CAPITAL COVERAGE NEWS SERVICE
media in the public interest
Preaching Beyond the Choir
Pink Paradigm Puts Human Billboards in Conservative Suburb's Mega-Parade
By John Zeh
Capital Coverage News Service
CHEVIOT, OH - Pink Paradigm took its lofty billboard-visibility campaign down to the streets Sept. 9 in this Cincinnati suburb's 140th Harvest Home Parade, showing over 25,000 Westside residents human examples of who gays, lesbians, and allies are in person.
The GLBT "social network" was one of 250 units watched by onlookers who lined the streets in pre-set lawn chairs for the "largest little parade in the state of Ohio" to kick off an annual weekend festival.
The area has re-elected conservative, anti-gay Republican
Steve Chabot to Congress despite opposition by popular liberal
Cincinnati Mayor Roxanne Qualls, no stranger to lesbigay issues.
"We were afraid it might be a delicate situation,"
said Paradigm's Michael Blankenship, an actor and co-founder
of the club organized in the wake of Issue 3. "Some people
felt a lot of trepidation, fearing things might be thrown at
us, getting heckled. Some said the parade organizers will throw
you out once they see what you're up to."
Issue 3 is a Cincinnati city Charter amendment that bars municipal protections based on gay, lesbian, or bisexual "orientation, status, conduct, or relationship." It was approved by voters 62-38 percent Nov. 2, 1993 and was left intact by the U.S. Supreme Court.
After successful participation in gay-friendly Northside's
July Fourth parade, Paradigm sought parade particpation in this
city just outside the Queen City's western border as merely an
educational, visibility organization. "We didn't go too
hard on the rest of it," Blankenship said.
On parade day, Paradigm members attached its large pink banner
citing its gay and lesbian roots to Blankenship's freshly washed
black Dodge Ram truck. A smiling Elaine St. John was dressed
as a pink Lady Liberty in chains, a politically-correct compromise,
perhaps, since her male husband Peter performed the role in drag
at the Northside event.
Marching behind the float-cum-truck were members of Parents, Family/Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG) and the Greater Cincinnati Gay and Lesbian Community Center
"We weren't there to be confrontational," Blankenship said on "Alternating Currents," the 23-year old weekly radio program on WAIF FM. "We wanted people to see us as not being afraid of who we are, to put a face on our community.
"You can't just preach to the choir where everyone feels comfortable like Northside or downtown. If you want to tackle issues of education and visibility, you've got to take risks and go to places where you might not be all the comfortable. Cheviot on the Westside were one of those places."
Paradigm's plan went off without a hitch, he said. "Everyone was very cool. We got some heckling, sure. Some kids yelled 'faggots.' You know, you look out, you wave and smile. And people wave and smile back.
"Parade organizers in golf carts driving by could have stopped us, questioned us, thrown us out. We weren't making a stink, we were very well behaved, he added. "We weren't trying to hide who we were. A member of PFLAG put the outcome in perspective best, saying, 'If u can do this in Cheviot, you can do this anywhere.'"
As a result. Paradigm plans to take its float to other neighborhood parades next year, but is stressing its curent, ongoing goal to raise as much as $30000 in five campaigns to mount traditional billboards.
It's organizing a benefit following the Community Center's
Kings Island Day outing Sept. 24. At midnight, the New Pipeline
bar near City Hall will welcome revelers at a ""Kings,
Queens, Jokers, and Jacks" fundraising party, with Mark
Williams performing.
