The HamCo GOP has made their endorsement for the mayoral race to run against Mark Mallory -- Dr. Brad Wenstrup. The decision is met with some enthusiasm, but a lot of "huh? what?" Dr. Wenstrup has no political experience, but he is a highly decorated Iraq war veteran. He also served as the Chief of Surgery at, of all places, Abu Ghraib.
...but somehow that's not a problem.
In short: the local Republicans have nominated a pretty face with a strong-ish past in a desperate effort to appear relevant in comparison to a semi-popular mayor. I doubt the Abu Ghraib thing will play at all locally, much to the disappointment of Tony Fischer who is running for Council who seems to want to play up the Iraq bit, as well, in his campaign. (Word to the wise: international war politics probably don't play well locally, and the Iraq War... well, do you want to go there?) The HamCo GOP blog seems to be very excited about their pick, though you'll find information on Wenstrup's webpage as yet unfulfilling.
Funny, those two -- Fischer and Wenstrup. I suppose if anytime is the right time to make the attempt and move on up, now is it. I'll be curious to see if the "cutie [single] Cincinnati boy home from Iraq dying to make a difference at home" line will work, for either of them.
Another fun little thought: the above picture was taken from a COAST blog posting. Chris Finney is "involved" with COAST, as is, I believe, Chris Smitherman. I wonder if Smitherman and the NAACP will ultimately endorse Wenstrup thanks to pressure from Finney and COAST, and due to the ongoing (and seemingly unresolvable) difficulties between Smitherman and Mallory. It's just a thought, though...
PS --> Wenstrup was recently featured as one of Cincinnati's own "Dr. McDreamy's," so the good doctor has some "good looks street cred."
Chris Finney was a board member of CCV in 1997? Did we know that? I mean, I guess it makes sense, especially if he played the pivotal role in Article XII that we know that he did. Still... sketchy, sketchy, sketchy.
Increasingly, I don't like this guy, but I can't seem to put a finger on why. :-)
On a related note, I'm not a big fan of the Streetcar, but I have to say that I'm not sure I like the company I'm in.
On an unrelated note, my community events calendar needs some unbelievable updating. I have about 10 emails of upcoming events, and I'm not feeling up to it this evening. Apologies to all who have sent me links and events over the last few days. To the UC college students who sent me a link this week about an event on the 22nd -- I cannot find your email! Please please please re-send!!!! Yours was actually the reason I went looking this evening.
New post over at my Rainbow Cincinnati blog on my take on the whole Smitherman/Finney thing. Eh... it's kind of anticlimatic at this point, isn't it? :-)
Make sure you check out the rest of the excellent content on that site by clicking on the link below!
"We at Equality Cincinnati were disappointed at the recent news regarding the retention by the local NAACP chapter of Chris Finney as legal counsel. We hope this does not signal a change in what we can expect from the NAACP in the future. While the local NAACP chapter did not support the repeal of Cincinnati's notorious anti-gay law known as Article 12 in 2004, Mr. Smitherman and many individual leaders and members of the local NAACP did. Furthermore, the national NAACP has long made clear its support for LGBT rights. Additionally, Equality Cincinnati and others in the LGBT community supported Mr. Smitherman in his re-election campaign in 2005.
Mr. Finney has a been a leader of groups opposing equality for LGBT person and continues to actively work to undermine any progress we have made. We would remind Mr. Smitherman that the LGBT community knows no color lines. So the issues of importance to the African American community are also of importance to the LGBT community.
As the leader of an LGBT organization, I take my duty to the entire LGBT community quite seriously. And I take seriously the dual nature of many of their identities. Many of our members are women and LGBT, or persons of color, and LGBT, or persons of various faiths, and LGBT. Equality Cincinnati must be mindful of these dual or multiple group identities in order to best represent our community.
