Ten local, same-sex couples will get a ceremony of their own at the 2012 Toledo Pride festival on Aug. 11.

The ceremony and following reception is part of a Pride partnership with the Support Marriage Equality in Ohio group. The couples were selected based on Facebook submissions.

The couples’ “walk down the aisle” will be during the parade, which starts at noon. Afterward, a ceremony will take place at Levis Square followed by a reception for the couples and their 80 guests. The Divintist Order in Genoa will keep records of the unions. If same-sex marriage becomes legal in Ohio, the order will submit the paperwork for legal retroactive status to Aug. 11, 2012. If retroactive status isn’t granted, the order will sign marriage licenses without an additional ceremony, but the marriage date would be different.

Heather Zeller, owner of La Boutique Nostalgie, is a wedding planner and minister who offered her services to the event. Not only has she donated her planning services, champagne, flowers and more, but she is also designing and performing the ceremony.

The ceremony’s theme is a vintage nautical look not only because of the proximity to the river, but also to reference a quote by Rabindranath Tagore, an Indian poet.

“Basically, the quote is, ‘You can’t cross the sea by merely standing and staring at the water,’” Zeller said, adding that the quote means for marriage equality to happen, people need to be active.

Events like these are important to the community, said Rebecca Facey, a Toledoan who recently married social worker Angie Carriker.

“We love direct action politics,” she said. “That is the stuff that shows people just how stupid [denying marriage equality] is. And really it’s [showing that it has] a very human side and that it’s not gay people, it’s your neighbors, it’s your friends, it’s your family members that you’re denying these rights to.”

Zeller also helped out at the Marriage Equality Ceremony and Rally in Dayton, where 10 other couples had a ceremony. There she met Jennifer Tyrrell, a Cub Scout leader who was let go because of her sexual orientation. Tyrrell delivered the wedding toast in Dayton and she will be the grand marshal of the Toledo Pride parade on Aug. 11.

“Whether she realizes or not, she’s going to be an icon in the LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender) community,” Zeller said.

Marriage equality is an important issue for Zeller. She is part of the Divinitist Order, which she and her friends started themselves. Her order emphasizes honoring the divine in each person.

“The only way we’re going to start getting to the point where we can live in peace is respecting that everyone is on their own path,” she said.

Zeller said that as a wedding planner, finding vendors for the Pride ceremony has been somewhat challenging.

“There are a lot of people who won’t touch it,” she said. “It’s definitely made me rethink who my preferred vendors will be.”

Still, some area vendors like Photos by Yvonne, The Paper Peacock, KMJ Design and Emily West-Lowry Designs have donated their services and time.

“[The participating vendors] are all top-of-the-line, wonderful people who are all up there in the wedding industry of Toledo,” Zeller said.

Still, Zeller said she’d throw an even bigger ceremony/reception if there were more funds available to Support Marriage Equality in Ohio, a group she thoroughly believes in.

“I am a straight mother of two and married, but I’m a huge, huge proponent of marriage equality,” she said. “This is the civil rights movement of our times.”

Tags: Divintist Order in Genoa, Gay Pride, Jennifer Tyrrell, Toledo PRIDE

This entry was posted on Tuesday, August 7th, 2012 at 11:52 am and is filed under Gay pride, Star.
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Toledo Pride is changing locations Downtown, expanding its parade route and adding several new activities — all factors organizers say will make this year’s event bigger and better than ever.

The three-day weekend will kick off with a Nite Glo 5K/fun run Aug. 10 at the University of Toledo. There will be a parade at noon Aug. 11 followed by a commitment ceremony for 10 couples and an event lineup that includes community vendors, live music, a drag show and after-parties. On Aug. 12, participants can cool down with a water balloon fight and community ice cream social.

About 5,000 people attended Toledo Pride last year in Promenade Park and more are expected this year as the event moves to Levis Square, said Lexi Staples, executive director of the Pride of Toledo Foundation and event director for Toledo Pride.

This is the third year for Toledo Pride and the second year for the parade. The event was moved because of construction at Promenade Park.

“We’re just jazzed. It’s just crazy how fast it’s been growing,” Staples said. “We’re excited to move back to Promenade Park next year, but I think it’s going to work out and the new parade route is better. The main benefit is the cool parade route.”

The parade route will start at Levis Square and wind through Jefferson Avenue, Huron Street and Adams Street before ending back at Levis Square, located on North St. Clair Street between Jefferson and Madison avenues.

Mayor Mike Bell and Jennifer Tyrrell of Bridgeport, Ohio, will serve as grand marshals. Tyrrell, a lesbian and mother of four, recently gained national attention after she was removed by the Boy Scouts of America as her son’s Cub Scout den mother because of her sexual orientation.

