Posted: February 25, 2003

Activists Set Out to Repeal Cincinnati's Article 12

by Eric Resnick
Gay People's Chronicle

Cincinnatti, OH- An apparent change in the city's attitudes toward gays and lesbians has given community leaders hope that a ten-year-old charter amendment banning any gay and lesbian human rights ordinance can be repealed.

"We're taking a long, hard look at the recall effort, and we will move when we are ready," said Gary Wright, co-chair of Citizens to Restore Fairness, which was organized to coordinate the repeal efforts.

Wright said there have been many signs of positive change since the 1993 passage of Ballot Issue 3.

The measure, now Article 12 of the city charter, was passed by voters after city council added "sexual orientation" to the city's human rights ordinance a year earlier. The initiative's backers convinced 62% of voters that the 1992 measure gave "special rights" to homosexuals.

Article 12 prohibits any ordinance that gives "minority or protected status to people based on sexual orientation or preference."

The U.S. Supreme Court allowed a ruling upholding it to stand in 1998, three years after city council repealed the human rights measure. Cincinnati is the only city in the U.S. with such a provision in its charter.

Wright said the February 5 passage of a hate crime ordinance by a 7-2 vote of city council is the most recent signal that attitudes about gays are changing.

Wright and others also say that more GLBT Cincinnatians are coming out, as shown by several years of Pride festivals and cultural events. Several large corporations in Cincinnati have added sexual orientation to their non-discrimination policies and some offer same-sex domestic partner benefits. These include Procter & Gamble and Federated Department Stores.

Activists also cite the soul-searching Cincinnati went through after the racial unrest of 2001, and the strong support for a GLBT-inclusive human rights ordinance in neighboring Covington, Ky.

But repeal backers are most excited about an in-depth public opinion survey conducted over five months by the Cincinnati chapter of the National Conference for Community and Justice, a mainstream religious organization formerly known as the National Conference of Christians and Jews.

The survey results will be released in a few weeks and are expected to show that attitudes about gays and lesbians have changed.

"The study has given us good reason to believe that we have a different community than we had in 1993," said NCCJ Cincinnati chapter director Chip Harrod, who also testified in favor of the hate crime ordinance.

"Institutions and public attitudes have become much more accepting of gays and lesbians," said Harrod, "And there is greater awareness of anti-gay discrimination."

Harrod added that there is an increased sense that Article 12 is "a blight on [Cincinnati's] image."

Harrod said that the perception that leaders of the African-American religious community favored Issue 3 in 1993 may be exaggerated and that the study's findings challenge that widely-held belief.

"There was not as much opposition [to Issue 3] as there should have been," said Harrod, "so it seemed like the African-American ministers were speaking for the whole."

Another ballot issue would be needed to repeal Article 12. Timing it to occur with the 2004 presidential election is being considered. A repeal can be put on the ballot by city council, or by another initiative petition drive.

Wright is expecting a tough battle, which may include collecting 9,000 petition signatures and "winning one vote at a time."

He is not reassured by the small turnout of Citizens for Community Values at hearings earlier this month. The group's leaders sponsored the campaign for Issue 3 ten years ago.

"I don't think we can take false comfort in the fact that the opposition did not come out for the hate crime ordinance and has not come out in Covington," said Wright.

"Their point of view is fading, but they will still have victories in the short term," said Wright.