There are six homosexual bathhouses in Ohio, at least according to one online directory:

• Club Wolf (owned by Ray Wolf), operates in Cleveland and Columbus
• Flex (owned by Charles Fleck)
• Akron Steam & Sauna
• Diplomat Baths in Toledo

The following is excerpted from Cleveland Health Officials Scrutinize Opening of New Bathhouse, published Jul 16, 2006, by Associated Press:

City health officials want the owner of a new, upscale gay bathhouse [Flex] to provide condoms, offer customers regular HIV testing and appoint employees to answer questions about preventing sexually transmitted diseases…

“I think it’s going to be a big mess in the not-too-distant future,” said William Tiedemann, AIDS director for the Cleveland Department of Public Health.

Last year, an 11-year-high 118 new HIV diagnoses were reported among Cleveland residents, according statistics gathered by the city health department. As of Dec. 31, 2,458 Cleveland residents had been reported as living with HIV or AIDS, a rate of about 514 per 100,000 residents, and about four times the state rate.

Two of every three Ohio cases of HIV/AIDS occur in men, and homosexual sex is believed to be the source of many infections.

Charles Fleck, founder and owner of the Flex club, said he’s concerned about health and safety at the club. He said he wants to work with the health department to ensure that customers are protected.

“Look, I’m a gay man,” he said. “I went through the entire AIDS saga, and I am still going through it.”

…City Councilman Joe Cimperman, who learned about the project 18 months ago when an architect contacted the city zoning board, said he has few concerns. Cimperman said he asked about public health measures and was told that condoms and prevention messages would circulate throughout the club.Public health officials and AIDS activists in Cleveland said they aren’t opposed to bathhouses. Research has shown they are a valuable and convenient venue for promoting safer sex practices, and AIDS organizations acknowledge that the clubs are safer for gay men than cruising other areas, such as parks.

Flex will compete with a smaller gay bathhouse, Club Cleveland, located in the same area. Club Cleveland has always provided HIV testing and free condoms, said owner Ray Wolf.

When Flex opens, it will become the fifth bathhouse in Ohio. The Flex and Club chains both have branches in Columbus. A bathhouse in Toledo is independently operated.

Flex’s other location are in New Orleans and Phoenix.

Continue reading at Free Republic…

“The Gay & Lesbian Victory Fund is provides strategic, technical and financial support to openly LGBT candidates and officials. It’s the only national organization solely committed to increasing the number of openly LGBT public officials at federal, state and local levels of government. Victory is the nation’s largest LGBT political action committee and one of the nation’s largest non-connected PACs. In 15 years, Victory has helped the number of openly LGBT officials grow from 49 to more than 350. Roughly 22% of all Americans are represented by an openly LGBT elected official.”

Sixty-seven (67) openly homosexual candidates were elected on Tuesday.

From Victory Fund:

The Gay & Lesbian Victory Fund today reported unprecedented success in electing openly gay candidates this year. Sixty-seven Victory-endorsed candidates were elected to federal, state and local offices, with some winning historic races that make them the first openly gay or lesbian candidates ever elected in their states or legislative bodies.

“This is the tipping point election for openly gay candidates,” said Chuck Wolfe, president and CEO of the Victory Fund. “We’re proving that qualified, well-prepared candidates matched with committed donors means gays and lesbians can move from having a stake in policy to actually making policy. There’s no reason to sit on the sidelines with our fingers crossed anymore.”

10 Key victories in 2006:

• Patricia Todd, who will represent District 54 in the Alabama State House. Todd is the first openly gay person ever elected to any office in the state.
• Kathy Webb, who will represent District 37 in the Arkansas State House. Webb is the first openly gay person ever elected to any office in the state.
• Henry Fernandez, who won a seat on the Lawrence Township School Board, making him the first openly gay person ever elected to any office in Indiana.
• Al McAffrey, who will represent District 88 in the Oklahoma State House. McAffrey is the first openly gay person ever elected to the Oklahoma state legislature.
• Jolie Justus, who will represent District 10 in the Missouri State Senate. Justus is the first openly gay state senator in Missouri history.
• Ed Murray, who will represent District 43 in the Washington State Senate. Murray, a former state representative, is the second openly gay state senator in Washington history.
• Matt McCoy, who becomes the first openly gay candidate ever elected to the Iowa legislature. McCoy, a sitting state senator, came out during his last term.
• Ken Keechl, who won a seat on the Broward County Commission in Florida, beating an appointee of Gov. Jeb Bush.
• Jamie Pedersen, who becomes the third consecutive openly gay person to be elected to represent District 43 in the Washington State House.
• Judge Virginia Linder will join Rives Kistler on the Oregon Supreme Court, making it the first state ever to have two openly gay Supreme Court Justices, according to preliminary results.

