In Ohio, the Cincinnati City Council voted 8-1 to extend discrimination protection to the LGBT community, the first step the city has taken to provide such protection since voters repeal the ban on gay-rights laws, according to the Akron Beacon Journal. The council amended the city’s human rights ordinance to extend protection in jobs and housing. The change, effective next month, adds sexual orientation and transgendered status to protected categories such as race and gender.
In Cleveland, Tenn., Soulforce’s Equality Ride bus was defaced outside the hotel where riders were in a planning meeting at Lee University, according to an organizational press release. Riders found pink letters scrawled across the side of the bus reading ‘Fags Mobile.’ The incident was reported to Cleveland police. A later release, however, stated that several Lee students gathered to clean the bus. When they were finished, the words were erased, leaving the original message ‘Learn from history. End religion based discrimination.’
John Dunleavy, the head of New York City’s St. Patrick’s Day Parade raised hackles when he compared letting gays participate to allowing neo-Nazis and the Ku Klux Klan to join other ethnic events, the New York Daily News reported. ‘Welcome to pure, unadulterated homophobia—it’s not pretty, is it?’ responded Alan Van Capelle, executive director of the Empire State Pride Agenda.
Ford Motor Company is facing a boycott from a coalition of 19 conservative groups that have challenged the corporation’s decision to resume advertising in LGBT publications after an initial decision not to advertise, the Washington Post reported. The boycott is being led by the American Family Association of Tupelo, Miss.
Merrill Keiser, a Democratic U.S. Senate hopeful from Ohio, appeared on The Edge Radio Show and said he favored executing Mary Cheney and Elton John because they are gay, according to a press release issued from the station. Mp3 audio files of the interview are available at chadlarson@edgeshow.com or (703) 597–0284. They can also be downloaded from www.edgeshow.com.