposed to do. It put a bottom under the free fall. It is not an exaggeration to say it prevented a spiral downward that could have led to the Second Great Depression.

More here

Columbus Dispatch: The Clarmont restaurant [in German Village] closes after 65 years

2012-01-23T15:35:00.000-05:00

The story is here

The Clarmont, 884. S. High St., closed today after 65 years in business.

"It's been a tough couple of years, and I didn't want it to come to this, but there just comes a point where if you can't be successful you can't be in the business," said owner Thom Coffman, who has owned the landmark steakhouse since 1996. "I just want to thank all of the residents of Columbus who have supported us through the years. They were like family to us."

Coffman said the decision to close the restaurant was "one of the toughest decisions he's ever had to make," and that although nothing is set in stone, the restaurant will likely be offered for sale.

Former Columbus Resident and OSU Law School Grad Chris Geidner nominated for four-part series on the passage of DOMA

2012-01-19T17:22:00.001-05:00

GLAAD Announces Nominees

Metro Weekly's Chris Geidner nominated for four-part series on the passage of DOMA

The story is here

Metro Weekly senior political writer Chris Geidner has been nominated for a 2012 GLAAD Media Award for his series on the history of the Defense of Marriage Act.

The four part series was nominated in the category of Outstanding Magazine Article.

''There are very few publications that have taken the time to really detail the whole history of what was really the start of the marriage equality movement in this country,'' says Geidner, who spoke with a variety of sources central to the story, from Elizabeth Birch to Richard Socarides. ''The 15-year anniversary of the passage of the Defense of Marriage Act seemed the perfect opportunity to really do that.''

Geidner says that the attention the series received upon publication, as well as the Obama administration's 2011 decision to stop defending Section 3 of DOMA, made the series an obvious choice to submit for GLAAD's consideration.

In a field of 151 nominees in 35 categories, the other nominees for Outstanding Magazine Article are ''Black & Gay in Corporate America,'' by Carolyn M. Brown in Black Enterprise; ''Making It Work,'' by Rod McCullom in Ebony; ''The Secret I Don't Want to Keep Anymore,'' by Janet Mock (as told to Kierna Mayo) in Marie Claire; and ''Transitions,'' by Eliza Gray in The New Republic.

''I think it's notable that among the excellent other nominees for Outstanding Magazine Article,Metro Weekly is the only LGBT-specific publication that was nominated in that category,'' Geidner adds. ''I think that goes to show the success that GLAAD and other organizations have had in ensuring that LGBT issues are covered more accurately across the media.''

The 23rd Annual GLAAD Media Awards will be presented in New York on March 24, in Los Angeles on April 21, and in San Francisco June 2. For the full list of nominees, visitglaad.org.

HRC: National Organization for Marriage Sponsoring Tonight’s GOP Presidential Debate

2012-01-19T12:36:00.000-05:00

FOR IMMEDIATERELEASE:

January 19, 2012

NationalOrganization for Marriage Sponsoring Tonight’s GOP Presidential Debate

Anti-gay Group Triesto Appear Mainstream by Sponsoring Southern Republican Leadership Conference

Washington– The National Organization for Marriage (NOM), a leading anti-gay group thatworks to spread misinformation about LGBT Americans and halt the growingmomentum surrounding marriage equality, is sponsoring tonight’s GOPpresidential debate as part of this year’s Southern Republican LeadershipConference (SRLC). The Southern Poverty Law Center calls NOM “one of the mostvisible and active anti-gay marriage groups,” and says the organizationpropagates “known falsehoods” about LGBT people.

CNN will airthe debate tonight at 8pm ET. NOM’s sponsorship represents their latest attemptto make their anti-marriage equality views – which do not enjoy broadpublic support – appear mainstream.

“NOM will stop at nothing to attack LGBT Americans andthe right of loving, committed same-sex couples to marry,” said HRC PresidentJoe Solmonese. “It is worrisome that a group whose sole mission is to spreadlies and stir up anti-gay sentiments will likely have a voice at the table intonight’s presidential debate simply because they’re paying to have theirbigoted views appear mainstream.”

NOM’s financial backing of SRLC represents the latest ina string of national moves the anti-gay group is undertaking to make marriageequality more of a wedge issues with voters than it really is. A recent Facebook/Politicopoll found that an overwhelming majority of South Carolina primary voters –nearly 76 percent – say the economy is far and away their top concern inSaturday’s vote. Nationally, a majority of Americans – 53 percent – supportmarriage equality. While a majority support marriage equality, polling shows thatmany are more worried about jobs and the economy, Medicare and social security,and education.

The Southern Republican Leadership Conference billsitself as “a biennial gathering of leaders of the Republican Party, industry,media, government, and issue groups, held in the winter or spring of electionyears.”

South Carolina’s primary is just one of many states whereNOM is trying to appear more mainstream, despite pushing messages that aren’tpalatable to majorities of Americans. They are actively engaged in fightingmarriage equality in states like New Jersey, Washington and Maryland, and arevowing retribution against lawmakers in New York who supported last year’smarriage equality victory in the Empire State.

To date, NOM has poured well over$130,000 into the 2012 presidential election. Learn more through HRC’s NOM Exposed project.

The HumanRights Campaign is America’s largest civil rights organization working toachieve lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender equality. By inspiring andengaging all Americans, HRC strives to end discrimination against LGBT citizensand realize a nation that achieves fundamental fairness and equality for all.

###

Thank You, Mr. President For......

2012-01-16T21:31:00.000-05:00

Thank You, Mr. President For . . . the "room-lighting" smile:

For the mind that always thinks:

For preventing a second Great Depression:

For the humor:

For bringing the number of women in the Supreme Court to 3.

For making the White House the "people's" house:

For 1.1 million jobs created in 2010 alone, more than the entire 8 years of George W. Bush:

For the love of people:

For the love of family:

For Americas First Lady:

For Health Care reform:

For leaving the past behind:

For the world having respect for America, again:

For quietly and calmly dealing with crisis after crisis, after crisis, after crisis, even if not being responsible for any of them:

For being so "cool":

For being fierce - when need be:

For having the intellect to be curious:

For the capacity to know that you are, as we are, imperfect:

For having the sense to not let it destroy you:

For the capacity to be compassionate:

For being an inspiration to so many:

For saving the auto industry and at least 1.4 million jobs:

For loving the troops:

For understanding the horrible price of war:

For bringing 100,000 men and women back from Iraq:

For facing the most difficult and loneliest job in the world with grace, dignity, honesty and guts in spite of so many "Haters":

For being, in spite of, all the hate, pettiness, racism, corruption and immaturity around, the most progressive and "for the people" president in decades:

And simply for this:

For Being...................."MR. PRESIDENT"

CNN Blog: What did MLK think about gay people?

2012-01-16T17:28:00.000-05:00

The story is here

By John Blake, CNN

(CNN)– Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. was writing an advice column in 1958 for Ebony magazine when he received an unusual letter.

