Glbt News Update Jan 20 09 E.mailer

HBO cut Gay Bishop’s Invocation Sunday—Complain to HBO

Greater Cincinnati

GLBT News Update Q

Serving the Cincinnati LGBT Community since 1996

Brought to you by: AVONDALE First Unitarian Church 536 Linton Street CLIFTON Clifton United Methodist Church 3416 Clifton CLIFTON HEIGHTS Clifton Natural Foods 180 W. McMillan COLLEGE HILL Grace Episcopal Church 550 Hamilton Avenue COLUMBUS, OHIO Club Columbus 795 W. Fifth Avenue COVINGTON, KENTUCKY Covington Clay 16 W. Pike Street Motch Jewelers 613 Madison Avenue DOWNTOWN Millennium Hotel 150 W. Fifth Street On Broadway Bar 817 Broadway Scott Knox, Attorney 13 E. Court Street EAST WALNUT HILLS Alternating Currents WAIF Radio FINNYTOWN Evelo & Wood 800 Compton Road HYDE PARK Light Spa 3505 Michigan Avenue INDIANAPOLIS Club Indy 620. Capitol Street

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January 20, 2009

GLBTQ Youth Summit seeking volunteers The Greater Cincinnati GLBTQ Youth Summit is currently seeking volunteers to fill it’s Coordinating Committee. The following positions are currently available: Volunteer Coordinator: Solicit volunteers from the community and facilitate communication regarding contact information and availability. Most work can be completed from home on a phone and/or computer. Individual will be required to attend twothree committee meetings in the months of August, September, and October. Resource Center Coordinator: Find organizations/companies to fill resource center booths on the day of the Summit. Communicate with individual organizations/ companies regarding specific needs. Most work can be completed from home on a phone and/or computer. Individual will be required to attend twothree committee meetings in the months of August,

Upcoming

September, and October.

Center Board

If you’d like to help out but can’t commit to filling one of the role’s above, they can find a position that will accommodate your schedule and talents. For more information, or if interested in a volunteer position, please e.mail Michael Sauer at [email protected].

Center Board meeting is this upcoming Wednesday, at 7 p.m. at the Center— 4119 Hamilton Ave., in Northside...

You can also attend their next Coordinating Committee meeting on February 8th at 5:30 p.m. at Clifton United Methodist Church (lower level meeting room).

Rally for Equality Equality Ohio, the Human Rights Campaign, and Join the Impact Ohio wil hold a Rally for Equality Saturday, January 31 at the Ohio Statehouse in Columbus at Broad and High Streets beginning at 1:30 p.m. CONTACT: Cameron Tolle, IMPACT Cincinnati, 816-547-0403 [email protected]

PRIDE Meeting Next PRIDE meeting is Tuesday, January 27 at 7 p.m. at New Spirit MCC 4033 Hamilton Ave. in Northside.

Miss Queen City January 25th at the Dock is the ISQCCBE Miss Queen City Pageant. Anyone interested in entering please contact HIM Brooklyn SteeleTate, [email protected] Entry fee is $35 for non-members and $25 for members. Doors will open at 6 p.m., pageant begins at 7 p.m.. This is a state event, proper attire is requested. See Upcoming, Page 2, Col. 4

GLBT News—Page 1

January 13, 2009

Page 2—GLBT NEWS

Brought to you by: Online March from Page 1

MADISONVILLE Beacon of Life Spiritual Center 5701 Murray Avenue MILFORD Carpetland 920 Lila Avenue MOUNT AUBURN Church of Our Saviour 85 E. Hollister Mt. Auburn Presbyterian 103 W. H. Taft Road NEWPORT Sin City Antiques 822 Monmouth Street NORTHSIDE Ella,Net Web Services 4163 Hamilton Avenue New Spirit MCC Church 4033 Hamilton Avenue Skincrafters Tattoos 1036 Hamilton Avenue OXFORD Ohio Edchoice Scholarships 1-800-332-2408 OVER THE RHINE The Gathering UCC Church 1431 Main Street OTHER Apartments for Rent 513-313-6599 PFLAG 513-721-7900 Queen City Rainbow Band 513-594-6362 WHITE OAK 1 TAX 3284 North Bend Road

Learn more about our Advertisers in our regular e.mailer or pick up a copy of our Printed Edition each month.

for equality LGBT rights group Equality Matters has organized the first-ever Online March for Equality, being held this week of the presidential inauguration, (January 18-24). Organizers are asking users of social networking sites, including Facebook, to change their profile pictures to one of several badges created by the group. The badges highlight the rights denied to

Still out there

“Far Reich” reports Gay orgy in DC Lynchburg, VA – Matt Barber, director of Cultural Affairs with both Liberty Alliance Action and Liberty Counsel, released the following statement in response to news that the Hilton Doubletree Hotel near the White House (1515 Rhode Island Ave.,

Coalition January Organizations represented at January Coalition Meeting: Center Board, Equality Northern Kentucky, GLBT News, GLSEN, HRC Cincinnati, Men’s Chorus, MUSE, New Spirit MCC, 1/10 @ 5/3rd, Out on Campus (UC), PFLAG, PRIDE 09.

