In 2011, Stonewall Columbus celebrated 30 years of service to the Central Ohio LGBT community! And with more than 200,000 people in attendance, we made Stonewall Columbus Pride 2011 the second largest Pride Festival in all of the Midwest! The Pride Brunch was also the largest to date. Among the dignitaries in attendance were the former Governor of the State of Ohio Ted Strickland and Ohio Supreme Court Justice Yvette McGee Brown.

The theme for Pride 2012 will be “Allies & Equality” and we look forward to recognizing and celebrating our partnership with our Central Ohio Ally community; the support of which has been essential to our continued progress towards LGBT equality.

This year we also added a new full time Program Coordinator to our staff and have greatly increased our roster of programs, classes, seminars and events.

Our intake and referral desk received over 30,000 calls and emails throughout the year and thousands of people were directed to helpful resources and assistance.

The Lavender Listings website was enhanced and several new features were added for advertisers including the Showcase listing which enables businesses to upload articles and video.

We would like to thank all of our members, supporters, sponsors, volunteers and all of those who participated in our programs and events. Some additional highlights of 2011 include:

Events

• Our annual “Pride Night with the Blue Jackets”
• Our Fusion Friday events grew in 2011 with an average of 200 students attending nine events throughout the year. Programs focused on coming out, financial matters and community building.
• “Calling To The Coven” Halloween Party with hundreds of costumed guests and a
• dance party in the parking lot.
• “LGBT & Allies Business Community Happy Hour” in partnership with CD102.5 and Belvedere Vodka with over 100 guests from the business community in attendance.
• Our first annual “Merry Membership Mingle” sponsored by Eleven Bar and JP Faulkner Realty. Stonewall Columbus ended the year with over 550 members!
• Stonewall Columbus sponsored the opening night of the “Columbus International Film+Video Festival” with an evening of LGBT shorts. Directors and actors from the films were present at a pre-screening reception and after screening Q&A.
• Kick-Off reception with Honorary Chair NBC4 anchor Colleen Marshall for Stonewall sponsored “Pantry Drive” to benefit Project Open Hand/LifeCare Alliance.
• Participated in “National Latino AIDS Awareness Day”.
• Stonewall Columbus was a community partner for events by other organizations in the community including: A Reason to Dine (ARC), Woofstock, Transgender Day of Remembrance (TransOhio), Transgender Symposium (TransOhio), Sandra Bernhard (Nat Productions), Highball (Short North Business Assoc.), Short North Stage, Hot Times,
• Imagine Productions, African Famine Relief/CARE and OSU Community Service Day.
• The Trailblazer Program (50+ LGBT Seniors) went on two “OUTings” to BalletMet Columbus and CATCO and then attended an early happy hour at Union.

Classes and Seminars

• “LGBT Legal Literacy” Seminar Series focusing on the laws affecting LGBT parenting and relationships.
• “Trailblazers (50+ LGBT Seniors) Seminar Series” – “Medicare 101” & “Free Flu Shots”
• Salud Italiano Cooking Class at Whole Foods
• “AFTER DADT; LGBT Veterans Town Hall” – with representatives from the offices of Mayor Coleman, Senator Sherrod Brown, Franklin County Veterans Services and former U.S. Representative Mary Jo Kilroy. LGBT Veterans received important information about their benefits and available services.

Service

• Our Executive Director, Karla Rothan, attended over 15 speaking engagements throughout the year at local colleges, high schools, hospitals and other businesses focusing on LGBT advocacy and education.
• Stonewall Columbus partnered with United Way to drive applicants to the Pride Leadership Program which is a training program for professionals in the LGBT community who wish to serve on boards.
• Stonewall also received funding from the Legacy Fund of the Columbus Foundation for a new program for our LGBT seniors called “Stonewall Trailblazers”. In 2012, we are rolling out a comprehensive and robust program that will serve them with social opportunities, computer literacy programs, a quarterly newsletter plus eldercare workshops, financial seminars and much more. We look forward to serving and supporting our trailblazing generation that stood up and paved the way for our progress.

The Advocate has Photos from the First New York Weddings on Sunday

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg Officiates the Wedding of One His Aides on Sunday

Christiane Amanpour Interviews New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg about start of Same Sex Marriage on Sunday

Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-California, announced Tuesday a bill to repeal the federal law that defines marriage as a “legal union between one man and one woman as husband and wife” and that allows states to reject legal same sex marriages from other states.

The Defense of Marriage Act, or DOMA, passed both the House and the Senate in 1996.

Feinstein said she is one of only 14 senators who voted against the legislation at the time. “I thought even then, this is unconstitutional and wrong. Well, today it’s unconstitutional, I believe, and wrong,” she said in a news conference at the National Press Club in Washington.

She said her bill would “strike the Defense of Marriage Act from law and would free the government to allow for the same type of benefits they allow for married couples to also be applied to same-sex couples.”

Read the Full Article Here

Obama Supports Repeal of Gay-Marriage Ban

President Obama is throwing his support behind the Respect For Marriage Act – the bill to repeal the 1996 Defense Of Marriage Act, which banned the federal government from recognizing same-sex marriage even for couples married under state law.

The president has “long called for a legislative appeal for the so-called Defense of Marriage Act, which continues to have a real impact on families,” White House spokesman Jay Carney told reporters at Tuesday’s briefing. He said the president “is proud” to support the Respect For Marriage Act, “which would take the Defense of Marriage Act off the books for once and for all.”

Read the Full Article Here

Stonewall Columbus will be offering workshops on custody agreements, NY weddings for Ohio couples and more in the fall.

The Ohio Supreme Court has a message for gays and others hoping to continue raising a child if their relationship with the biological parent should end.

You’d better get it in writing.

In a 4-3 decision yesterday, the justices upheld lower-court rulings that a Cincinnati woman did not agree to shared legal custody of her daughter, now 5, despite planning the in-vitro pregnancy with her partner and naming her a “co-parent” in power-of-attorney documents.

Read the Full Article Here