“I am a boy,” an anonymous writer told King. “But I feel about boys the way I ought to feel about girls. I don't want my parents to know about me. What can I do?”

In calm, pastoral tones, King told the boy that his problem wasn’t uncommon, but required “careful attention.”

“The type of feeling that you have toward boys is probably not an innate tendency, but something that has been culturally acquired,” King wrote. “You are already on the right road toward a solution, since you honestly recognize the problem and have a desire to solve it.”

We know what King thought about race, poverty and war. But what was his attitude toward gay people, and if he was alive today would he see the gay rights movement as another stage of the civil rights movement?

That’s not the type of question most people will consider on this Monday as the nation celebrates King’s national holiday. Yet the debate over King’s stance toward gay rights has long divided his family and followers. That debate is poised to go public again because of the upcoming release of two potentially explosive books, one of which examines King’s close relationship with an openly gay civil rights leader, Bayard Rustin.

The author of both books says King’s stance on gay rights is unclear because the Ebony advice column may be the only public exchange on record where he touches on the morality of homosexuality.

Yet King would have been a champion of gay rights today because of his view of Christianity, says Michael Long, author of, “I Must Resist: Bayard Rustin’s Life in Letters,” who shared the story of King’s Ebony letter.

“Dr. King never publicly welcomed gays at the front gate of his beloved community. But he did leave behind a key for them - his belief that each person is sacred, free and equal to all to others,” says Long, also author of the upcoming “Keeping it straight? Martin Luther King, Jr., Homosexuality, and Gay Rights.”

Did King’s dream include gay people?

One person close to King, though, would disagree.

Rev. Bernice King led a march to her father’s graveside in 2005 while calling for a constitutional ban on gay marriage. She was joined by Bishop Eddie Long, senior pastor of New Birth Missionary Church in Georgia, where she served as an elder at the time. Long, who recently settled out of court with four young men who filed lawsuits claiming he coerced them into sexual relationships, publicly condemned homosexuality.

King did not answer an interview request, but she has spoken publicly about her views.

During a speech at a church meeting in New Zealand, she said her father “did not take a bullet for same-sex marriage.”

Yet her mother, Coretta Scott King, was a vocal supporter of gay rights. One of her closest aides was gay. She also invoked her husband’s dream.

Ravi Perry, a political science professor at Clark University in Worcester, Massachusetts, said King’s widow once said in a public speech that everyone who believed in her husband’s dream should “make room at the table of brother and sisterhood for lesbian and gay people.”

There is no private or public record of King condemning gay people, Perry says. Even the FBI’s surveillance of King’s private phone conversations didn’t turn up any moment where King disparaged gay people, she says.

“If Dr. King were anti-gay, there would likely be a sermon, a speech, a recording of some kind indicating such,” she says. “And knowing how closely his phones were tapped; surely there would be a record of such statements.”

Those who say King did not condemn gays and would have supported gay rights today point to King’s theology.

Though King was a Christian minister, he didn’t embrace a literal reading of the Bible that condemns homosexuality, some historians say. King’s vision of the Beloved Community – his biblical-rooted vision of humanity transcending its racial and religious differences – expanded people’s rights, not restricted them, they say.

Rev. C.T. Vivian, who worked with King at the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, says King would have championed gay rights today.

“Martin was a theologian,” Vivian says. “Martin starts with the fact that God loves everybody, and all men and all women were created by God. He based his whole philosophy on God’s love for all people.”

King’s relationship with ‘Brother Bayard’

Those who say King would have championed gay rights also point to King’s treatment of one of the movement’s most important leaders, Bayard Rustin.

Rustin was an openly gay civil rights leader who is widely credited with organizing the 1963 March on Washington. He was an organizational genius, the man who insisted that King speak last on the program, giving his “I Have a Dream” speech the resonance it would not have had otherwise, says Jerald Podair, author of “Bayard Rustin: American Dreamer.”

“He was the kind of guy who could tell you how many portable toilets you needed for 250,000 people in a demonstration," Podair says. “He was a details guy. King needed him for that march.”

But Rustin could do more than arrange a demonstration. He was also a formidable thinker and debater. He was born to a 15-year-old single mother and never graduated from college.

The movement was led by intellectual heavyweights like King, but even among them, Rustin stood out, Podair says. He read everything and was a visionary. One aide to President Lyndon Johnson described him as one of the five smartest men in America, says Podair, a history professor at Lawrence University in Appleton, Wisconsin.

“People who heard him speak were transfixed,” Podair says.

Rustin became one of the movement’s most eloquent defenders of its nonviolent philosophy, says Saladin Ambar, a political scientist at Lehigh University in Pennsylvania.

“He was one of the few individuals not afraid to debate with Malcolm X in public,” Ambar says. “Rustin more than held his own and really challenged Malcolm to push his thinking.”

Rustin was a special assistant to King and once headed the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. During the planning of the March on Washington, King resisted calls to jettison Rustin because he was gay, Podair says.

King, though, didn’t speak out on behalf of gay rights because he was doing all he could to hold the movement together, historians say.

He had to constantly fend off rumors that the movement was infiltrated by communists. He was also criticized for expanding the movement to take on poverty and oppose the Vietnam War.

“The movement superseded any discussion of gay rights,” Ambar says. “King was dedicated to the cause at hand.”

With all that was going on, King couldn’t afford to wage a public campaign defending Rustin’s homosexuality, says Vivian, a SCLC colleague of King’s.

“Any employee that would employ a gay person at the time who was outwardly gay would have problems,” Vivian says. “I don’t care if you were the president of the Untied Sates, you would have trouble doing that.”

After the 1963 March on Washington, Rustin remained as King’s adviser. The two, however, drifted apart when King became more radical during the last three years of his life, says Adair, Rustin’s biographer.

When Rustin died in 1987, he was starting to receive attention from gay and lesbian activists who linked civil rights with gay rights, Podair says.

Rustin was a late convert to their cause.

“He never put it [homosexuality] front and center,” Podair says. “He never politicized it until the end of his life. He didn’t want to make a big deal out of it.”

It’s no longer unusual today for gay and lesbian activists to draw parallels between their struggles and King’s legacy. Vivian, King’s SCLC colleague, says the comparison is apt.

“There was a time when black people were afraid to be themselves among white people,” he says. “You had to fit a stereotype in order to be accepted. They’re going through the same thing but now they feel better about themselves.”

Vivian says the movement shouldn’t be limited to race.

“As we were freeing up black people, we’re freeing up the whole society.”

Long, author of the upcoming books on King and Rustin, says King’s vision transcended his personal limitations. Maybe he could have said more to that anonymous boy who wrote him at Ebony. But he did leave him a key to the Beloved Community– even if he didn’t realize it at the time, Long says.

Now, Long says, it’s up to those who claim King today to use that key.

“A turn of that key and a gentle push on the gate, swinging it wide open so everyone can enter into the Beloved Community,” he says. “That’s the best way to advance the legacy of Martin Luther King.”

