On Friday, the City Club of Cleveland hosted a forum with Aaron Baer, president of the association Center for Christian Virtue (CCV).
Throughout the forum, Baer used anti-transgender and anti-LGBTQ+ language, including:
- Falsely claiming that there are only two genders, denying the existence of intersex people.
- Denying the existence of transgender people.
- Misgendering juvenile trans girls and calling them “colossuses in girls’ sports.”
- A “healthy family” has been repeatedly defined as one married couple of mother and father.
Baer’s comments seem to contradict this City Club’s own policy regarding hate speech, which shows that the forum “does not [provide] a place for anyone who promotes the politics of bigotry and supremacy.”
City Club CEO Dan Moulthrop, who moderated the conversation with Baer, released the following statement in response to questions from The Buckeye Flame regarding the post-forum reaction, how Baer’s comments align with the City Club’s policy on bigotry above, and whether the City Club will host Baer again in the future:
“We are grateful to everyone who showed up to participate, engage, ask questions, demonstrate, raise their voices and listen. This event and the feedback it generated reminds us that our community and citizens across the state care deeply about these issues, and we hope to provide opportunities for greater dialogue.”
Republican Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost, CCV supporters were in attendance, and the tables were filled with LGBTQ+ people and their allies – many of them wearing lavender in protest. Some people reacted loudly to Baer’s many disparaging statements, but did not disrupt the forum.
Despite I said earlier that he would ask Baer whether CCV was designated a hate group, Moulthrop never mentioned the designation Southern Poverty Law Center nor was the topic discussed on the forum.
Outside the forum, several dozen protesters gathered in frigid temperatures, lining the sidewalk outside the City Club’s main entrance with rainbow umbrellas and handmade signs supporting transgender youth.
Across the street at Playhouse Square Plaza, Ecumenical Queer Union for Action and Love (EQUAL) organized a “counter-assembly”.
“Love at the Plaza: A Public Celebration of Queer Faith” featured dozens of demonstrators, free food and beverages, music, water heating stations, and a lineup of faith-based speakers who affirmed and uplifted LGBTQ+ Christians and their identities.
At least three unmarked police vehicles patrolled the area, as well as several Cleveland police cruisers.
Members of the national HIV/AIDS advocacy group, AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power (ACT UP), also gathered outside the main entrance to the City Club.
Using the group’s chant known for decades: “Act! Fight! Fight AIDS!” – four members of ACT UP Cleveland sprayed imitation blood on the windows of the City Club.
“These are the same people who want to take away our medications,” said Gil Kudrin, president of ACT UP Cleveland and a long-term HIV/AIDS patient. “These people want us dead.”
Minutes after the demonstration, Cleveland police removed one demonstrator from the scene. He was not arrested, but instead was ticketed for vandalism. 🔥
Ignite the action
- If you are a juvenile LGBTQ+ person in crisis, please contact Trevor’s project: 866-4-U-Trevor.
- If you are a transgender adult in crisis, please contact: National Trans Lifeline: 877-565-8860
