Gay Rights issue reopened in Dayton

The Dayton Daily News reports

It looks like Dayton is in for a rerun of the gay rights controversy of 8 years ago:

"Commissioner Dean Lovelance and former commissioners Idotha Bootsie Neal and Lloyd Lewis originally supported Wiseman's proposal, but withdrew support after lobbying by area ministers.

Now, Lovelace said discussion between black ministers and the gay community that should have taken place seven years ago never happened. "I'd like to have that before I vote on this," he said

The commission could vote on the ordinance Nov. 21.

"I'm really proud that we as a commission are taking this on. The call is out there for politicians to do the right thing even when it's a hard thing to do," Commissioner Matt Joseph said.

We’ll see.

Dean Lovelace is laying the rationale for his “no” vote, by saying discussions never happened between ministers and the gay community. One wonders what is there to discuss?

This is an issue, like abortion, where there is no compromise for Christians, as to tolerate or accept homosexuality is contrary to Scripture. So clergy are going to have to oppose this law.

Counting votes one wonders how Rhine McLin is going to vote. I’d say she’s the swing vote.

Just for grins, I ginned up this map of the gay rights local option for the larger cities (and their suburbs) surrounding Dayton.




Apparently these laws are more widespread than one would expect (Fort Wayne? Youngstown?). In some cases, where there is merged city-county government, coverage extends to suburban areas.

Dayton and Akron are the only large cities in Ohio where gay rights has failed or never been attempted.

Mountaineers are always free, but they are also fairly culturally conservative, as no large West Virginia city has gay rights coverage. The cultural conservatism of Appalachia mights play a role in the lack of support for gay rights in Dayton and Akron, as these cities have the largest urban Appalachian communities in the state.