We would also hope that when the NAACP represents African Americans, they are speaking for and representing LGBT African Americans. When Mr. Smitherman said that he cannot be concerned with the interests of "any other constituency group", was he suggesting that the NAACP does not consider itself to represent its LGBT members? Or their interests. Clearly, the national NAACP is highly supportive of LGBT civil rights issues and we hope the local chapter will continue to supportive as well.“
Hot off the presses. Lynne Bowman, executive director of Equality Ohio, forwarded this to me (and Wolfie) to put out regarding the Cincinnati NAACP's Appointment of archconservative, anti-gay activist Chris Finney as the Chair of Legal Redress:
Equality Ohio is very concerned about the decision of the Cincinnati NAACP Chapter to appoint Chris Finney as chair of Legal Redress. The national NAACP is supportive of full inclusion and protection of all people, including lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people, and locally President Smitherman was himself supportive of the repeal of Article XII. It is very odd that an organization with civil rights at its core would appoint a person who has demonstrated opposition to equal protection for all people. While homophobia has an adverse affect on LGBT people in general, it has an even more serious impact on LGBT African-Americans, exacerbating existing issues of under-employment, HIV/AIDS, and access to appropriate healthcare. We hope that in the 17 years since he wrote the charter amendment effectively exiling LGBT people of all colors from full citizenship and protections in Cincinnati , Mr. Finney has learned not just the value of LGBT people but that of all people and families in Cincinnati . We know that leadership of the local LGBT equality organization, Equality Cincinnati, has reached out to Chapter President Smitherman to discuss the current situation and as the state organization, we look forward to learning more about Mr. Finney’s current positions on equality issues related to the need for full inclusion of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender residents of Cincinnati.
If you haven't been keeping up, here, check out this post which, I think, gives the most information without you having to jump around a whole lot (and the ensuing controversy). Or check out the original Beacon post.
And, with that, I'm done blogging for the morning. :-)
The outcome of the latest round of blogging has been a growing interaction with national bloggers -- my new favorite is, these days, is Bil Browning over at Bilerico.com. He and I originally just had a Twitter relationship, but now he's slowly becoming one of my blogging BFF's.
As a result, I occasionally send out information or good blog posts that I think would resound well on a national scale, and the Chris Smitherman/Finney issue was one of those. He wrote me back and said, "Just to warn you, I kind of agree with Smitherman."
As Smitherman says in the audio, "It's not enough to just talk about Martin Luther King."
So I guess this leads me to the logical questions to be asked of of Cincinnati queers: Have you been involved in African-American issues?" What has Equality Cincinnati or other local groups done to work on racial issues? How about any statewide organizations? Any of the national orgs? Maybe some local non-black LGBT activists? Are you there for them?
If you haven't been, are you going to be there in force on April 8 standing with the NAACP as Smitherman asks? I'd bet even money that Chris Finney will be, so if you don't want his voice to be the last one in Smitherman's ear, you'd better learn how to whisper too.
"Shouting" our outrage isn't doing any the community any good.
Working our asses off for "civil rights and social justice" for all people and not just LGBT people is what will turn the tide in our favor. It's not a quick solution, but it is the correct one.
Regarding the question of working with communities of color... I think it's a broader question that could be applied to the national LGBT organizations, as well. It is not exclusive to Cincinnati, or Ohio, or even the Midwest. The whole intersection of race and class bit ... though expounded upon greatly in the literature and academic settings ... has not really trickled down to a great deal of action and unification.
How do we begin that, then? And how do we feel about this issue become so... well, national in a little place like Cincinnati as opposed to some place where we clearly failed because of our own failures to outreach -- like, say, California? Or do we take the opportunity to create that difference and that change which will bring us greater success in one of the last great frontiers of LGBT equality ... the Deep South.
And, in all this, why am I still only talking about LGBT folks?
Far from becoming apologist, I am, as always, pondering my own response and my own take on the situation. I'm sure I'll be posting it in a few days.
CityBeat's blog is investigating Chris Finney again -- hrm. Something to think about. Oh, and an additional piece from CityBeat about who evoked the name of MLKJr in reference to LGBT rights first: Mr. Smitherman himself.
So, last week when we talked about Chris Finney, I criticized the Cincinnati Black Blog (which has been blogrolled almost since I started) by saying: "To which I have one response: why does anyone read the Cincinnati Black Blog? Why do I? I think it's just to get angry in the morning." Today, guess who's smiling face is on the Cincinnati Black Blog?
ME!!!!
Yea! I got him to put a picture of a drag queen on his site!!!! (it's from my Facebook profile, btw, and is years old in the first show I did @ BronZ) And this is what Mr. Livingston has to say about **me**:
We have an interesting cast of characters operating in this sector the blogosphere. Just to name a few, you are already familiar with The Demented "Diva", The Dean of Cincinnati, The Provost of Cincinnati, The Sillyman, The Bigot of Cincinnati, and The Black Grimace. Today we add Barry Floore to the cast and bestow upon him the nickname: The Queer of Cincinnati.