Columbus Dispatch: Vice President Biden samples local fare at North Market

2012-01-12T17:49:00.001-05:00

The story is here

By Joe Vardon

The Columbus Dispatch Thursday January 12, 2012 4:57 PM

Vice President Joe Biden was in central Ohio today to speak to a crowd at Gahanna Lincoln High School. After the event, Biden was transported to the North Market, a warehouse near the Arena District of food and other vendors featuring different culinary tastes.

Biden was greeted at the market's A Touch of Earth coffee vendor counter by Columbus Mayor Michael B. Coleman. Coleman, who bought two 16-oz. coffees and led Biden on a tour the market, shaking hands with vendors' employees and patrons.

Perhaps the highlight of the vice president’s tour was a stop at Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams, where he ordered and munched on a waffle cone stuffed with dark chocolate and Ugandan Vanilla Bean. He shared a hug with a woman who identified herself as a former employee of Southwest Airlines, and was given a fruit basket by a woman identified as Ingrid Loesch.

Biden went behind the counter of Flavors of India and spoke with owner Raj Brar, apparently about the economy. "I said to him how everything has been having a tough time but we're all getting through it," Brar said. "He himself said it's a tough time, but that things were getting better."

Biden also visited Pam's Market Popcorn, where the owner there said she was hopeful Obama would visit.

"He'll be here," Biden said.

By the time Biden made it to Taste of Belgium, where he sampled a waffle, he said: "I would weigh 300 pounds if I were here on a regular basis."

jvardon@dispatch.com

Columbus Dispatch & CNN: Ohio panel sticks to 'White Only' pool sign ruling

2012-01-12T11:31:00.001-05:00

Ohio panel sticks to 'White Only' pool sign ruling

The story is here

A state civil rights commission won’t reconsider its decision that a Cincinnati landlord discriminated against a black girl by posting a “White Only” sign at a swimming pool.

The Ohio Civil Rights Commission voted 4-0 today to uphold original finding. There was no discussion.

The panel found on Sept. 29 that Jamie Hein violated the Ohio Civil Rights Act by posting the sign at a pool at the duplex where the teenage girl was visiting her parents.

Hein, who is white, has repeatedly declined to comment and didn’t attend the hearing. She earlier told the commission’s housing enforcement director that she was trying to protect her assets.

The girl’s father said in brief comments today that seeing the sign left him with feelings of “shock, disgust and outrage.”

The CNN Story is here

CNN) -- A landlord wants the Ohio Civil Rights Commission on Thursday to reconsider its finding that she violated the law by posting a "white only" sign at her swimming pool.

Jamie Hein has asked the commission to reverse its initial ruling that found she violated the Ohio Civil Rights Act by putting up a sign that read "Public Swimming Pool, White Only" at her Cincinnati duplex.

The commission, meeting this week in Columbus, concluded last year that the sign "restricts the social contact between Caucasians and African Americans as well as reinforcing discrimination actions that are aimed at oppressing all 'people of color.'"

The case was brought by Michael Gunn, a white man who said had unrestricted access to the pool area for himself and his guests during the nearly two years he lived in the duplex, he said in a December interview.

Gunn, a software engineer, said he and his girlfriend, who is also white, lived upstairs; their 31-year-old landlord lived downstairs. However, he said their relationship soured in May 2011 when he invited his 10-year-old biracial daughter to visit and swim in the pool.

"Complainant states that the owner, Jamie Hein, accused his daughter of making the pool 'cloudy' because she used chemicals in her hair," the commission said in its summary. "Days later, the owner posted a sign on the gate to the pool which read, 'Public Swimming Pool, White Only.'"

Hein said she received the sign from a friend and posted it in early May, the summary says. Several people interviewed by the commission staff confirmed that they had seen the sign, it added.

Hein did not respond to a request for comment at the time. But she told ABC News in December that she collects antiques. She said the sign, which was dated 1931 and from Alabama, was a gift from a friend.

"I don't have any problem with race at all. It's a historical sign," she told ABC.

Gunn said he was outraged by the sign and made arrangements to find another place to live as soon as he could.

"We were extremely upset and moved out on June 21, 2011, in order to not expose my daughter to the sign and the humiliation of the message," Gunn wrote in his complaint.

He said he never confronted Hein about the matter, but has no doubt that the sign was intended for his daughter.

Ohio Senate Education Committee Unanimously Passes Safe Schools Bill that Includes Two Out of Three Provisions Promoted by Equality Ohio

2012-01-10T14:22:00.001-05:00

Senate Education Committee Unanimously PassesSafe Schools Bill that Includes Two Out of Three Provisions Promoted byEquality Ohio

For immediate release
January 10, 2012

For more informationcontact:
Ed Mullen, Executive Director

Columbus, Ohio -- This morning, the Ohio Senate Education Committeepassed HB116, also known as the “Jessica Logan Act”, unanimously. Thisbill includes provisions that protect Ohio students from the rising trend ofcyber-bullying and require school districts to provide more comprehensivetraining on anti-bullying policies. The bill, however, was amended incommittee this morning to exclude a provision that would prohibit bullyingbased on any real or perceived characteristics of the student, such as race,disability, sexual orientation and gender identity, and the bill did notinclude enumeration of particular characteristics.

Since the current anti-bullying law was passed in 2006, Equality Ohio hasworked closely with coalition partners, including the Ohio Suicide PreventionFoundation, the Ohio Psychological Association, and the University of ToledoLaw School Safe Schools Project, to pass a comprehensive bill that strengthensthe law to include cyber-bullying, training, and enumeration. We arecertainly pleased that the committee has passed provisions relating tocyber-bullying and training, and we look forward to these provisions becominglaw in Ohio. “Protecting students against cyber-bullying and improvingtraining on anti-bullying policies will have a positive effect on our schoolsand make them more safe for students,” says Ed Mullen, Executive Director ofEquality Ohio.

However, Equality Ohio is very disappointed that enumeration was not includedin the bill. Academic studies and empirical evidence demonstrate thatenumeration is critical to a strong anti-bullying policy. Ohio Departmentof Education discipline data shows that bullying has risen nearly 50% in Ohiofrom 2005 to 2007, despite passage of generic anti-bullying legislation in2006. In Ohio, nearly one-fifth (18%) of Ohio students at schools withgeneric policies felt unsafe, while only 2% of students at schools withenumerated policies did. Students who attend schools with enumeratedpolicies are harassed far less often for reasons such as their physicalappearance, their sexual orientation or their gender expression; are lesslikely than other students to report a serious harassment problem at theirschool; and are 50% more likely to feel very safe at school.

Enumeration is particularly important for already vulnerable groups ofstudents. LGBT students in states that don’t require enumeration have thesame experience of bullying as those without any anti-bullying and harassmentlaws at all. Enumeration provides teachers and other school officials thetools they need to implement anti-bullying and harassment policies, which makesit easier for them to prevent bullying and intervene when incidents occur.