Parade coordinator Torie Thorne said the parade is fun for everyone, regardless of their sexual orientation.

“The parade is just a melting pot of everyone in the community,” Thorne said. “It’s always a lot of good energy. It’s family-friendly. It’s just a really good time. Last year, it went really well, so I can only imagine it will be a million times better this year.”

Following the parade, 10 couples will participate in a commitment ceremony in Levis Square organized by Toledo Pride in partnership with Support Marriage Equality in Ohio.

The Community Connection Festival event will run from 1-7 p.m., featuring more than 60 vendor booths as well as food and drinks. Live entertainment, including bands and a drag show, will run until midnight. Admission is $5 before 7 p.m. and $7 after 7 p.m.

“We’ve got some great performers coming in,” Staples said. “The entertainment will be on a higher scale. It’s just going to be bigger and better.”

Minneapolis-based Spearz, an all-male Britney Spears cover band, will headline the musical acts at 9 p.m. Other performers include Amanda Rice at 12:45 p.m., Toledo cover band The Rivets at 1:35 p.m., Ohio powerpop/electronic rock artist Master T.C. at 2:30 p.m., techno pop singer/songwriter Christopher Norman of Ann Arbor at 3:40 p.m., synth-driven electronic pop group Wideband Network, featuring vocalist Casey Clark of Toledo, at 4:50 p.m., rock cover band Arctic Clam of Toledo at 6:10 p.m. and electronic DJ Kenneth Thomas of Detroit at 7:30 p.m. Times are subject to change.

The Drag Extravaganza, starting at 10:30 p.m., will include Mystique Summers, a contestant on season two of Logo TV’s “RuPaul’s Drag Race,” as well as local favorites Felaciana Thunderpussy, Deja Dellataro, London Asia, Amber Stone and The Bois with Outskirts.

Several bars, including Bretz, OUTSKiRTS RHouse, RipCord and Blush, will host after-parties following the entertainment.

Nite Glo 5K

The inaugural Nite Glo 5K was organized by recent University of Toledo graduate Justin Veigel, who said his high school cross country team in Akron hosted a similar event and he thought it would be a fun addition to Toledo Pride.

“Some Prides have a 5K competition, but we wanted to do something different than everyone else and do it at night,” Veigel said. “We thought that would be pretty cool and thought it’d be a great way to get people to Toledo early and get them to explore a little more.”

Participants will receive colored glow sticks and run through an illuminated course on UT’s main campus. There will also be a pet-friendly one-mile event for participants to “run, walk or roll.” All participants will receive a T-shirt.

Registration starts at 6 p.m. Aug. 10. the race begins around 9 p.m. Participants can preregister at toledopride.com. Cost is $18 for the 5K and $15 for the one-mile event. Proceeds will benefit the Pride of Toledo Foundation, Equality Toledo and Spectrum UT, the LGBTQA student group at UT.

Sunday Funday

Sunday Funday, hosted by the Owens Community College Gay Straight Alliance in partnership with the Pride of Toledo Foundation, will run from noon to 4 p.m. Aug. 12 in the quad between College Hall, Health Technologies Hall and the Child Care Center at Owens’ Toledo-area campus.

Guests are encouraged to bring their own picnic baskets, blankets and chairs to the family-friendly, alcohol-free event featuring a water balloon tournament at 1 p.m. and ice cream social at 3 p.m., said event coordinator Lily Briggs, president of Owens’ Gay Straight Alliance. Music, giveaways and other activities, including beanbag toss, Frisbee and sidewalk chalk, are also planned.

Admission is free, but donations of nonperishable food items for Owens’ Harvest Food Pantry are encouraged, Briggs said.

“It’s going to be a lot of fun,” Briggs said. “I hope people just leave knowing everyone around them accepted them for who they are and they could just let loose and have fun with their friends and kids and family. Toledo Pride is the one place, once a year, that you can just truly be yourself and not worry about anything.”

Toledo Free Press is the media sponsor of Toledo Pride.

Toledo Free Press is the media sponsor of Toledo Pride. For more information, visit www.toledopride.com.

Tags: Amber Stone, Arctic Clam, Bois with Outskirts, Bretz, Casey Clark, Christopher Norman, Deja Dellataro, DJ Kenneth Thomas, Felaciana Thunderpussy, Jennifer Tyrrell, Justin Veigel, Lexi Staples, London Asia, Master T.C., Mike Bell, Mystique Summers, OutSKIRTS, Owens Community College Gay Straight Alliance, RHouse, Ripcord/Blush, RuPaul’s Drag Race, Toledo PRIDE, Torie Thorne, Wideband

This entry was posted on Tuesday, August 7th, 2012 at 11:35 am and is filed under Featured, Gay pride, Star.
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Jennifer Tyrrell hesitated when her six-year-old son Cruz asked if he could join the Boy Scouts.

