Welcome to the Club

by Anthony Glassman

Well over 250 people attended a City Club forum on February 24 entitled �Towards Full Equality: Transgender Identity in Northeast Ohio.�

Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist Connie Schultz moderated the panel discussion, which included law professor Susan J. Becker of Cleveland-Marshall College of Law at Cleveland State University, Gay and Lesbian Medical Association president Dr. Henry Ng, transgender activist and Margie�s Hope board vice president Stacey Parsons, and Darius Stubbs, a teaching artist at Cleveland Public Theater.

While the state of Ohio has no protections for lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender people, the city of Cleveland and other municipalities have been moving towards protecting transgender people, having already covered sexual orientation in nondiscrimination ordinances.

The event was held five days after �The 2014 Gay Games: Lessons and Legacies,� unveiling the first look at the final report on the 2014 Gay Games in Cleveland and Akron.

On March 6, a third LGBT-related panel is being held, �It�s Time for the Freedom to Marry,� with Evan Wolfson of the national organization Freedom to Marry.

The City Club has now presented the issues of the day to the elite and the masses of Cleveland for a century. More information about the City Club of Cleveland and its programs is available at www.cityclub.org.

Caption 1: Connie Schultz and the panelists discuss the status of transgender people in northeast Ohio.

Caption 2: Cleveland City Councilors Mamie Mitchell, left, and Phyllis Cleveland greet Equality Ohio Executive Director Elyzabeth Joy Holford and development director Mary Zaller.

Photos: Donn R. Nottage