The Ohio School Board Association opposed enumerating Ohio’s anti-bullying lawbecause they were concerned about additional potential liability. “Ironically, the best way for schools to prevent liability is to implement andenforce strong anti-bullying policies that include enumeration. Thesepolicies will prevent bullying in many cases and enable teachers andadministrators to respond effectively when necessary, reducing the risk oflawsuits. Moreover, the existence and enforcement of strong anti-bullyingpolicies would be an effective defense to lawsuits that are filed,” says EdMullen.

A standalone bill that would enumerate Ohio’s anti-bullying law, HB208, ispending before the House Education Committee, and Equality Ohio will continueto work to move this bill forward.

Equality Ohio advocates and educates to achieve fair treatment and equalopportunity for all Ohioans regardless of their sexual orientation or genderidentity or expression. For more information visit www.equalityohio.orgor give us a call at (614) 224-0400.

# # #

Columbus Dispatch: Housing prices forecast to fall again

2012-01-09T15:26:00.000-05:00

The story is here

Report predicts 2% slip in central Ohio; local agents more optimistic

By Jim Weiker

The Columbus Dispatch Monday January 9, 2012 5:33 AM

Afteranother mediocre year of central Ohio housing news, a report issued this morning says it will onlyget worse.

The report, by the California real-estate service Clear Capital, predicts that Columbus-areahome prices will drop by 2 percent this year, the 28th largest drop among 50 cities studied.

The company based its forecast on 20 economic factors such as income, unemployment, mortgagerates and new construction permits.

Other observers agree that home prices in central Ohio and elsewhere won’t rise until employmentpicks up and foreclosures decline.

“Housing prices could continue to slip down in 2012,” said Teri Felix, executive vice presidentof Home Value Insurance Co., which last year began selling a policy in Ohio designed to protecthomeowners against a decline in property value. “There’s still too much uncertainty in the economy,and foreclosures need to be worked through the system.”

Home prices dropped dramatically in the Columbus area and throughout the nation between 2006 and2009, and have muddled along since. Clear Capital found that central Ohio home prices dropped anadditional 3.5 percent in 2011, which is roughly consistent with Columbus Board of Realtorsfigures.

“The average selling price has steadily decreased since the end of 2005, but I believe we’ll seea flattening of prices in 2012,” said Milt Lustnauer, a RE/MAX Premier Choice agent in UpperArlington and this year’s treasurer of the Columbus Board of Realtors.

Lustnauer and Chris Pedon, the board’s president-elect, say a decline in homes for sale willhelp balance supply and demand and, they hope, lead to a rise in prices.

“I’m hoping, now that the inventory’s starting to shrink, that we’ll see some of that pricing goback up,” said Pedon, a Bexley Real Living HER agent.

Central Ohio agents are also encouraged by the volume of Columbus-area home sales in 2011, whichcould show the first year-over-year gain since 2005 when final figures are released in a fewweeks.

The Columbus Board of Realtors and other area organizations will present their own real-estateforecast Tuesday.

One big drag on prices continues to be foreclosures. Clear Capital estimates that 34 percent ofhomes sold in central Ohio are bank repossessions, which pull down prices of nearby homes.

Nationwide, Clear Capital forecasts a stabilizing of home prices in 2012, but estimates varywidely by community.

The company predicts Orlando, Fla., will show the biggest price gain, 11.7 percent. At thebottom is Atlanta, where Clear Capital predicts prices will slide 14.4 percent.

The firm estimates that Cincinnati prices will drop 2.2 percent while Cleveland prices rise 4.2percent and Dayton prices gain 1.4 percent.

jweiker@dispatch.com

Columbus Dispatch: Near East Side starts renewal with $10 million from OSU

2012-01-09T15:05:00.000-05:00

Mayor Michael B. Coleman, center, and Ohio State President E. Gordon Gee laugh during the Partners Achieving Community Transformation community celebration at East High School. Ohio State is committing $10 million to rejuvenate the area around University Hospital East.

The story is here

By Meredith Heagney

The Columbus Dispatch Monday January 9, 2012 7:55 AM

East High School hosted a pep rally yesterday, but instead of boosting an athletic team, thegood wishes for things to come were for the neighborhood.

The event launched a revitalization effort on the Near East Side that is funded by a $10 millioninvestment from Ohio State University, which hopes to fix up the depressed area surroundingUniversity Hospital East.

While details are few, the coalition behind the project will choose a development firm by nextmonth to craft the blueprint, said Dawn Tyler Lee, executive director of Partners AchievingCommunity Transformation, or PACT.

Along with Mayor Michael B. Coleman and Ohio State President E. Gordon Gee, Lee promised anenthusiastic crowd that improving the neighborhood’s housing will make it a safer and healthierplace to live.
She also said that the project should begin in 2014 and eventually will need more funding.

Ohio State, the Columbus Metropolitan Housing Authority and the city form the coalition behindPACT. Dozens of representatives from neighborhood groups, churches and advocacy organizations serveon an advisory committee.

Of Ohio State’s $10 million commitment, $9 million will go to housing and $1 million tohealth-care initiatives.

The goal is to improve the quality of housing, eliminate vacant properties and diversify thetype of housing. Low-income and market-rate housing both will have a place, said Bryan Brown,senior vice president of the housing authority.

The first two targets are the Taylor Avenue corridor and Poindexter Village, which consists ofmore than two dozen acres of public housing that is being emptied now before demolition nextyear.

“What people can expect is a mixed-income, diverse community that is sustainable over time,”Brown said, because concentrations of poverty have not made for successful neighborhoods.

Some residents are anxious about the plans.

Marceia Robinson, 46, who lives on 17th Street, said she needs more answers.

“Will I be relocated?” she asked. “They relocated all the blacks in Poindexter Village.”

PACT leaders say there are no plans to relocate anyone on the Near East Side beyond thePoindexter site, which they say is no longer safe to inhabit. Ohio State leaders said they don’thave their eyes on buying the Poindexter property.

Beverly McCaskill, who has lived in the neighborhood for more than 60 years, is supportive. Shesaid she hears gunshots almost nightly from her home, which is north of the hospital and close toPoindexter Village.
“Whatever they put in place of Poindexter Village would be an improvement,” she said.

Coleman acknowledged concerns about gentrification in his speech. “Change and transformationdoes not mean we lose our identity,” he said.

The event at East High School was heavy on pride, with homegrown success stories such as OhioSupreme Court Justice Yvette McGee Brown talking about their personal history in the neighborhood.A senior at the high school, Ronny Chhun, spoke about his work with robotics and engineering groupsand his expectation of graduating with honors in June.

