Bishop Thomas E. Breidenthal of the Episcopal Diocese of Southern Ohio announced at the 135th diocesean convention that he would lift the prohibition of same-sex unions in the church.

The diocese includes about 25,000 Episcopalians in more than 80 churches.

Right Rev. Breidenthal put conservatives at ease by assuring them that no priest will be required to perform the same-sex blessing.

The General Convention this past summer approved openly gay bishops to serve in the Episcopal church.

Victory Fund candidate Charles Pugh will become the first openly gay member of the Detroit City Council.  But the political newcomer could also become the city council president if he continues to hold on to the top spot among 18 candidates vying for 9 at-large city council seats.

The bill, which has been introduced four times but has always stalled in committee, passed 56-38 and now goes to the state senate.

Says the Columbus Dispatch:

The bill could hit a wall in the GOP-controlled Senate, where President Bill M. Harris, R-Ashland, has said repeatedly that although the measure will get a hearing, he doesn’t see a need for the legislation and that there are already sufficient protections in place.

“Other people are getting that evidence and information (of discrimination), but I am not,” Harris said. “I talk to business people all the time, and they’re saying it’s not an issue. If they had trouble with it, they’d be trying to get a law passed.”

Twenty states have gay anti-discrimination laws, as do 443 Fortune 500 companies and 17 Ohio cities.

Have nothing against  gays and lesbians who swing right. Sure we disagree on policies, but the gay tent is big enough for those who squeal with delight every time Ronald Reagan’s name is mentioned.

However, there are moments when gay Republicans can be their worst enemies. Take Mary Cheney. Daughter of a former vice president whose vision of torture is spooky, Ms. Cheney is partnered and a mom. This unnerves a few on the right. Remember the kooky Alan Keyes going after her (dear Keyes acolytes: you all are fools)? She and her dad are both pro gay marriage, but they are also team players and kept that on the hush-hush when the leader of their party was trying to get anti-gay marriage lines in the Constitution.

Pro- gay family under the Republican rubric? What’s not to love? So why did she donate cash to a pol who voted for a Constitutional amendment banning gay marriage and wanted to bar  gay adoption in Washington, DC?

Cheney gave 1000 bucks to Rob Portman who wants to be Ohio’s senator in 2012. The Republican candidate used to work in the George W. Bush White House and served in the House of Representatives between 1993 and 2005.

Like her dad,  Cheney more than likely won’t feel a need to explain and will want to deprive the civil liberties of anyone who has the nerve to question her.

Kevin Lee Miller, 41, didn’t threaten anyone police said; a reporter for WHIO Dayton said he was making people uncomfortable and that people felt “safer” upon his arrest. He was charged with five counts of public indecency and three counts of menacing.

The report, which was picked up by CNN Headline News, seemed to suggest that the man was menacing because he called attention to the fact he was wearing a women’s bathing suit.

Was the reporter biased? See for yourself and let us know what you think in the comments.

Outside city hall, there was an air of excitement; inside a group of conservative pastors held a prayer service using the National Day of Prayer to denounce gay unions.

City Council approved the registry with a 13-7 vote in December. It was signed into law by Mayor Frank Jackson.

“Let this movement be about building real bridges in Cleveland,” Councilman Joe Cimperman, who filed the legislation, told The Plain Dealer newspaper.

“It’s not about marriage,” Cimperman said. “It’s about recognizing relationships. And this is just the beginning. Come on, it’s 2009! This is the battle of human rights for our generation.”

The registry is mostly symbolic, but for gay and lesbian couples in the city it is a major step forward in a state where same-sex marriage is banned under the constitution. 

The registry will be open to all same-sex couples who live in the city.  They will have to show they are in an interdependent relationship and live together.

It will not require city government or private businesses to provide spousal benefits to same-sex couples, but it could be used as proof of a relationship at those companies which do offer partner benefits.

The registry is the third of its kind in the state.

In 2003, voters in Cleveland Heights approved a partner registry.  A conservative council member sued to overturn the vote but lost in court and was defeated in the nest election.

In 2008 ,Toledo City Council approved a similar registry.

On New York City’s Upper West Side, The Jewish Alliance for Change presented a benefit concert on Monday evening for marriage equality that featured a stunning array of stars. I spoke at the event and followed Linda Lavin ­ who played the lead in the television show Alice.  It was exhilarating to be among the Broadway glitz and glamour. Most important, the event encapsulated what the movement has worked decades to achieve: broad mainstream support and cultural acceptance.

Unfortunately, while our movement bathed in the well-deserved spotlight, not everyone felt its warm glow. There are still gay people ­particularly of school age ­ who feel the cool sting of homophobia. They are teased, harassed, humiliated and beaten on a daily basis. They enter the schoolyard in sheer terror ­as if it were a prison yard ruled by fearsome gangs.

Teachers ­- who are supposed to be in charge – act no better than prison guards, indifferent to the pain and suffering. The cries of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender students often fall on deaf ears. It is a living Hell and one that too often ends in tragedy.

In 1998, I remember an effeminate male student in high school who was teased mercilessly. He was assaulted verbally and physically ­ and it got so bad he had to drop out. Teachers who allowed bullies to ruin his life curtailed his right to an education.

Thanks to groups like the Gay, Lesbian, Straight Education Network (GLSEN)
much has changed. There are many openly gay GLBT students who have uneventful ­ if not enjoyable ­ high school experiences.

Still, if a student ends up in the wrong school ­ it might as well be 1988 (or even 1958). One such student is Carl Joseph Walker-Hoover. He was an 11-year-old boy who was taunted by bullies who repeatedly called him gay. On April 6, he hung himself in his Springfield, Mass. home.