High praise to be included in such a troupe of characters! Can I have a crown that says that, Nate? "The Queer of Cincinnati." Absolutely beautiful. Meanwhile, however, he actually ... sort of ... praises the LGBT response to the Chris Finney appointment:
Cincinnati's GBLT community is angry about Finney's NAACP appointment for many reasons, including what it says about the NAACP's future ability and desire to defend the civil rights of GBLT people. They're successfully spreading the word all over the country about the appointment. Will shining the light on the appointment do anything to change it? Will the concerns raised now by the GBLT community force the NAACP to closely watch Finney and make sure he doesn't advocate any more of his purported anti-gay positions? I don't know. And I find no fault in what the gays are doing. They are doing what they should be doing.
What I want to know is why the Black community isn't raising HELL about Finney's appointment in light of his long record of opposing civil rights for Black people!?!
First of all, I wasn't aware of the history Chris Finney has working against the black community, and I'd be interested in learning more -- looks like, instead of homework, I'll be doing more research.
Secondly, Mr. Livingston is not known as the most ardent supporter of LGBT rights here in Cincinnati. The post my picture appears in, even, has this charming line: "who a person chooses to have sex with may, indeed, justify disparate treatment." Uh-huh. Whatever.
...but it makes the praise of our community's national response (and growing) all the more unexpected.
“I think you should be very, very cautious LGBT community,” Smitherman said. “I think you should be very cautious moving forward. I don't think this is a tree you want to bark up. But if you want to go there, if this is what you want to do, we can go there.
“But the bottom line is your community as it deals with racism in the African-American community, you’re not there,” he continued. “You're absent. And then when it's convenient for you, you start evoking (sic) Dr. Martin Luther King. Proposition 8 lost in California because the (gay) community isn't properly engaging the African-American community. And you're showin' up at the last minute trying to build bridges and have relationships, and it doesn't work that way.”
I do like his point: "It's not enough to just talk about Martin Luther King."
Meanwhile, he makes an interesting point: "How can you be racist and be gay? It's an oxymoron to me." In the end, I think, racist pervades regardless of other minority indicators. But, then again, so does homophobia and heterosexism.
Update: I just cut a lot out of this blog post. I'll let you guys do the talking. Tell me what you think. Also, if you decide to repost, just give us a heads up so we can track it across the world-wide-weirdness known as teh interweb. Like this post from the Lavender Newswire, which is about to be blogrolled here at QueerCincinnati.com, and the ever angry :-) Wolfie at Back2Stonewall.com,, and don't forget the Cincinnati Black Blog's reaction, as well as Cincinnati blog.
Update: This blog was linked on Towleroad.com -- Thanks, Andy! -- and I wanted to welcome all the Towleroad readers over here to QueerCincinnati.com! To follow up with this story, there are lots of links in the follow posting, and you can check out my two other responses (Part 1, and Part 2). To sum up, for your benefit: Chris Smitherman, Cincinnati politician and President of the local NAACP and a historical supporter of LGBT rights here in the 'Nati, brought Chris Finney, arch-conservative firebrand and historical anti-gay activist, as the Chair of Legal Redress for the local organization. This details the further fallout of that decision...
I don't think we've ever gotten to a "Part Three" on any topic here at QueerCincinnati.com. Interesting. Those pictures are awful of both of them, btw.
I've been given the heads up by my "hacker" -- the mysterious person sending me links via my own account -- about two CityBeat bits that have come out about the Smitherman-Finney relationship. First, CityBeat (in its most recent issue) gives us a great lay out of Finney's history of anti-gay work here in town, including the first indication from Smitherman on his position:
“Chris Finney has done a fabulous job for the NAACP over the last two years,” Smitherman says, referring to successful ballot issues that blocked a sales tax increase to build a new jail and repealed City Council’s decision to install red-light cameras at intersections. “He has earned our confidence in him with our legal work. I cannot be concerned with the interests of any other constituency group. I must look out for the interests of our membership.”
Hm. OK. Meanwhile, a blog post at CityBeat goes a little further into Smitherman's position:
Finney has belonged to the NAACP’s local chapter for about three years, Smitherman added. With his recent appointment as “chair of legal redress,” Finney becomes one of two white members on the chapter’s executive committee.
“You have to practice what you preach,” Smitherman said.
“As if I would care what they think about that. They don’t have a relationship with the Cincinnati NAACP,” Smitherman said. “(Finney’s) been working and communicating with us. The question is, where are these other communities?”
In fact, Smitherman dismisses much of the criticism about the appointment as instigated by the Hamilton County Democratic Party. Noting that the local party has opposed the NAACP chapter’s last three efforts — blocking a sales tax hike to build a new jail, overturning City Council’s approval of red-light cameras and trying to revive Proportional Representation — he said thoughtful residents should be more angered at the party.