LGBT Americans, including the ability to file joint taxes, make medical decisions for a spouse or receive government benefits such as Social Security. “If the Gay community is going to achieve equality, we need to find new ways to educate the American public and reach them where they spend their time. We felt the best way to achieve that was to take advantage of the web and sites like Facebook,” said See March, Page 3, Col. 1 NW – 202-232-7000) will be playing host to a homosexual “orgy” organized by the Mid-Atlantic Leather Maneuvers in at least three of its public banquet rooms during inaugural weekend. Americans for Truth About Homosexuality (AFTAH) broke the initial story: “It's appalling that the Hilton Doubletree Hotel chain is apparently so beholden to the mighty dollar that it would facilitate – in banquet rooms used by the public – a homosexual orgy boasting some of the most vile sex acts imaginable. Despite initial denials by the hotel manager, I and other sources have verified with the hotel's sales and catering and reservations departments that, unbelievably, the hotel is in fact planning to go forward with the gay orgy.”

Gay Street closed Hmmmmm!! Gay Street in Baltimore was closed during President-elect Obama’s address there on Saturday.

Upcoming From Page 1

No Name-Calling Week No Name-Calling Week is January 26 - 30. That’s GLSEN’s annual curriculum for middle school students, aimed at ending name-calling of all kinds. This is just the second year Greater Cincinnati has had a coordinated effort to encourage schools to participate, and the response has been tremendous (they are on track to triple last year’s response). It’s not too late to sign up — resource materials are available at nonamecallingweek.org. Please let them know if your school is participating: [email protected].

Need extra

Cash??? MAP Publications is seeking an Advertising Reps in Greater Cincinnati. For details e.mail [email protected] of call 513-241-7539

January 13, 2009

MCC sends letter to Rick Warren Dear Pastor Warren: I am the Moderator of the oldest and largest global denomination with a primary ministry to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people. Our church is a Christian church, open to

March—from Page 2 Bruce Namerow, founder of Equality Matters. Since its launch, the Facebook event has attracted more than 135,000 invited guests with more than 40,000 registering their intent to “attend” this virtual event. The numbers continue to grow rapidly and organizers were hopeful that numbers would exceed 100,000 before the event began on January 18. While the Facebook event page is the center of the group’s efforts, organizers have also launched a website at www.equalitymatters.org that is intended to educate visitors about the issue. It includes a detailed list of 1,138 rights and responsibilities that are denied Gay and Lesbian couples by federal law. The number 1,138 comes from a government report issued by the Government Accounting Office (GAO) in 2004 and available for download at the site. gaypolitics.com

GLBT News—Page 3 everyone, including heterosexuals. I am a Lesbian in a 31-year committed relationship. Unlike many in the LGBT community, I do not take issue with your selection by President-elect Obama to participate in the upcoming inauguration. While understanding the protests surrounding your selection, especially in the aftermath of the painful battle over Proposition 8, I see this situation through a different lens. I’d like to share my reasons. I have read your books. I have used them in churches I have pastored, along with a study guide that I wrote. I don’t agree with everything in your books, nor with all of your theology, but as an ecumenical denomination in which many of our members and adherents come from Evangelical, Pentecostal and Catholic backgrounds, we in Metropolitan Community Churches (MCC) are both progressive and eclectic in our theology and education. Your profound challenge to seek God’s purpose for our lives struck a powerful chord with many of us. The God-given purpose of my own life has been to help my community know that God loves them just as they are and to help them actualize faith, love and justice in their lives. Jesus Christ reached out to the

marginalized, and those labeled as sinners, seeing in those who were oppressed the very hope of the world. I am encouraged by the ways you have worked to move Evangelical churches beyond the very narrow range of issues that have too often characterized conservative Christian churches over the past 25 years. We may come from different theological perspectives, yet we share a common Biblical commitment to caring radically about poverty, violence, and the nurture of our Earth. While we in MCC reject the approach of “hate the sin, love the sinner,” we are also encouraged by the positive steps you have taken to show care and compassion towards persons with HIV and AIDS. More profoundly, perhaps, I think Presidentelect Obama is attempting to fulfill his promises by reaching out in many directions as he begins his awesome task of leading our nation in this time of unprecedented challenges. He believes you are openhearted and open-minded, and that you are yourself a bridge-builder of considerable vision and courage. He cannot govern a nation that does not believe that he will earnestly seek to bring unity. He is fearless in this regard, and I support him. I have no criticism of the President-elect in his

