CAPITAL COVERAGE NEWS SERVICE
media in the public interest
Solicitor: Issue 3 Doesn't Rule Out Hate Crime Measure
by John Zeh 1/13/99
Capital Coverage News Service
(c) Gay People's Chronicle p1, 1/1/99
Cincinnati--Following a favorable ruling from the city solicitor, a city council hearing in January will examine a proposed ordinance to add protection from crimes based on sexual orientation and rename the city's "ethnic intimidation" hate-crimes law.
Law department director Fay D. Dupuis ruled Dec. 8 that the amendment would not violate Issue 3, the sweeping city charter amendment approved by voters in 1993. Councilmember Todd Portune, the bill's initial sponsor, is pleased, but fears that a change Dupuis' made in the bill's wording may remove protections for transgender citizens.
Issue 3, unique in the U. S., forbids municipal protections based on "gay, lesbian, or bisexual orientation, status, conduct, or relationship." Dupuis determined, however, that Portune's hate-crime amendment is indeed valid, because "it does not grant special or privileged treatment."
Issue 3 "does not prohibit enforcement of any . . . sexual orientation anti-discrimination law," she ruled, because Portune's proposed ordinance does not "preferentially" prevent discrimination.
Further, Dupuis found that hate crime protections "on the bases of race, gender, etc." do not afford any members special or privileged treatment.
"The proposed amendment is within the confines of [Issue 3] and is not in violation of such," Dupuis wrote.
Municipal Code 908-3 now covers only crimes committed by reason of race, color, religion, or national origin. It makes such hate crimes first-degree misdemeanors punishable by six months in jail and a $1,000 fine, enhancing penalties for misdemeanors such as assault, menacing, criminal damaging or mischief, and telephone harassment.
The law department's ruling would allow council to create new "criminal intimidation" protection from offenses against people due to age, gender, disability, and actual or perceived "sexual orientation"--not "sexuality," as Portune had carefully worded the original text.
Portune, who is also an attorney, applauded Depuis' decision, saying that his bill covers criminal conduct without creating a special class of people to be protected.
"Issue 3 dealt with civil [legal matters] for anti-discrimination protections," he said. "This refers to criminal conduct."
But he tempered his praise, because Depuis used the phrase "sexual orientation." With it, he fears that transgender individuals may not be covered by the bills' protections for gay men, lesbians, and bisexuals. Portune said he would seek to revise her wording to use "sexuality," which Stonewall Cincinnati director Lycette Nelson had assured him would include transgender people.
Portune's bill won praise from community activists. Public health educator Stephanie L. Ballard, who had the word dyke spray-painted on her Northside home's garage door in September 1996, praised the bill.
"It's a step forward for our city to recognize that these groups do experience discrimination and deserve protection," she said. "I'm a lesbian, and I have experienced a bias-related crime."
Openly-gay civil rights activist Terry E. Payne, who heads the HIV-support group Brother II Brother, said passage would help gays have greater impact on shaping "a vision, a plan of action" to help the city handle "massive changes happening here over the next 20 years."
Changes include the building of a National Underground Railroad Museum and two new sports arenas, a bid for a furture Olympics, and commercial growth in Northern Kentucky and Ohio suburbs.
"We need hate-crime protections on a level playing field," Payne said.
The motion was referred to council's Law and Public Safety Committee, with no hearing date set at press time.
To boost approval, Portune said he would seek support from Vice Mayor Minette Cooper, a Democrat who has wavered on gay issues, and new Councilmember Paul Booth, former head of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, whom Dwight Tillery picked to replace him upon his resignation. Portune said he would ask Mayor Roxanne Qualls, Yates, and Jim Tarbell to sign on as council co-sponsors.
Passage would surpass Ohio's "ethnic intimidation" law, which does not include gays and lesbians, and bring the Queen City in line with neighboring Kentucky and nearby Louisville, which have laws that include gays and lesbians, according to the Letter, a Kentucky gay newspaper.
Opposition from gay opponents is not likely, said Phil Burress, president of Citizens for Community Values, which put Issue 3 on the ballot. Burress would not bother to challenge Portune's proposal because he thinks a council majority will not approve it, he said.
"I'd be surprised if it passes once council understands what's behind it and motivates it," Burress said. "It's part of a national attempt to codify people's behavior in the bedroom."
Portune noted a national effort to enhance criminal penalties for crimes against gays. "This is a platform issue for the Democratic Party. The President and his administration have made targeting hate crimes and their eradication a priority."
Passing protections for gays is especially important here because of Issue 3, Portune said. "Its adoption sent a message to those who would do ill to someone based on their sexuality that it's okay in Cincinnati. Issue 3 is all the more reason to included prohibition whether the motives are real or perceived."
Burress countered that existing laws suffice to protect gays. "If the penalties are not severe enough, then increase them," he said. "Big Brother and the thought police have arrived."
Portune said that speech is not an issue at all. "With hate crimes, the entire community sustains injury. A lot of crimes are enhanced based on intent or motive. Is Phil advocating repeal of protections based on race, ethnicity, and religion? They don't have an answer to that."
Health educator Ballard, who is also a volunteer for the nascent Lesbian Health Project sponsored by both Stonewall and the Cincinnati YWCA, agreed that hate-crime laws do not create "thought" crimes.
"Violence tends to be more severe when directed at these
groups, especially gays and lesbians," Ballard said. "Look
at what happened to Matthew Shepard. "The results seem to
be worse when directed at one of us."