Key Statistics About Victory-Endorsed Candidates in 2006

• Total Victory-endorsed candidates: 88 (55 non-incumbents, 33 incumbents)
• Total Victory-endorsed winners: 67
• Total Victory-endorsed winners running as openly LGBT for the first time: 37
• Percent of Victory Fund bundled money spent on non-incumbent candidates: 80%
• Percent of Victory Fund PAC money spent on non-incumbent candidates: 91%
• States that elected their first-ever openly LGBT officials: Alabama, Arkansas, Indiana
• States that elected their first-ever openly LGBT state legislators: Alabama, Arkansas, Oklahoma
• 7 States that still have no openly LGBT elected officials at any level of government: Alaska, Louisiana, North Dakota, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, West Virginia
• 13 additional states that still have no openly LGBT state legislators: Delaware, Florida, Hawaii, Indiana, Kansas, Mississippi, Nebraska, New Jersey, New Mexico, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas, Wyoming

From the Task Force’s 2005 Creating Change conference:

Creating Change closed with a thunderous speech by Bishop Yvette Flunder, founder and senior pastor of City of Refuge United Church of Christ in San Francisco, who spoke to the separation many LGBT activists feel from spiritual traditions, saying,

“Somebody stole God from some of us. Somebody reached down inside you and stole your spirit from you.”

But she encouraged activists not to abandon the spiritual dimension of the work they do for justice, saying,

“Activism that is rooted in spirituality can bust Hell wide open.”

The audience wildly applauded Flunder’s speech and left the conference with her words resonating as a spiritual call to all justice-seeking people:

“I challenge you, prophets, to stand up!”

The National Gay & Lesbian Task Force was in Kansas City, MO, for five days hosting their 19th annual “Creating Change” conference. According to their website, over 2000 homosexual activists gathered to strategize for 2007 and beyond.

The closing speaker on Sunday morning was Loretta Ross, national coordinator and co-founder of SisterSong Reproductive Health Collective. Ms. Ross “espoused the need to talk about the human right to sexual pleasure“:

“While we’re fighting each other in our own Oppression Olympics, the neofascists and neoliberals are kicking our asses. They’re killing us. And only a united movement for all of our human rights will save us.”

Additionally: “Dozens of youth 24 and under attended an interactive creative writing and poetry workshop by award-winning folk poet and progressive artist-activist Alix Olson on Friday.”

Note that on Alix Olson’s website, her bio says that “Alix Olson is an internationally touring folk poet and progressive queer artist-activist.” Why do you suppose the Task Force elected to omit that particular adjective?

“At this morning’s plenary, several of the youth performed a collectively written poem about sexuality, pride and radicalism, saying in alternating voices,

‘Pride is personal.

Pride is identifying.

Pride is loving yourself.

Pride is holding hands without fear…

Living these lives is radical.

That is beautiful…

We are bountiful.

And beautiful.'”

How many corporations sponsored state “Protect Marriage” initiatives? Despite the fact that a majority of their employees (and customers) are married men and women with families, American corporations are increasingly supportive of homosexual activist groups. It is tragic that corporations are now taking the lead in undermining the foundations of marriage and family that built our nation and helped make America one of the wealthiest and most stable countries the world has ever seen.

Here is a partial list of companies and organizations that supported the National Gay & Lesbian Task Force‘s radical “Creating Change” conference in Kansas City, Missouri, Nov 8-12, 2006:

• American Airlines
• Ameriprise Financial Services
• Bacardi
• Bell South
• Chipotle Grill
• Cingular
• Costco
• Merrill Lynch
• MS. Magazine
• National Education Association
• NARAL
• Panera Bread
• Planned Parenthood
• United Way of Miami Dade
• Washington Mutual Bank
• Wells Fargo

Well, here you have it: some Wisconsin homosexual activists testify below to the lies and unethical campaign tactics used by the “gay” activist group “Fair Wisconsin” in trying to derail the state’s Marriage Protection Amendment.  This corroborates reports that we heard from Wisconsin of citizens outraged that the homosexual group was intentionally misleading voters into thinking that a NO vote was PRO-marriage (in truth, a YES vote was FOR the Marriage Amendment.)

Despite their dirty tricks and deceptions–and the fact that pro-homosexual lobby in Wisconsin outspent pro-family forces 10-1 in this campaign–the amendment passed easily, by 59-41 percent.  This in the very first state to enact a “sexual orientation” law (back in 1982).  Who says the homosexual movement’s triumph is inevitable?– Peter LaBarbera

Comments posted Nov 7, 2006, on the Fair Wisconsin blog (emphasis added):

At 6:59 AM, Skippy said…

I am not going to take the time to read all of this but… YOU LIED… to so many people… YOU LIED to people who where going to vote no and TRICKED them into voting yes… YOU CALLED PEOPLE AND TOLD THEM TO VOTE NO IF THEY WANTED TO KEEP MARRIAGE BETWEEN ONE MAN AND ONE WOMAN… FAIR WISCONSIN DESTROYED GAY COUPLES FUTURES BECAUSE THEY LIED… YOU LIED… YOU FLAT OUT LIED TO THE PEOPLE OF THIS STATE… Why lie… all we want is the truth… Fair WISCONSIN made us out to be fakes… phoneys… and fair WISCONSIN hurt the gay community SEVERELY… NEVER TO BE FORGIVEN… I would like to see Fair Wisconsin Retired… and will not rest until that happens… NO BODY that sticks up for me is going to go around and LIE…