It is heartbreaking to hear Sirdeaner Walker, Carl¹s mother, talk about her
son’s death. She did everything in her power to alert the school and they
failed to intervene.

“I have been homeless, but Carl made it through,” Walker told ABC News. “I
was a victim of domestic violence, and we made it through. The one thing we
couldn’t get through was public school.”

Last week, parents in Ohio sued a high school after their son, who did not
claim to be gay, shot himself after bullies clobbered him with anti-gay
epithets. This problem is as pervasive as it is perverse. It is an open
secret and offhandedly dismissed, as “boys will be boys.” Of course, this
response comes from the boys actually throwing the slurs and punches and not
the victims and their families.

Equally tragic is that this problem is not considered a major story in the
mainstream media. We are treated to countless hours of babbling baloney and
blithering buffoonery ­ but the preventable suicide by an 11-year-old boy is
considered an afterthought.

In my view, this tragedy should be on the front page of every newspaper in
the nation. Satellite trucks should be parked in front of Ms. Walker’s home
to address a serious issue that affects far more people than stories about
the latest star in rehab.

On Friday, April 17, students across the nation will participate in GLSEN’s
13th annual National Day of Silence, where they will take a one-day vow of
silence to shine a light on anti-gay bullying.  More than 8,000 schools are
expected to participate in this incredible show of solidarity.

Now, if the media will just end its “century of silence” and elevate this
issue, we might see less eleven year olds committing suicide.

The county run adoption service allows caseworkers to give preference to legally married opposite-sex couples. Single people, unmarried opposite-sex couples and same-sex couples say the policy puts them at a disadvantage.

The agency instituted the rule in December, but it came to light only last week.

“It’s not proper and, obviously, we don’t agree with it,” Commissioner Charles Furmon told The Cincinnati Enquirer. “You can’t show favoritism for one group over another.”

Furmon also said that the policy could put the county and Children Services at risk for lawsuits.

Agency director Michael Fox denies the policy is discriminatory, since it does not impose an outright ban on non-legally married couples from adopting or fostering.

“I would encourage the commissioners to first read the actual rule. It says that the trump card in all of these decisions is the best interest of the child. The rule does not say a single parent cannot adopt. It does not say that people with alternative lifestyles can’t adopt,” Fox told The Enquirer.

He said the policy is based on studies that show children from married households are more likely to succeed.

The studies, however, are countered by others that show no difference in children reared by same- and opposite-sex couples.

The policy also has raised the interest of the American Civil Liberties Union.

Rita Goodman and her then-partner Siobhan LaPiana planned to have a family.  LaPiana gave birth to two children, now aged 11 and 8.

Both women equally parented the boys, who love and rely on both of them as their mothers ,according to court documents filed by Lambda Legal which represents Goodman.

Before the birth of the first child, Goodman and LaPiana drafted and signed a parenting agreement detailing their intent to share all responsibilities of parenthood.

After the couple ended their 10-relationship, LaPiana began restricting Goodman’s time with the boys. 

In February 2007, Goodman filed a lawsuit, and in August 2008, the trial court ordered visitation for Goodman.

 LaPiana appealed, arguing among other things that Ohio’s antigay constitutional amendment prevents courts from entering orders permitting former lesbian partners to share custody, and that the court’s order unconstitutionally infringed on her right to autonomy as a parent.

“The Ohio Supreme Court already has said that Ohio’s antigay constitutional amendment does not prevent a same-sex couple from sharing custody of the children they are rearing together,” said Lambda Attorney Camilla Taylor in a statement.

” We shouldn’t have to address this hurtful and discriminatory argument any longer. The trial court below in this case did the right thing by focusing on the needs of the children, and awarding shared custody to these women based on more than a century of Ohio case law allowing such orders.”

Goodman said that the issue is about the well-being of the children.

“This has always been about my sons and making sure they can rely on both of their parents. I made a promise to take care of them always — and I’m just trying to make good on that promise,” said Goodman.

Last December in a similar case argued by Lambda, the Ohio Supreme Court rejected a similar effort by a woman in a custody dispute with her former partner to use Ohio’s antigay constitutional amendment to sever the parental relationship between her child and her former partner.

(Columbus, Ohio) The Ohio Supreme Court has let stand an appeals court ruling that said the state’s constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage cannot be used to terminate a child custody agreement between partners.

“The Court has expressly shut down arguments that Ohio’s antigay amendment impacts parenting and child custody relationships, rights, and responsibilities,” said Lambda Legal attorney Camilla Taylor.

Lambda represented Therese Leach in her fight to uphold a court-approved joint custody agreement signed by both her and her former partner, Denise Fairchild, the child’s birth mother.

The dispute over custody began in 2005 after the women ended their relationship.

After their son was born in 1996, both women parented him. In order to ensure that Leach had a protected legal relationship with the child, the two women signed a joint custody agreement.  Such agreements were approved by the Ohio Supreme Court in 2001. 

That same year, an Ohio court approved the joint custody agreement stating they would share custody.

After Leach and Fairchild broke up, Fairchild sought to terminate the custody agreement, citing the 2004 amendment to the Ohio constitution limiting marriage to opposite-sex couples.

In addition to banning same-sex marriage the amendment, known as Issue 1, says the state “and its political subdivisions shall not create or recognize a legal status for relationships of unmarried individuals that intends to approximate the design, qualities, significance or effect of marriage.” 

Lawyers for Fairchild argued that the amendment extends to adoption.

The appeals court not only dismissed the case, it also said that Fairchild should never have been permitted to attack the enforceability of a shared custody agreement with Leach.

“The Court correctly declined an invitation to treat gay and lesbian Ohio parents differently from other families, and to deprive the children of these families of the protections and support other children receive,” said Taylor.

In upholding the appeals court ruling the state Supreme Court decision  is the final word on the matter.