Humans — straight or gay, black or white, Democrat or Republican — often are creatures driven by ego, power or a need for control and inevitably will find ways to organize themselves around common interests and goals. It should come as little surprise, then, that Cincinnati's gay power structure didn't react well to a recent CityBeat article detailing how Equality Cincinnati strong-armed itself into talks last year about establishing a domestic partnership registry.  

The last decade has seen the repeal of Article 12 and adoption of the Human Rights Ordinance, both huge victories for Cincinnati's LGBTQ community. But since Article 12's repeal in 2004, Cincinnati Police have processed just seven hate crime charges based on sexual orientation, compared to 19 in Columbus in 2007 alone. Local gay rights advocates say the incidents are being under-reported or under-pursued by police.  

If someone is refused an apartment, a job or credit because he or she is gay, you might think that Cincinnati's Human Rights Ordinance offers some legal recourse. Not really, says local attorney Scott Knox. For gays and lesbians living throughout most of Ohio, there's no legal shield at all. A pending state bill, the Equal Housing and Employment Act, could change that.