At 2:05 PM, Miss Judy said……I think that Skippy’s comments are histrionic; however, I think Matt’s comment should not be ignored. The campaign was a mainstream – Democrat-style political campaign. As such, I think compromises were made in the name of perceived political expediency. Although we did indeed talk of gay and lesbian couples and their families, much of the campaign downplayed ‘queerness’ and focused on the effects the amendment would have on “all non-married couples”, i.e., straight folks. It’s a dicey path to walk – on the one hand we were asking people to expand their hearts and consciousness and really question why they are so afraid of queer folks; on the other hand we were in effect saying “Don’t think about homosexuals if they creep you out; think about how this would affect ‘normal’ people,” thus tacitly accepting homophobia.
Could we have waged a successful campaign without making these compromises? Probably not. However, we still need to look at these issues head-on, engage in constructive self-criticism and consider their effects, not just dismiss them as givens or necessary evils.

At 4:03 PM, psion9999 said…
I won’t hide my anger at my life being politicized and I won’t hide my hatred of all those who have done so. I’m not strong enough to keep myself from it. But, this is only directed at those who knew what they were doing, and hid behind the face of their religion and used phrases like “protecting marriage from being redifined” to mask their bigotry and ignorance. I pity all the others who voted “yes” out of confusion and because they were directed to do so by their churches. With education, those people can be reached in the future. It is the truly hateful people that will lose out in the end, because I believe that they are vocal and powerful now, but small in number. The youth of today truly will bring a bright future. They are more enlightened in what is truly good and right in society, and they will overcome the bigots and religious zealots in time.

The following is merely an excerpt from Nightmare at Franklin, by Tom Mountain, published Nov 8, 2006, by Newton Tab; we encourage you to continue reading the full story…

Emer O’Shea knew something was wrong the minute she picked up her daughter from Franklin Elementary School. The third-grader was normally very perky upon seeing her mother and new baby sister, but this time she glanced at her mother without indicating what was wrong, except to say that the school’s social worker had visited the class. But Emer soon heard from another parent about what had happened in her daughter’s class that day, and she was both stunned and mortified. The next day her young daughter finally opened up with a question that would baffle most parents of an 8-year-old child, “Mommy, is it possible for a man to have an operation to become a woman?”

Transgenders and transvestites. These were the topics that a staff member at Franklin School in West Newton chose to teach to a class of third-grade children. The school’s social worker described to the children that some men like to dress up as women, and yes, some men even have operations to change into women.

The opportunity for this “teachable moment” – the kind that Superintendent Jeff Young likes to portray as merely responding to some child’s “random questioning” – occurred when the social worker was describing various families outside of the traditional mommy-and-daddy norm and showed the class a picture of a woman with two children, asking what they saw in the picture. A child then raised his hand to tell her (are you sitting sit down for this?) that he thought the picture was of a man who had a sex change operation and was now a woman. Apparently, the child’s own father was undergoing such an operation (which he/she has since completed).

The social worker then elaborated on this “teachable moment.” But this wasn’t just any social worker employed by the Newton Public Schools. This was Laura Perkins, former board member of GLSEN, the Gay Lesbian and Straight Education Network; or rather, “Laura Perkins, MSW, Franklin School and the Newton Early Childhood Program,” according to the GLSEN Boston Conference, where she hosted a seminar in which the “Rationale for integrating GLBT (Gay Lesbian Bisexual Transgender) issues in the early elementary years will be presented” and “classroom lessons demonstrated.” (See 5C.)

As a result of this particular “classroom lesson,” Emer’s daughter was petrified. For an 8-year-old accustomed to a child’s world of Santa Claus, the Tooth Fairy and the Easter Bunny, the little girl had nightmares, and explained to her mother she was scared that her baby sister could turn into a boy.

So Emer did what any normal responsible parent would do – she demanded an explanation from the principal, Cynthia Marchand (617-559-9500). She and several other parents from this class met with the principal who, according to Emer, responded defensively and fully backed her staff member.

Emer then went to Superintendent’s Young’s office with her concerns. She handed Mr. Young a written description of what happened, whereupon the superintendent promised to respond to her soon. He didn’t. So after three weeks, she called to make an appointment. As Emer described it, Mr. Young remarked that the Parental Consent Law didn’t apply to this situation because, he claimed, the topic of discussion was not planned for. He concluded that it was really just “a teachable moment.”

Continue reading at TownOnline…

Excerpted from Hawaii Elects Nations Highest-Ranking Openly Transgender Official, published Nov 8, 2006, by Associated Press:

Kim Coco Iwamoto, a 38-year-old attorney, did not tout her gender status in the campaign but has advocated for transgender youth and related issues. She came in third Tuesday in the competition for three seats on the 14-member board, which governs the islands’ 285 public schools.

Iwamoto would be the highest-ranking openly transgender person elected in the United States, said Denis Dison, a spokesman for the Victory Fund, a Washington-based group that tracks lesbian, gay and transgender candidates and helps fund their campaigns.

Continue reading at Fox News…