The Bridgeport, Ohio resident is a lesbian and she knew about the Boy Scouts of America’s (BSA) ban on gay people’s involvement in the organization.

“Its really hard to try to explain that to a six year old, especially when all of his friends are joining … so reluctantly we went to that meeting,” Tyrrell said.

She told the cubmaster about her sexuality and he assured her that it wouldn’t be a problem at the local level. So Cruz and Tyrrell joined the Ohio River Valley Council, and she became so involved that she took the role of den leader. She helped run food drives, scout meetings and conservation programs. She was also elected treasurer. She found some accounting discrepancies and pointed them out.

Shortly after, Tyrrell and her partner Alicia Burns had to explain to her son what she had initially feared. She had received a call that higher-ups in the organization had discovered that she was gay. She was told she had to resign.

“We told him the truth — that the Boy Scouts don’t allow gay people to be leaders and he said, ‘Why.’ He doesn’t understand discrimination; he’s never been taught discrimination so he really doesn’t get it,” Tyrrell said. “There’s obviously nothing wrong with his family so he doesn’t understand why other people see it as a problem … he just says the Boy Scouts are mean.”

Tyrrell’s last meeting with her Cub Scouts was at a park, where the group was making bird houses for a conservation project. She told Cruz and all of his friends that she was not allowed to be the leader anymore and left it at that. They finished up their birdhouses before she said the final goodbye.

“My sexual orientation had never been an issue until they made it an issue,” she said. “Now, because they’ve picked out the kids’ favorite leader, their parents have to have the conversation with the kids that they didn’t necessarily want to have.”

Tyrrell’s story has compelled about 327,350 people across the country to sign a petition on Change.org asking the BSA to reconsider its stance on gay people and reinstate Tyrrell. Some of the commenters lament the mark this leaves on their personal experience with the Boy Scouts. One petition signer, James Dozier of Washington, D.C., wrote, “It is stuff like this that really demeans all I worked for to become an Eagle Scout.”

Another Eagle Scout, Alexander Wastian of Wisconsin, wrote, “I feel as though I can no longer recommend the BSA as quality youth programming because of its bigoted position toward gays.”

This year, BSA announced that it would not change its policy that forbids gay people join or take a leadership role. The decision followed a two-year long process in which a committee examined the policy in relation to the best interests of the BSA, said Deron Smith, director of public relations, in an email.

More than 50,000 men earn their Eagle Scout rank every year, bringing the total number of Eagle Scouts in America to two million to date, he said. A handful of these members have returned their medals in protest of the policy. Smith could not say how many.

“While a majority of our membership agrees with our policy, no single policy will accommodate the many diverse views among our membership or society,” Smith said. “Naturally, we’re disappointed when someone makes this decision, but we respect their right to express an opinion in whatever manner they feel is appropriate.”

Smith said he did not know how often situations like Tyrrell’s arise, but that they are rare.

“The BSA does not proactively inquire about the sexual orientation of employees, volunteers, or members,” he said.

Ed Caldwell, scout executive for for the Toledo area’s Erie Shores Council, said his council has not removed any volunteer on the basis of sexuality. Scout executive Bob Drury of the Ohio River Valley Council was not available for comment.

Tyrrell’s termination has pushed her into the national spotlight, motivating her to travel to New York City for the Gay Pride Parade, fly to San Francisco to speak at the GLAAD awards, accept interviews by national news outlets and campaign for the petition. Her next stop is Toledo, to assume the role of grand marshal for the Pride Parade on Aug. 11.

She is trying to raise $2,500 to offset the costs of her travels and help bolster the campaign, and has received about $400 thus far.

“It sends a very dangerous message to people — by eliminating gay people, by saying gay people aren’t up to our standards, they’re basically saying that gay people aren’t as important or they’re not as a good as quote unquote straight people,” Tyrrell said. “Not only is that a dangerous message to send to adults but it is to kids … it is sending a message to the straight kids to bully someone who is gay because the Boy Scouts is a huge cultural institution and they said it’s OK for them to do.”

She now fields countless emails a day, some from former gay Scouts who are terrified that the organization will learn of their sexuality.

“I don’t want my kids to have to suffer because of people’s ignorance,” Tyrrell said. “And sexual orientation aside, I’m a parent who wants to be involved in my kids’ lives and I’m being denied that opportunity.”

Tags: Boy Scouts, Gay Pride, Jennifer Tyrrell, Toledo PRIDE

This entry was posted on Tuesday, August 7th, 2012 at 10:44 am and is filed under Gay pride, Star.
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