Afterward, attendees were invited to offer written suggestions to the coalition, which isplanning a second round of “community conversations” with residents in March.

mheagney@dispatch.com

HRC: Santorum’s Anti-Gay Rhetoric Meeting Icy Reception in New Hampshire

2012-01-05T19:25:00.001-05:00

FORIMMEDIATE RELEASE:
January 5, 2012

Santorum’s Anti-Gay Rhetoric Meeting IcyReception in New Hampshire

Extremist Candidate Booed After ComparingMarriage Equality to Polygamy

Washington – GOP presidentialhopeful Rick Santorum was booed in New Hampshire today after comparing marriageequality to polygamy. According to the New York Times, while answering aquestion about marriage equality, Santorum said: “If you’re not happy unlessyou’re married to five other people, is that O.K.?” The audience booedSantorum, who continued on saying: “What about three men?” According tothe media report, audience members continued booing Santorum as he exited theevent.

“RickSantorum’s anti-gay hate is not going to perform well in New Hampshire. Hisreception there is indicative of just how poorly he will fare with mainstreamvoters as the primaries progress,” said Human Rights Campaign President JoeSolmonese. “Rick Santorum’s views are out of step with the majority of Americansacross demographics and faiths. He is basing his campaign off of bashing anentire community of his fellow Americans. That may serve him well with certainconstituencies, but it’s something most Americans will not stand for.”

Santorum hasa long track record of trying to score political points off of bashing LGBTpeople. In addition to speaking out against marriage equality on aregular basis, he also has criticized LGBT families and adoption, and calledthe repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” (DADT) a means of forcing “social policyinto the military.” Last fall, Santorum told a gay soldier he would reinstateDADT because "any type of sexual activity has absolutely no place in themilitary."

TheHuman Rights Campaign is America’s largest civil rights organization working toachieve lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender equality. By inspiring andengaging all Americans, HRC strives to end discrimination against LGBTcitizens and realize a nation that achieves fundamental fairness and equalityfor all.

# # #

HRC Statement on Iowa GOP Caucus Results

2012-01-04T11:49:00.002-05:00

FORIMMEDIATE RELEASE:
January 4, 2012

HRC Statement on Iowa GOP Caucus Results

WASHINGTON –On the news that the Iowa Republican Caucus ended in a virtual tie with formerMassachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney eking out former Pennsylvania Sen. RickSantorum, Joe Solmonese, president of the Human Rights Campaign, thenation's largest lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender civil rightsorganization, issued the following statement:

“These menwho have pledged to amend the constitution to ban marriage for gay couples,keep the failed 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' policy and oppose basic workplaceprotections for LGBT people, are not fit to lead. Their showings in Iowalast night only further draws a distinction between their plans to turn backthe clock on equality and President Obama's demonstrated commitment to makingthe lives of LGBT people better.

"Theanti-LGBT positions shared by these candidates will not serve them well in ageneral election. By a strong majority, Americans support equal treatment underthe law which neither Romney or Santorum do. Governor Romney may have tried toseem like a moderate candidate on LGBT issues when in Massachusetts, but it'sclear through the campaign he's run for President that he is no friend to LGBTAmericans. Further, Senator Santorum is only exemplary in that no othercandidate has made opposing basic rights for LGBT Americans such a guidingprinciple of his or her public life.”

TheHuman Rights Campaign is America’s largest civil rights organization working toachieve lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender equality. By inspiring andengaging all Americans, HRC strives to end discrimination against LGBTcitizens and realize a nation that achieves fundamental fairness and equalityfor all.

# # #

USA Today: Know when you can do home repairs yourself

2012-01-03T15:48:00.000-05:00

The story is here

In times of economic hardship, "do-it-yourself" is a tempting mantra for many homeowners with dripping faucets, running toilets, leaky windows or sticky locks.

The savings can add up when you don't have to call a repairman, especially for things like painting, plumbing and appliance repair, said Ken Collier, editor-in-chief of The Family Handyman. "Parts are a small part of the cost. Labor is huge," he said.

And if things go wrong? With a small job, Collier said, "Worst case, you have to hire a pro and eat some crow."

There are some home repairs, of course, that an unskilled homeowner should avoid, among them "situations where having heavy equipment makes the job go much better, especially outdoors," Collier said.

Avoid jobs where you could injure yourself or damage property.

Chris Long, a member of the Home Depot do-it-yourself team, recommends calling an expert to replace a tub or shower valve, or do more involved electrical work. And while "any reasonably careful person can hang drywall," Collier said, taping it to cover the seams and joints is "very much an art where a practiced hand makes a huge difference."

But many other household repairs and projects can be tackled by a do-it-yourselfer who takes the time to learn what's required.

David Frank of Libertyville, Ill., does just about all his own home repairs and remodeling — "from electric to plumbing to concrete. Any of it can be done." He started working on his first house, a fixer-upper he bought in college, to save money. "I had to learn to do it, or it wasn't going to get done," he said. Over the years, he has taught himself by reading books, watching home-improvement TV shows and talking to experts.

Besides the money saved, there's "definitely a sense of accomplishment" in doing the work himself, he said.

His advice to beginners: Use common sense, take your time and read as much as you can. "The Internet is unbelievable," he said.

When taking on a project, begin by finding out where in your home you turn off the water and gas, and how the circuit breakers work. If you need a professional to show you, hire one.

You'll also need a good set of tools. Collier recommends such things as a 20-ounce straight claw hammer, a utility knife, linesman's pliers, a flexible putty knife, a four-in-one screwdriver, a cordless drill-screwdriver, a 25-foot measuring tape and an adjustable crescent wrench. Add to that a plunger, groove-joint pliers and duct tape.

If you're going to do any electrical work, be sure to have a voltage sniffer. "Electricity is scary stuff, and a voltage sniffer is a really safe way to know everything is off," Collier says.

There's a wealth of material online, including videos for the do-it-yourselfer.

Even unskilled homeowners should be able to do some basic appliance repairs, Collier said, such as changing a dryer belt.

And as winter approaches, homeowners can do a lot of weatherizing themselves, including adding insulation, and applying adhesive-backed, foam weather stripping to prevent cold air from seeping in around doors and windows.

Other jobs that a do-it-yourselfer can learn include repairing drywall, replacing a deadbolt, or installing a new light fixture or ceiling fan.

Here's where that voltage sniffer comes in. "If you know how to confidently turn that breaker off and you can test it to verify it, you can change that fixture," said Danny Lipford, who hosts nationally syndicated TV and radio shows and is a contributing design editor for Better Homes and Gardens.

Plumbing repairs also can be accessible even to the novice.

"A toilet is really a very simple mechanism and the parts are readily available to change out," Lipford said.

First, the cause of the problem has to be diagnosed. Find information online, in books, or talk to a worker at your hardware store.

If the toilet is running, for example, one way to figure out what's going on is to add a little food dye to the water in the tank, said Long, of Home Depot. If the water in the bowl turns the same color, the flapper valve is likely the problem. The flapper seals the tank, then lifts to allow water to flow into the bowl when the toilet is flushed. If the seal isn't tight, water will leak into the bowl.