“There’s no issue that we’ve put on (the ballot) that the Democratic Party has supported,” Smitherman said. “People call Chris Finney radical, but it’s the positions of the local Democratic Party that are radical.”
OK. Strange. George Ellis, President of Equality Cincinnati, in the former article, states that he would like to speak specifically to Smitherman about this appointment before any position is made. Ellis and I disagree on a lot, and I'll be interested to know the outcome of that meeting -- seriously, I would.
Smitherman has made, in the past, some excellent points about racism within the gay community. And I'm not going to say its unfair for him to go a step farther and ask where were these groups when the NAACP needed them? I think that's kind of the point of a progressive movment, isn't it? To build a movement, and to work together. So I'm not going to say Smitherman is completely off-balance by saying any of that. I think they are valid and interesting points to bring to the table when discussing LGBT-African American relations, especially in a city like Cincinnati.
With no snarkiness, and absolutely no backstabbing or bitchiness, I'll say that I'm curious to know the outcome of a potential Equality Cincinnati-NAACP meeting over this very issue.
Meanwhile, friend Texas Liberal, a former Cincinnati resident, makes a fascinating connection: "Writing about this issue and seeing that Chris Finney is still causing trouble after I’ve been away from Cincinnati for 11 years reminds me of the Jean Sartre play No Exit. The same people year after year after year afflicting each other by dredging up bad memories and the inability to leave the room even though they may in fact have the option to go elsewhere."
And the Cincinnati Black Blog is up in an uproar over the -- ahem -- uproar: "The Beacon Boys are, quite predictably, mad about the appointment. They object to Finney because of his history of opposing special rights for white male homosexuals who want affirmative action and preferential treatment because of who they sleep with, even though there is no history of homosexuals, as a group, being denied jobs and contracts based on their sexual orientation." To which I have one response: why does anyone read the Cincinnati Black Blog? Why do I? I think it's just to get angry in the morning.
Finally, our friend Wolfie at Back2Stonewall.com is making waves trying to get in touch with the National NAACP over the appointment. He received this response: "As you know the NAACP’s national position does not condone any discrimination or denial of civil and human rights and that includes towards the LGBT community." He's waiting on further response.
As for me... well...
...this is my first foray into politics, so I'm sitting back and listening, wondering, and reading. Except to say: maybe black folk aren't wrong. Maybe it's time we stood up for them at some point, too, instead of expecting them to stand up for us.
Oh, and I just got another heads up from my hacker that Christopher Smitherman hosts a show every Saturday from 5:00pm-6:30pm on 1230am/WDBZ. It's a call-in program, apparently. I don't know. Again, I'm just sayin'
My last blog post was long and rambling, so I'll try to condense it down:
The NAACP of Cincinnati has hired Chris Finney to be their Director of Legal Redress, despite his conservative and anti-gay history. The national NAACP, the local NAACP, and the local chairperson (Christopher Smitherman) have, in the past, been in general support of LGBT rights in the city and in the country as a whole.
Thus, QueerCincinnati.com's take on the whole situation is thus: Why Chris Finney?
I think it's a fair question, considering Finney's history as a conservative firebrand quick to shout an opponent down and do anything to win a campaign. Are we appealing to what people believe as "central Cincinnati conservativism," does it indicate a shift to a more aggressive local NAACP, or does the pick indicate the NAACP, locally, is moving away from its progressive roots to move more within the conservative halls of the local body politic?
And where does that leave the relationship between the local NAACP and local gay rights organizations?
In short: Why Chris Finney? Totally reasonable to ask, IMHO.
There, much better. It helps to write everything down in one sitting instead of coming back to it a couple of times.
The Beacon has posted a bit on the Cincinnati NAACP's recent decision to hire Chris Finney as the Chair of Legal Redress. It's an interesting read, even if you aren't familiar with Chris Finney. And, truth be told, I had no idea who he was until yesterday when someone mentioned him in passing in conversation.
Update: the Cincinnati Blog also calls out the move as the "they [the NAACP] must believe Civil Rights no longer matter."
It's amazing how things like this come together.
There are two central points to the Beacon article:
1) Chris Finney has a long history of being a conservative activist and attempted to make sure that hate crime laws in Cincinnati did not cover sexual orientation. More importantly, he was one of the authors and main supporters of Issue 3 here in town -- "Issue 3," btw, became the infamous Article XII that specifically barred protections for LGBT Cincinnatians.
2) The NAACP, though the national organization's board is support of the LGBT community, and the local President (Chris Smitherman) has been supportive in the past, is making a very strange decision here.
