Registry vote may not happen this year

by Eric Resnick

Cleveland--The city’s new domestic partner registry opened May 7, and it appears it will stay open without challenge, at least until next year.

While one church is still circulating petitions to force the measure before voters, the black ministers who began the initiative effort seem to have backed away from it.

Cleveland City Councilor Joe Cimperman, who sponsored the ordinance, said the deadline has passed to submit signatures to put the issue on the September 8 city primary ballot. Registry foes are close to missing the November 3 election deadline, too.

According to the city’s charter, once 5,000 valid signatures are turned in, council debates the matter and gets a chance to re-affirm its original vote before sending the initiative to the ballot.

Cimperman said that in June, council goes on its summer meeting schedule, which will further slow the already flexible process.

Registry opponents, calling themselves the Cleveland Coalition of Churches, vowed to stop the measure shortly after council passed it in December. But they failed to turn in the 10,228 signatures needed for a referendum to halt it by the January 7 deadline.

They continued gathering signatures for a repeal initiative, which requires only 5,000 signatures.

However, in late January, the registry got strong endorsements from the Cleveland NAACP, the Call and Post newspaper, and black community leaders including former council president George Forbes.

After that, the black ministers leading the opposition started to back away. Organizer Rev. C. Jay Matthews of Mount Sinai Baptist Church said publicly through early February that signatures would be turned in “soon.” But they never were, and he stopped making the declarations.

Matthews was asked this week if rumors that the petition drive was over were true, and that there would be no ballot initiative.

“I am not sure. Will let you know,” Matthews replied in an e-mail.

The registry opponents who still appear to be active are white anti-gay activists who have been at odds with Cleveland’s LGBT community in the past.

They are, however, not as organized as the politically savvy black ministers.

Cleveland Families Count, one of two groups organized to preserve the registry, coordinated the events at City Hall for the registry’s opening. They will now change their focus away from the registry to forming alliances with other community groups working for social justice, said LGBT Center director Sue Doerfer, the group’s spokesperson.

“It doesn’t look like we will need a campaign to save the registry this year,” Doerfer said.

The group raised $1,200 to $1,500, according to Doerfer, some of which was to be spent on a May 7 rally for registering couples at City Hall.

Doerfer said 50 couples signed up to register on opening day.

The other group working to save the registry, Ask Cleveland, is continuing to identify LGBT positive voters throughout the city and raise money.

Ask Cleveland has at least 1,000 pro-LGBT voters, and raised $10,300 from 120 donors in a ten-day span last week.

According to Ask Cleveland spokesperson David Caldwell, the group will continue to identify LGBT-friendly voters whether there is a registry fight or not.

The group will be hiring a field organizer to recruit more volunteers. A number of members went to Maine last month for training with Equality Maine, which is identifying voters for a possible referendum on a full marriage law the legislature is considering.

“The kind of work we do applies to legislative races as well,” said Caldwell. “Even if there’s no registry battle, we will work to expand protections for LGBT people in the greater Cleveland area.”

Caldwell also noted that the registry could still be on the ballot in 2010.

Some of the registry opponents are using a National Day of Prayer ceremony as a rallying call which could revive their campaign. The observance is on the same day as the registry opens, and registry opponent and Ward 3 councilor Zack Reed is a sponsor of one event in city council chambers that morning.

Matthews is a speaker at the council chambers service. The American Family Foundation, which worked against the registry, is also an organizer of it.

Neither Cimperman nor Caldwell nor Doerfer believe holding a prayer event in council chambers at the same time couples are registering is a coincidence.

Cimperman said using the city council chambers for such an event is “unprecedented” and added that council president Martin Sweeney was not told by Reed that it was happening.

-

-

-

This material is copyrighted by the Gay People’s Chronicle. Permission is given only to repost the headline, byline, and one or two paragraphs, with the full name of the Gay People’s Chronicle and a link to the full article on our website. Reproduction of the entire article is prohibited without specific written permission.