selection of you to bring the inaugural prayer. In the past, others who prayed at U.S. inaugurations were no more friendly or accepting of our community. However, we live in times where expectations and hopes are raised, and things that were not being scrutinized are now scrutinized. Even 20 years ago, no one cared what the LGBT community thought about who prayed at an inauguration. But as our community’s self-esteem, visibility and sense of citizenship have increased, and as people have increasingly come to realize that we, too, pay taxes, raise children, love our neighbors, and contribute to the common welfare, we’re thankful that many government officials and a growing number of faith leaders, along with the media and our fellow citizens, are paying more attention. I want to challenge you in your journey as a bridgebuilder. I would like to build a better bridge with you, particularly between you and LGBT people of faith. Earlier today, I listened carefully as you shared your views on homosexuality. Those views are dated and uninformed; they are reminiscent of the way some people talked about AIDS years ago. This is See

Letter, Page 4, Col. 1

January 13, 2009

Page 4—GLBT NEWS

Letter—from Page 4 not worthy of someone with your spiritual values and your depth of experience in this world. There is an enormous disconnect between your characterizations and what I actually see in my community, i.e., the authenticity, health, goodness, justice, and love I see in LGBT relationships and families. Many LGBT people are people of deep spiritual faith. We read your books, though we don’t agree with every premise. If you worshiped in a Metropolitan Community Church, you would hear many of the same hymns you sing, you would hear us lift up the same Word you lift up, and you would experience the same Holy Spirit moving, healing, blessing, and motivating our people. Good, faithful Evangelicals like yourself who have taken the risk to worship with us have had to take another look at their assumptions and beliefs about lesbians, gay men, bisexuals, and transgender persons. I have spent the better part of my pastoral ministry helping thousands of people heal from the rejection, misinformation, pain and violence inflicted on them from churches and families. Here is what I have learned from almost four decades of Christian ministry: People ostracized from spiritual communities

turn away from God and faith. In my heart, I do not believe you want to perpetuate that. This past week, on the 60th Anniversary of the UN Declaration of Human Rights, 66 countries of the United Nations adopted a declaration of basic human rights for LGBT people. Tragically, the United States did not support this declaration, citing the fear that states’ rights on issues like marriage equality might be compromised. Let me be very clear: While I believe unequivocally in the value, dignity, and equality of all loving relationships and am a long-time supporter of marriage equality, what the declaration before the United Nations sought to address and what I am now addressing with you, is something much more fundamental and the basic human right of all people to live free of violence, torture, harassment and criminalization simply because of who they are. In Jamaica, members of our MCC congregation were attacked by a mob wielding machetes during the funeral of our choir director for no other reason than he was perceived to be gay. Many in that mob professed to be people of faith. Almost as many nations opposed the United Nations’ declaration as supported it. Yet, even the Vatican, a staunch

opponent of the rights of LGBT people around the globe, amended its position to call for the repeal of criminal penalties against our community. It takes a certain amount of spiritual courage to amend long-held positions. It takes a certain and sincere openness to the movement and guidance of the Holy Spirit, which blows where it, not we, will. The President-elect’s invitation to you is not only an affirmation of you as a spiritual leader in our nation and our world, but an affirmation of his belief that you will be open to the guidance of the Holy Spirit in building bridges, even with our community. I believe President-elect Obama’s invitation reflects his belief that you have much to bring to the table of spiritual and moral leadership, and you have things to learn as well. You have demonstrated a level of courage and honesty that has allowed you to take risks for God’s message of love and hope. I know that some on the right are criticizing you for accepting the Presidentelect’s invitation. I am sure you are not surprised, dismayed or discouraged by that, but see it as yet another challenge. I am inviting you, post-inauguration, to a risky conversation with some of the spiritual leaders of the LGBT

community in an effort to deepen our mutual respect and understanding, and move, with integrity, beyond the current pain and polarization. I propose that such a conversation take place during the first quarter of 2009, at a mutually-agreed upon time and location, and with a mutually-agreed upon agenda. I will be glad to propose a list of invitees to take part in such a dialogue. My hope is that God has some new and powerful purpose to bring into being through each of us. Together we can begin a process to shift this terrible impasse. It would be complicated; it would be controversial. But it is what leadership demands in our time. I trust God will guide you in responding to this invitation. In this special season of peace, hope and joy, I am praying for you as you anticipate the singular honor of the Presidentelect’s invitation and all it implies, not only for you and the role you may play in our nation, but for people of faith everywhere and our common witness. Grace and peace, The Rev. Nancy Wilson Office of the Moderator Metropolitan Community Churches www.MCCchurch.org