And it is a strange choice.
Mr. Finney is no stranger to the news, though, a simple Google search brings up a host of news articles and blog postings -- everything to coverage of an outburst Finney had during a Pepper news conference to a Business Courier article on his mean-spirited tactics in campaigns to not supporting the repeal of Article XII in 2004 to his involvement in banning red light cameras in both Toledo and Cincinnati (and, in his defense, his defense of a woman who was trying to seek visitation rights from her ex-husband). In short, the man is a conservative firebrand, it seems, who does not shy away from the public spotlight. (Not unlike us bloggers, sometimes :-) -- I'll own up to it, at least.) So, why would the NAACP -- a more progressive organization -- hire Finney to represent them? Finney just led the NAACP lawsuit against the City of Cincinnati over the powers of the City Manager. The relationship appears to have begun over the red light camera bits, with Finney working with COAST (Coalition to Oppose Additional Spending and Taxes), which is the earliest connection I could find.
I mean, I think there is a valid point that Smitherman brought up after his failed re-election bid:
That leads him to the biggest disappointment of his re-election campaign: the failure of the gay white community to return the favor. Smitherman says he traded a lot of political capital to support the repeal of Article 12, an unpopular issue with his African-American base.
But he hasn’t seen the gay community support Roger Owensby Sr.’s campaign to get justice for his son, an unarmed man who died in police custody in 2000. Nor did they lend meaningful support to his re-election campaign, Smitherman says.
“When the repeal of Article 12 happened (they said) ‘We need to be on the Buzz (WDBZ, 1230 AM), we need to be on WCIN, we need to be on 1320, we need to be at every church everywhere,’ so we know that you know where the churches are, we know that you know where the radio stations are,” Smitherman says. “But when one of their biggest advocates is up for re-election and then they’re reading The Enquirer—that maligned their community, that doesn’t support them—and then you believe what you read in The Enquirer about me, there’s something sick about you.”
He says the gay community must address racism within its ranks, which contributes to a rift with the African-American community.
“They, meaning the gay community, take no responsibility for that disconnection,” Smitherman says. “They just say, ‘The black community is homophobic,’ not ‘We’re just adding to the broken relationship by taking and not giving.’ “
He concedes that racism can flow both—many—ways.
True -- racism within the gay community is something that I think we should look at very specifically. And, yes, I think there is some valid point to be made that, though we ask for a lot of support for gay issues, we don't necessarily step up for them when they need it.
However, with the national NAACP, there is a growing support of LGBT issues, as evidenced by this video by Chairman Julian Bond supporting the NO on 8 movement:
And this even more recent message to the HRC stating that gay rights are civil rights:
Appropriately, it would be good to remember that it works the other way (gay rights are civil rights; but, perhaps as importantly, civil rights include gay rights).
Regardless...
Back to Chris Finney.
I think this is turning out to be one of those, "I'm not sayin' anything, I'm just sayin'" posts. Except for two points for me:
1) Why Chris Finney? Though the thought seems to be that a) he's won some court cases for them (and may, in fact, be a good lawyer... and some indications sound like he watches politics pretty closely), and b) it appeals to the conservative nature of the city and the body politic. But, considering his history and the overwhleming progressive nature of the national organization, it seems like a surprising move.
2) We, as the homosexuals of the world, should start addressing some of our own issues. This includes racism, but also includes transphobia, sexism, classism, our own health, and a multitude of other issues. Smitherman was not wrong to point it out. (But the reverse is not wrong, either... that there is homophobia in the black community... but that's not my issue to deal with internally except with the love and tolerance it takes to open someone's mind.)
Anyways, that's all I'm sayin'. But who knows, I'm rarely right about these things.
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2009 Local Elections
Candidates -- Cincinnati City Council
Democrats Laketa Cole (inc.) Jeff Berding (inc.) Greg Harris (inc.) Cecil Thomas (inc.) Wendell Young Laure Quinlivan Nicholas Hollan Tony Fischer Bernadette Watson
Republicans Chris Monzel (inc.) Leslie Ghiz (inc.) Amy Murray Charlie Winburn George Zamary
Charterites Chris Bortz (inc.) Roxanne Qualls (inc.) Kevin Flynn
The HamCo GOP has made their endorsement for the mayoral race to run against Mark Mallory -- Dr. Brad Wenstrup. The decision is met with some enthusiasm, but a lot of "huh? what?" Dr. Wenstrup has no political experience, but he is a highly decorated Iraq war veteran. He also served as the Chief of Surgery at, of all places, Abu Ghraib.
