Left photo courtesy of my brother (thanks man!)
Monday—There’s a church in my neighborhood that lined the roadside in front of their new construction with signs, “Equal Rights No Special Rights – NO on Issue 3.”
If churches want to get involved in our government, I’ll be all for it, once they start to pay taxes. In fact, somewhere along the line, I gathered that if churches paid property tax, we could eliminate the deficit in short order. Okay, I take that back. I’d rather find other ways to reduce our country’s debt.
The lone protester, pictured above, was joined by a few others and paced back and forth in front of the church. By evening, all but two of those signs were removed. Likely distributed for the yards of the congregation.
Tuesday—Cincinnati voters resoundingly approved the repeal of this 11-year-old charter amendment that prohibited city officials from passing any laws aimed at protecting gay and lesbian people.
So it’s chump change compared to the statewide ban on gay marriage (and more importantly, civil unions). But it is a small glimmer of hope that Cincinnati is evolving.
I’ll admit, yesterday, I was sweating at the poll booth—afraid I was filling out the ballot incorrectly. I just wanted to make sure my vote counted. Leaving with immense relief, I walked the streets of our rainy downtown back to my car with a sense of hope.
Patriotism swelled within me and I was quite frankly, elated.
I’m going to just stick with that memory.