Wednesday had the makings for some gratuitous head-butting across the cultural divide. Cleveland’s domestic partner registry kicked off at 8 a.m., and the climate was ripe for strife. Fans of the plan were heading one way, detractors the other.
In the days leading up to the event, the Rev. C. Jay Matthews came out strong against the measure that Council had approved, 13-7, in December. The strict-faith movement had plenty of time to come up with the few thousand votes they needed to put a referendum on the November ballot; some think they’re holding off until next year, since Council members, even those who voted against the registry, are up for reelection this year.
Embattled Mt. Pleasant Councilman Zach Reed, who voted against the registry, invited Matthews and other opponents to City Hall Wednesday morning for a march to Public Square on the first day of the National Day of Prayer. Reed claimed later Monday that he had planned on City Hall inaugurating the religious day long before a start date was picked for the registry. And then divine intervention whipped up some magic.
“I think the Lord had this thing all under control,” mused Reed. “He probably said, ‘You don’t know how to do this right, so I’m gonna put all this together on the same day.’ The Lord’s been laying on my heart for three years, saying I need to do this. And I’d say, ‘I don’t know how, I don’t want to,’ and maybe that’s why I’ve been getting in all this trouble, so I told them, ‘I’m going to do this this year, and I think the Lord knew it was going to fall on this day.”
Uh-huh. Thankfully, the march of this kind of metaphysical hoo-doo was well on its way to Public Square long before Cleveland’s true show of faith in the power of unity and pride could take place on steps of City Hall at noon.
At least three hundred gathered there, many with the simple orange sticker they were issued when they registered, to feel the winds of change blow across their lives. By this point, 52 couples had paid $55 to register, said commissioner of assessments and licenses Dedrick Stephens. Another surge was expected after the rally.
After a spirited round of prayer from several leaders of the area’s non-judgmental clergy, a slew of politicians took over with undeniably moving invective. Downtown Councilman Joe Cimperman, who helped to spearhead the legislation, first thanked his “domestic partner” wife, then Mamie Mitchell, who broke with her black colleagues to vote her conscience.
“Those who didn’t vote with us” — mostly black leaders strongly influenced by East Side spiritual leaders — “are our friends,” said Cimperman. “They just haven’t met us yet.”
This article appears in May 6-12, 2009.