It could be that the chain connecting the flapper to the handle is too long or too short. Adjusting that could fix the problem. Or, it could be the flapper itself. In most cases, the flapper snaps out and you can easily replace it with a new one. But first remember to turn off the water to the toilet. It's also a good idea to bring the old part to your hardware store to make sure you're purchasing a compatible new one.

50 Black Gay Men You Should Know

2011-12-29T18:43:00.000-05:00

A pictorial celebration of 50 out and proud Black Gay Men. Music by Vaisnava (Vysh-Nah-Vah) at www.audiojungle.net/user/vaisnava For more information visit www.comingoutblack.com

Columbus Dispatch: AIDS group plans to build pharmacy, thrift store on N. High [near the Short North]

2011-12-28T12:24:00.001-05:00

This image was taken from their press release

The story is here

Their press release is here

A Los Angeles-based AIDS organization plans to bring its unique mix of advocacy, health care and nonprofit business operations to a long-vacant lot on the southern border of the University District.

AIDS Healthcare Foundation, which bills itself as the largest global AIDS organization, said construction will begin soon on a building that is to house an Out of the Closet Thrift Store, AHF Pharmacy and HIV-testing site at the northeast corner of N. High Street and E. 5th Avenue.

The group also plans an AHF Healthcare Center in a medical office near Mount Carmel West hospital that could accommodate an initial caseload of 600 patients, said Adam Ouderkirk, regional director for the foundation.

“We take HIV patients regardless of ability to pay, whether you have a Cadillac (health-insurance) plan or no plan,” he said.

Both the thrift store and the pharmacy will be nonprofit ventures that generate money for the mission.
“It’s a model that’s worked in different parts of the country, and we think it will be successful in Columbus,” said Michael Weinstein, president of AIDS Healthcare Foundation.

Ouderkirk said the foundation just closed on the property at 1230 N. High St. He declined to discuss the price, but according to the Franklin County auditor’s website, the land sold for $1.6 million on Dec. 22.

Local advocates were mixed in their reactions. While additional community resources are welcome, they all said, one group said the AIDS Healthcare Foundation has done little to collaborate.

“We knew nothing about the AIDS Healthcare Foundation’s intent until three weeks ago,” said Bill Hardy, president and CEO of the AIDS Resource Center Ohio. “To me, there was not adequate groundwork.”
Hardy said the resource center, which merged earlier this year with the Columbus AIDS Task Force, also has been discussing plans for a health-care center and pharmacy.

“Part of the consolidation was to expand services,” he said.

Hardy and the resource center are among many statewide AIDS advocates who disagreed with the AIDS Healthcare Foundation’s recent successful fight to stop Ohio from changing some of the rules governing the Ohio HIV Drug Assistance Program, which is the state’s version of the federal Ryan White Act.

State officials and local AIDS organizations say the changes would have kicked in only in the event of a waiting list — there isn’t one now — allowing for the use of a priority system so that the sickest people would be served first.

A Franklin County judge, however, agreed with three patients who filed a lawsuit saying the new rules could affect access to treatment. The foundation backed the patients.

A preliminary injunction blocking the new rules was issued this month, and the AIDS Healthcare Foundation hailed it as a victory. Weinstein said Ohio has no business planning for a “Sophie’s choice” in HIV treatment.
He also said there is plenty of room for new services in Columbus.
“Unfortunately, there is no shortage of patients to go around,” Weinstein said. “We are bringing our own resources to bear.”

A recent report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said that only 28 percent of Americans living with HIV have the virus under control with proper medication and treatment, he said.

The foundation’s presence likely will make a big difference in the city, said Karla Rothan, executive director of Stonewall Columbus. Stonewall’s community center and offices are at 1160 N. High St., near the site that the foundation will develop.

The thrift store and pharmacy are “an innovative way of doing nonprofit work,” Rothan said. “I’m glad they chose to be our neighbor. I think it’s going to enhance services.”

rprice@dispatch.com

HRC Condemns Cardinal Francis George’s Anti-Gay Remarks

2011-12-22T22:14:00.000-05:00

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:December 22, 2011

HRC Condemns Cardinal Francis George’sAnti-Gay Remarks

Chicago Archbishop compares efforts toadvance LGBT equality to “something like the Ku Klux Klan”

Washington –The Human RightsCampaign – the nation’s largest lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT)civil rights organization - is condemning remarks made by Chicago ArchbishopCardinal Francis George in which he compared advancing LGBT equality to the KuKlux Klan. In an interview with Fox Chicago, Cardinal George said: “You don’twant the gay liberation movement to morph into something like the Ku Klux Klan,demonstrating in the streets against Catholicism.”

“Cardinal George'shorrific comparison of the LGBT movement to the Ku Klux Klan drives anunnecessary wedge between Catholics and the hierarchy,” said Dr. Sharon Groves,Director of HRC’s Religion & Faith Program. “This is a sacred time of yearfor many people of faith, a time when we should be creating and cherishingunity in our communities – not casting about dangerous and divisive rhetoric.As people of faith we should expect better from our leaders.”

“As a lay Catholic, Iam profoundly saddened that Cardinal Francis George defiles his office bycomparing our LGBT family, friends and fellow Catholics to the Ku KluxKlan,” said Anne Underwood, co-founder of Catholics for MarriageEquality. “His rhetoric rings particularly off-key coming the week beforeCatholics celebrate the birth of Christ. As a Catholic who responds to ourhistoric Church teachings to stand with all marginalized people, I work forfreedom and fairness for my LGBT friends. I feel dismissed and betrayedby our hierarchy, but not by our God, for whom Cardinal George did not speak.”

The Rev.Eric Lee, Executive Director for the Southern Christian Leadership Conference,also is joining HRC in speaking out against Cardinal George’s remarks.

“I have spent most of my adultlife engaged in the civil rights struggle for African American people who havebeen terrorized by racist Klan violence,” said Lee. “I am insulted by thecomparison of the Klan to the current LGBT movement. When we distort thehistory of terror for cheap political aims, we only inflict pain on those whoselives have been scarred by the Klan.”

###

White House LGBT Update: "Out of Many, We Are One"

2011-12-22T16:44:00.000-05:00

Thursday, Dec. 22, 2011

One year ago, President Obama signed into law the Don’t Ask Don’t Tell Repeal Act to
end a discriminatory policy that forced patriotic Americans to serve under a cloud of
anxiety and isolation and stood in stark contrast to our shared values of unity and equality.

One year later, gay and lesbian service members can serve the country they love without
hiding who they love – and both our military and country are stronger for it.

President Barack Obama signs the Don't Ask, Don't Tell Repeal Act of 2010 at the U.S.
Department of Interior in Washington, D.C., Dec. 22, 2010. (Official White House Photo
by Chuck Kennedy).

Watch the video and read the transcript of President Obama's remarks:

For we are not a nation that says, “don’t ask, don’t tell.” We are a nation that says, “Out
of many, we are one.” We are a nation that welcomes the service of every patriot. We are
a nation that believes that all men and women are created equal. Those are the ideals that generations have fought for. Those are the ideals that we uphold today. And now, it is my
honor to sign this bill into law.
-- President Barack Obama, December 22, 2010.

