CAPITAL COVERAGE NEWS SERVICE
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New Stonewall Director Tackles Issue 3 Repeal, Council-School Board Races in Renewed Activist Role
By John Zeh
Capital Coverage News Service
CINCINNATI - As a key November 2 election approach here. the new head of the area's political action and advocacy group has arrived just in time to join Queen City political battles in a big way.
Doreen Cudnik, new executive director of Stonewall Cincinnati who recently has been a journalist, says she's thrilled to have the opportunity to help make news instead of merely reporting it. "Getting into being on the front lines is a very exciting prospect for me," she said. "I'm looking forward to that challenge."
Since 1994, she was managing editor for the Gay People's Chronicle, a statewide weekly newspaper serving Ohio's gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgendered community (GLBT). She was a writer and administrative assistant for three years prior to becoming editor.
Cudnik is no stranger to personal activism, however. A native of Cleveland who attended Cuyahoga Community College, she volunteered for the Lesbian/Gay Community Service Center and the National Organization for Women chapter there.
She moved her Sept. 4 and went to work three days later. "It was quite a quick transition," necessary with City Council and city school board campaigns underway, she said in an interview with Dale Allen on WAIF FM's "Alternating Currents."
Stonewall's role since 1982 has been education, advocacy, outreach to create positive change for GLBT residents here and across the Ohio River in northern Kentucky.
Working on the political action side, Cudnik has interviewed candidates "on issues important to our community" to help Stonewall's board of directors make its Political Action Committee endorsements. The group is a non-profit group with tax-deductible fund-raising status, but has a separate PAC to do political work.
The group has scheduled a Meet Candidates Night at 7:30 pm, Oct. 13 at Mt. Auburn Presbyterian Church, 103 William Howard Taft Rd., to introduce its endorsees to voters. They "will be there to answer questions and talk more about their vision for a more tolerant and inclusive Cincinnati," Cudnik said.
"The more of us there will allow (candidates) to see just how many (GLBT citizens) there are who really care about the issues. It's important to send the message that we will hold our elected officials accountable."
Stonewall endorsed incumbent Council member Todd Portune, a progressive Democrat who aspires to be Mayor.
City law gives the seat to the top vote-getter, leaving the outcome unpredictable. Favorites also include anti-gay Council member Charles Winburn, as well as former mayor, Congressman, and TV news anchor Charles Luken. The winner will have an advantage in the next election, when candidates will run directly for the Mayor's seat with higher power and pay.
Newcomers okayed by the group are Democrats Jane Anderson, Kay Britton, Forrest Buckley, Scott Seidewitz, and Repubican Diane Goldsmith. All but Anderson and Seidewitz have run before for Council.
School Board candidates Stonewall endorsed are former Govenor and Congressman John Gilligan; Louis Buschle, a Columbia-Tusculum resident, accountant and former Forest Hills school board member; and Florence Newell, a Roselawn resident and associate professor at the University of Cincinnati's College of Education.
In addition to current electoral politics, Cudnik said the Oct. 13 meeting will air Stonewall's response to Issue 3, the city Charter amendment passed 62%-38% on Nov. 2, 1993, that bars municipal protections based on gay, lesbian, or bisexual "orientation, status, conduct, or relationship."
Citizens to Restore Fairness, a group organized by Stonewall and others, hopes to put a repeal initiative on the ballot in 2000 after training from the Alliance for Justice based in Washington, D.C., she said.
Right now, Cudnik is putting her ear to the ground, "going on a listening tour," borrowing a strategy from Hillary Rodham Clinton in her New York campaign for the U.S. Senate. "We have to return to some basics at Stonewall," she said.
"People are not hearing from (us) with the regularity they'd like. They're not sure what our mission is now. People are confused about what we do since Issue 3 took its toll on this community. It's like the old Janet Jackson song, 'What have you done for me lately?'" Cudnik said.
Part of her job "is to let people know what we have done, and continue to do on a daily basis," she said. "This communication is necessary not just for our members and those who have never been members, but those who are straight. We need as many allies as we can get, (involving) a whole new audience of progressive individuals in this work to be successful down the road."
She pledged "regular communication" -more-frequent newsletters, more events - "not just political or fund-raising events, but community-building events" to enlist more volunteers. "I also hear people say they'd like us to do more fun things that you don't have to buy a ticket and get dressed up for."
Cudnik also said she is excited about efforts underway to rebuild the GLBT Coalition and a Year 2000 GLBT march here.
Tapping the "tremendous energy and ideas on her Board, Cudnik wants to insure that Stonewall "weighs in with mainstream media on stories of interest to families - providing gays' and lesbians' perspective on, say, adoption. Every mainstream story also affects GLBT people. We need a consistent, regular voice in the media. We'll identify writers sympathetic to the cause for equal rights, help all groups churn out press releases regularly. Why couldn't have (the Gay and Lesbian Community Center's) Kings Island outing have been covered in mainstream media?
Cudnik brings to Cincinnati a wealth of contacts on the state and national level, as well as broad experience with the media, said Freeman Durham, Stonewall Cincinnati co-chair. "We feel fortunate to have obtained someone with Doreen's level of experience, energy, and commitment."
Cudnik succeeds Lycette Nelson, who was Executive Director for the last two years but left to follow a career in law. "I am delighted to be joining the staff and honored to follow in the footsteps of such gifted past executive directors as Nelson, Michael Adee and Cindy Abel," Cudnik said.
Stonewall Cincinnati is a service organization dedicated to
ending discrimination, violence, and harassment against those
who are GLBT. It works for positive social change through education,
advocacy, and outreach, seeking to foster a climate of inclusion
in which diversity is recognized, embraced, and celebrated Durham
said.
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