Goldberg and Guthrie

I talked to my mom today, and learned that at least one good thing came out of this election. My hometown of Cincinnati is usually, how shall I say, not on the cutting edge of social issues. (Mark Twain said that if the world ever ended he would want to be Cincinnati, because it would happen ten years later.)

Several years ago Cincinnatians approved a horrible ballot measure known as Issue 3, which basically prevented the government from explicitly protecting homosexuals from discrimination. (Basically, "sexual orientation" could not be included on the list of categories that a person could not be rejected for public housing because of.) Well, the voters of Cincinnati finally overturned it - and it seems that the results came as somewhat of a surprise. (Note that this time a vote for Issue 3 meant overturning the previous one.)

Equally surprising was Issue 3's passage, political observers agreed. Opponents spent at least $535,000 on TV commercials urging its defeat, and tried to connect the repeal with the passage of a popular Ohio amendment banning gay marriage.

Issue 3's victory occurred despite an attempt by opponents to galvanize the African-American community against the repeal.

Council Member David Crowley was impressed that door-to-door canvassing by hundreds of volunteers was able to sway the result.

"It's like pulling an abscessed tooth off of the city," Crowley said.

Good for Cincinnati. Good for the African American community of Cincinnati for not responding to the horrible discrimination it faces every day by engaging in discrimination of its own. I haven't felt this proud to be from Cincinnati for a long time.