To commemorate the one year anniversary of President Obama signing the Don’t Ask Don’t
Tell Repeal Act, we asked a few former service members to reflect on the long journey toward
repeal and what it was like to watch President Obama sign the Repeal Act into law:

Zoe Dunning

Until her retirement in 2007, Retired Navy Commander Zoe Dunning was one of the only
openly gay service members in the country, having successfully fought an attempted
discharge in 1993. For many of those years, she served on the board of Servicemembers
Legal Defense Network as an advocate for the repeal of DADT.

Watch Zoe's video

Eric Alva

Retired Staff Sergeant Eric Alva joined the U.S. Marine Corps when he was 19 years old.
He served honorably for 13 years until 2003, when he became the first American soldier
wounded in Iraq. SSgt Alva was subsequently medically retired, and for his heroism,
received a Purple Heart.

Watch Eric's video

Grethe Cammermeyer

Retired Colonel Grethe Cammermeyer, RN, PhD, is a Vietnam Veteran and Bronze
Star recipient who spent much of her life advocating against the original ban on gays in
the military and later against “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.” Her autobiography, “Serving in Silence,”
was recognized by the National Education Association and later made into an Emmy Award
winning movie starring Glenn Close and produced by Barbra Streisand. Today, Col.
Cammermeyer also serves on the Defense Advisory Committee on Women in the Services (DACOWITS).

Watch Grethe's video

Jonathan Hopkins

Former Army Captain Jonathan Hopkins graduated at the top of his West Point class
and was deployed three times to Iraq and Afghanistan, earning three Bronze Stars,
including one for valor. Fourteen months after being outed, he was honorably discharged
under “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” in August 2010.

Watch Jonathan's video

Sue Fulton

Former Army Captain Sue Fulton graduated from the U.S. Military Academy at West Poin
t in 1980 – the first class to include women. Today, she is the Executive Director of Knights
Out – an organization of West Point LGBT alumni, staff, and faculty – and she also serves
as a Member of the West Point Board of Visitors.

Watch Sue's video

Get Updates
Did someone forward you this email? You can sign up for email updates here, and don’t
hesitate to drop us a line with your comments, suggestions, and ideas.

Stay Connected

Facebook

Twitter

YouTube

Flickr

iTunes

The White House • 1600 Pennsylvania Ave NW •

Washington, DC 20500 • 202-456-1111

Home sales remain elevated in Central Ohio

2011-12-21T15:40:00.000-05:00

(Dec. 21, 2011)November marks the fifth consecutive month of increased home sales in

central Ohio thisyear after the first half of the year struggled to keep up with increased sales

from 2010 due to thehome buyer tax credits. According to the Columbus Board of

REALTORS®, 1,406homes sold in November which is seven percent more than the previous

year.

Additionally, thenumber of residential homes scheduled to close was up over 37 percent,

from 1,341 last yearto 1,843 last month (November 2011).

“We’re finding thatsellers recognize the challenges of today’s market and are realistically

pricing their homesto sell,” says Rick Benjamin, 2011 President of the Columbus Board of

REALTORS®. “Buyersare responding well to the pricing and, of course, the record low

interest rates. It’sstill a great time to buy a home.”

Homes in centralOhio this year have sold for an average of $157,032, down 2.5 percent from

the average saleprice in 2010, but up over five percent from the average sale price in thefirst

quarter of 2011. Theaverage price of a home sold in November was $153,673, up 3.1 percent

from the previousmonth ($149,082).

The number of homeslisted for sale last month (1,949) is 20 percent less than listings added

to the market inNovember 2010 (2,439). The total inventory of homes available for sale in

central Ohio was12,675 at the end of November, which is down 27.5 percent from one year

ago.

As a result, themonth’s supply, a measure of inventory that estimates how many months it

would take to sellthe entire home inventory, fell 28.5 percent to 7.4, down from 10.3 last

year.

“A healthy monthssupply for our market would be around 6.5. So the decrease in inventory

is a positive signof market recovery,” adds Benjamin. “Plus, based on the concept of supply

and demand, when wehave too many homes on the market, homes are more likely to sell for

less.”

Clickhere to view the November sortable housing market report by area.
Clickhere to view the entire central Ohio Local Market Update.

The Columbus Boardof REALTORS® Multiple Listing Service (MLS) serves all of Franklin,

Delaware, Fayette,Licking, Madison, Morrow, Pickaway and Union Counties and parts of

Athens, Champaign,Clark, Clinton, Fairfield, Hocking, Knox, Logan, Marion, Muskingum,

Perry and RossCounties.

For more informationabout the central Ohio housing market, visit

ColumbusRealtors.com/stats
To view commercial properties for sale or lease in central Ohio, visit COCIE.org.
To view residential properties for sale, visit www.terrypenrod.com.

Washington Blade - Study: Anti-gay groups far more effective than LGBT groups at soliciting cash

2011-12-20T18:27:00.001-05:00

The story is here

According to a report released last week by the Movement Advancement Project (MAP), American anti-gay groups are still far more effective than LGBT rights organizations at mobilizing their funding base.

The National LGBT Movement Report, which according to ThinkProgress‘s Zack Ford “analyzes the financial documents of 40 prominent LGBT organizations,” MAP estimates the number of individual donors to LGBT organizations only three percent of LGBT Americans.

The report estimates that most LGBT groups rely on just ten contributors for 45 percent of their annual income. The other 55 percent is made up of smaller donations. Ninety-seven percent of the estimated 8.7 million LGBT Americans decline to contribute to these organizations at all.

“There are many reasons for the relative dearth of donations coming from within our own community, but coming from the Midwest, I can tell you that many of our national organizations aren’t very well known in the interior of the country,” Interim Executive Director of Stonewall Democrats, Jerame Davis, told the Blade. “H.R.C., Stonewall Democrats, PFLAG, and Lambda Legal are the only organizations we heard from on a consistent basis in Indiana. Go ask your average Midwestern LGBT person to name even five national LGBT organizations; something tells me they wouldn’t get past number three.”

More alarming is that the ten largest openly anti-LGBT groups spend almost three times as much annually as all 40 of the LGBT groups measured; at $330.4 million versus the $126.8 million spent collectively. Multi-issue anti-LGBT organizations such as Focus on the Family, Heritage Foundation and Alliance Defense Fund had budgets dwarfing most LGBT organizations, assisted by smaller but more focused organizations like National Organization for Marriage, Family Research Council and the Traditional Values Coalition.

ThinkProgress adds that many of the donors to LGBT organizations are actually straight allies, which may mean that the number of LGBT Americans contributing to these organizations is actually lower than the estimate in the MAP report.

