McClelland Shane - LGBTQ Columbus

Images of Modern America

LGBTQ COLUMBUS

FRONT COVER: Rainbow banners at Ohio Statehouse around 1995 (Ohio History Connection)

UPPER BACK COVER: Rainbow balloons at Columbus Pride (Ray LaVoie)

LOWER BACK COVER (from left to right): #BlackPride4 March and Petition Drop (Ralph Orr; see ), Attendee at Columbus Pride (Ray LaVoie)

Images of Modern America

LGBTQ COLUMBUS

KEN SCHNECK AND SHANE MCCLELLAND

Copyright 2019 by Ken Schneck and Shane McClelland
ISBN 978-1-4671-0361-9
Ebook ISBN 9781439667002

Published by Arcadia Publishing
Charleston, South Carolina

Library of Congress Control Number: 2018968202

For all general information, please contact Arcadia Publishing:
Telephone 843-853-2070
Fax 843-853-0044
E-mail
For customer service and orders:
Toll-Free 1-888-313-2665

Visit us on the Internet at www.arcadiapublishing.com

Dedicated to the LGBTQ community of Columbus who fought, shouted, wrote, marched, and celebrated to create what we have today

CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Oh! You should talk to... was the theme of this book. Every LGBTQ and ally champion in Columbus led us to another one, who said we absolutely must to speak to another one, who gave us directions to another one, and so on and so on. Compiling these photographs and narratives was the most incredible game of gay history dominoes ever played.

The phenomenal folks employed over at the Ohio History Connection supported the creation of this book to an indescribable degree. This would not be in your hands without them. From Tutti Jacksons first e-mail inviting us in, to Eric Feingolds archival skills and passion, to Lily Birkhimers extraordinary assistance, patience, and flexibility, to Ben Anthonys wonderful connections, they (and all those who work with them) do not get enough acclaim for all that they are doing daily to preserve our history.

Though there are dozens of photographers represented in the book, you will see the names of Ray LaVoie, Ralph Orr, and Emma Parker pop up over and over again. The remarkable skill that these three have with their respective lenses is only matched by their extreme generosity in giving us access to their images. We are so appreciative.

Clevelanders Brian DeWitt and Doug Braun again came to the rescue as they did for the LGBTQ Cleveland edition: sharing photographs, granting access to old issues of Gay Peoples Chronicle for context, and just being a trove of knowledge and support. Also thanks to Julia Applegate, who left us a plastic bin full of magic on her front porch, which added invaluable stories to this book.

Thanks to everyone over at Arcadia Publishing for this opportunity to capture these moments in print and especially Caroline Anderson, who deftly and gently shepherded us through the process.

There were easily 30 to 40 other LGBTQ and ally heroes in Columbus who immediately responded when we cried out, Help! or Is this right?! They are board chairs, historians, nonprofit leaders, and change-makers. Though they cannot all be named, they are present in the images and words throughout the book.

And finally, to the wonderful LGBTQ community in Columbus: you may not see your face in a picture. You may not see your name in the words. But trust usyou are most definitely in this book. This is a village. And we are proud to live beside you.

Special reference must be given for the following photographers. Please support them:

Katie Forbes: www.krforbesphotography.com
Ray LaVoie: www.raylavoie.com
Emma Parker: www.emmaparkersphotography.com
Ralph Orr: tinyurl.com/RalphOrrPhotography
Andi Roberts: www.hottomatopinupacademy.com

INTRODUCTION

The same city council that voted unanimously December 14 to include unmarried partners in city workers health-care benefits packages unanimously revoked those benefits February 8.

Four speakers at the meeting asked the council not to repeal the ordinance. Chris Cozad, a member of Citizens for Health Care, a collation of groups which had backed the measure, asked council members to be leaders by taking a stand in support of the ordinance.

If you vote to rescind this ordinance today you send very dangerous messages, Cozad told them. To LGBT citizens of Columbus you say, We can only support you if it is comfortable. To the radical fringe in this community you say You can control us with your threats. To every citizen in this city you say Bigotry and hatred are acceptable community values in Columbus.

No one was present at the meeting to speak in favor of the repeal.

Gay Peoples Chronicle
February 12, 1999

When the Columbus City Council passed domestic partner benefits in December 1998, Columbus became the first city in Ohio to extend benefits to LGBTQ couples at a time when the national marriage equality debate was still in its nascence. For context, this was a year and a half earlier than Vermont began granting civil unions, 10 years before voters eliminated the rights of same-sex couples to marry via Proposition 8 in California, and 17 years before the US Supreme Court declared that marriage equality became the law of the land. For Columbus to take this action in 1998, it was trailblazing.

Then the opposition coalesced. At a public debate of the measure after its initial passing, Baptist minister Rev. Fred Marshall said the measure was promoting humanitys sinful sexual sensual nature and that we should be as obedient to God as our dogs are to us. Linda Harvey, the president of Mission America (a central Ohio religious right organization) said that the ordinance legitimizes homosexuality and bisexuality by force of law and gives it legitimacy it should not have. Various groups came together and vowed to place the domestic partner benefits on a voter referendum thus submitting the rights of a minority to a vote of the majority. Fearing a negative outcome, the Columbus City Council caved and repealed what they had just passed. For Columbus to take this subsequent action, it was less than trailblazing.

With this one turn of events, you have LGBTQ life in Columbus throughout the years: bold strokes that lift up the voices of those not at the table coupled with disappointingand sometimes quite community-damagingsetbacks that mirrored what was going on both nationally and, more distinctly, in the Midwest. In speaking with so many Columbus LGBTQ individuals to put together this book, this push and pull is something they have come to expect. The prevailing sentiment in the Buckeye State capital seems to be an endless loop of inspiring advancement followed by unsatisfying lows, which then activates more energy to create more movement forward. Rinse and repeat.

On the achievement side, the LGBTQ work that has been done in Columbus over the years is nothing less than remarkable, not just for central Ohio, nor for the Midwest, but for truly anywhere in the United States. The underground Berwick Ball that began in the late 1960s gave Central Ohioans a place to go unlike any other out there, even as the Red Party in the 1970s became a destination for LGBTQ people from around the world. The gay student group at The Ohio State University was one of the earliest documented LGBTQ student groups in the country who then sponsored the first gay rights rally ever held in central Ohio. Stonewall Union had a booth at the Ohio State Fair when LGBTQ people were simply not represented at other state fairs in our neighboring states. Events like Bat-N-Rouge, Art for Life, the Dr. Robert J. Fass AIDS Walk, Camp Sunrise, and the International Drag King Extravaganza all represent pioneering gatherings providing opportunities for the LGBTQ community to joyously gather, raise critically needed funds, and amplify issues that were being given short shrift within the wider culture at large. Columbus has never been a city sitting back waiting for something to happen; LGBTQ advancements were taking place in ways that were just not happening elsewhere.