The report surveyed 40 of the most prominent LGBT organizations in the nation from the Human Rights Campaign, the National Gay & Lesbian Task Force, and Victory Fund, Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, and National Center for Lesbian Rights to smaller organizations like Log Cabin Republicans, SoulForce, the Trevor Project, and In The Life Media, and even some state-wide and local organizations like Empire State Pride Agenda, Equality California, and the New York City Gay & Lesbian Anti-Violence Project.

According to the report, Focus on the Family on its own out fund-raised all 40 LGBT organizations collectively.

Stonewall’s Davis believes that if organizations invested more time in creating a presence in ‘middle America,’ LGBT donors may be more willing to contribute.

“It has been a regular complaint from those in ‘flyover country’ that the national LGBT movement needs to focus more on the very clear and obvious lack of equilibrium in equality around the country,” Davis told the Blade. “The stark imbalance when you look at a state like Indiana vs. a state like New York makes it hard for folks in those states with less equality to believe the national movement is working for them. That turns off a lot of potential donors who are motivated to give, but feel they have few outlets to do so that will directly impact their daily lives.”

Some good news reported by MAP, however, is that most of the 40 organizations studied have turned their finances around from a 2009 low, with revenue exceeding expenses this year — contrasting with 2009 when expenses outpaced revenue — and most LGBT organizations report a general increase in revenue coupled with a general decrease in expenses.

LGBT organizations have also kept control of the cost of fundraising with only 11 percent annual expenses on average going toward fundraising at the 40 largest LGBT organizations, and the other 89 percent of expenses being split between programs & services (79 percent) and operations (ten percent).

Italian Village IN, Victorian Village OUT of new "Columbus" Congressional District

2011-12-19T17:42:00.001-05:00

Click on the map to see other areas of Central Ohio and the State.

Italian Village and the Dennison Place "Circles" will be in the new District 3

Victorian Village will be in District 15

(Currently held by Congressman Steve Stiver)

Glee Video- "Let it Snow" with Blaine and Kurt

2011-12-18T22:42:00.000-05:00

Glee - Let it Snow (Official Video) Blaine (Darren Criss) and Kurt (Chris Colfer)

Columbus Underground: The Hubbard Apartments to Rise Over The Short North

2011-12-14T15:40:00.003-05:00

The story is here

The northeast corner of Hubbard Avenue and High Street has been one of the most widely discussed plots of land here on Columbus Underground over the past five years. Originally proposed in 2006 as the home of the failed Ibiza condo development, the site is going through a change of ownership where local development firms Elford and Wagenbrenner are jointly working on a revised plan for the neighborhood. The Hubbard will be a five-story mixed-use apartment building with ground-floor retail and a public parking garage located in the back.

For more details on the project, we spoke recently with Mark Wagenbrenner, President of Wagenbrenner Development, and Mike Fitzpatrick, President of Elford Development, Ltd. Click here for more

HRC Gives Consumers Information to Buy for Workplace Equality

2011-12-12T13:45:00.000-05:00

FORIMMEDIATE RELEASE:
December 12, 2012

Human Rights Campaign Gives ConsumersInformation to Buy for Workplace Equality

Newscores in guide highlight best in class businesses with equal workplace practicesfor LGBT employees

WASHINGTON –The Human Rights Campaign Foundation, the educational arm of the nation’slargest gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) civil rightsorganization, today released the popular guide to hundreds of American brandsrated on businesses’ treatment of LGBT employees. “Buying for WorkplaceEquality 2012” divides businesses and their consumer products into red, yellowand green categories based on their score on HRC Foundation’s CorporateEquality Index, a nationally recognized benchmark of LGBT inclusion. Theguide is available for download and viewing online at www.hrc.org/BuyersGuide.

“The holidaybuying season is upon us and this year we again have the chance to send a messageto businesses that we are watching,” said HRC President Joe Solmonese. “Fair-minded consumers who care about how a company treats their LGBT employeeshave a powerful tool in the Buying for Workplace Equality Guide. In thiseconomy, when every dollar counts, it is particularly important for companiesto see that LGBT inclusion is good for the bottom line.”

Companies’updated scores in this year’s guide reflect the new, more stringent criteriastandards that went into effect with the 2012 CEI, from which we derive theseratings.

This year,the LGBT community’s buying power is estimated at nearly $800 billion,according to research by Witeck-Combs Communications and Marketresearch.com.The research also shows the LGBT community is both savvy about companies’inclusive policies and fiercely loyal to those companies who support LGBTworkplace equality.

“This is ourcommunity’s chance to vote with our dollars and send America’s businesses aclear message that equal treatment of LGBT employees is good for the bottomline. Especially in today’s economy, equality is good business.” saidSolmonese.

This is theseventh year the Human Rights Campaign Foundation has published the guide whichhas been viewed and downloaded more than 300,000 times at www.hrc.org/BuyersGuide. TheBuying for Workplace Equality iPhone application has also been updated and canbe downloaded at www.hrc.org/iphone.

Additionalbackground information on “Buying for Workplace Equality 2012”:

Buying forWorkplace Equality is an annual publication of the Human Rights CampaignFoundation that empowers consumers to make informed purchasing decisions. Theguide draws comparisons between products, services and retail outlets thatconsumers use on a daily basis. The ratings are based upon the HRC CorporateEquality Index, which this year rated 850 companies, including the entireFortune 500. The CEI is the foremost method for businesses to evaluate theirdiversity and inclusion efforts toward recruiting and retaining LGBT employees,customers and investors — learn more at www.hrc.org/cei.

Categories:“Buyingfor Workplace Equality” divides businesses and their products into everydaypurchasing categories, including:

Apparel & Accessories
Banking & Finance
Food & Beverage
Home & Garden
Restaurants
Technology

Ratings:Businessesand their products are divided based on their CEI rating into red, yellow andgreen sections so that consumers can easily determine which brands support LGBTworkplace equality:

Green (80-100): Businesses/brands that receive our highest workplace equality scores.
Yellow (46-79): Businesses/brands that have taken steps toward a fair-minded workplace and receive a moderate workplace equality score.
Red (0-45): Businesses/brands that receive our lowest workplace equality scores
Italics: Businesses/brands that have not responded to the survey despite repeated attempts and have been provided with an unofficial, estimated score based on publicly available information that has been collected.

HRC welcomesnew relationships with businesses that have not responded to attempts to gatherinformation on LGBT workplace policies and programs.

FeaturedComparisons:
UPS 100 vs.DHL 15 (Estimate)
Nike 100 vs. Adidas/Reebok 15 (Estimate)
SUPERVALU 100 vs. Meijer 25
Nordstrom 100 vs. Neiman Marcus 15 (Estimate)

Available via:
Web: www.hrc.org/buyersguide
iPhone Application: www.hrc.org/iphone

SMS Text: Text “Shop” and the name of a brand or business to 30644 and a scorewill be returned

TheHuman Rights Campaign is America’s largest civil rights organization working toachieve lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender equality. By inspiring and engagingall Americans, HRC strives to end discrimination against LGBT citizens andrealize a nation that achieves fundamental fairness and equality for all.