Cincinnati Ushers in Gay City Council Member, Plus More New Blood

On Nov. 8, 2011, the city of Cincinnati saw one of its most unexpected elections it has ever seen. Due to what some are calling a mirror image to our nation’s last presidential election just three years prior, on Dec. 1, the city will user in its first city council populated mostly by African-Americans and Democrats.

Cincinnati voters chose four Democrats as new city council members – Chris Seelbach, Yvette Simpson, P.G. Sittenfeld and Christopher Smitherman – taking out former favorites Chris Bortz, Leslie Ghiz, Amy Murray and Wayne Lippert. Those returning in their council seats are former mayor and current Vice Mayor Roxanne Qualls, Cecil Thomas, Wendell Young, Laure Quinlivan and Charlie Winburn.

Thomas, Young, Winburn, Simpson and Smitherman are African-American, with Winburn being the sole Republican on council. As stated before, in Cincinnati, this representation of blacks on the city council is unprecedented. But what is more exciting is the the Queen City elected its first openly gay council member in Chris Seelbach. Chris Smitherman was re-elected this year, after an eight-year hiatus.

Not only do the incoming freshmen council members have enthusiasm, but they also have smarts and experience. Seelbach is CFO and VP of The Seidewitz Group, and a former staff member for former Vice Mayor David Crowley. Simpson has a J.D. degree and is current director of the Pre-Law Program at the nationally renowned Miami University of Ohio. Sittenfeld is assistant director of The Community Learning Center Institute, and Smitherman has a background in criminal justice and has made is career as a financial planner.

There was only a little under half voter turnout in the 2011 election. Most turned out to the polls due to Ohio’s controversial Issue 2, which pertained to legislation which would limit the rights of public state employees, drawing a huge numbers of Democrats to the polls.

The city’s planned streetcar for its downtown area was another heated issue that residents casted their vote for. The plan for the fixed rail transit system that will connect the city’s two largest employment neighborhoods, its Downtown Business District and its Uptown neighborhood, has been supported by the majority of this year’s voters and is backed by Mayor Mark Mallory and a majority of the new council.

There is another milestone in Cincinnati’ 2011 city council election with the voting in of Seelback, the nation’s first openly gay Cincinnati city council member; a victory for the nation’s LGBT community. This has some extra bearing, taking into account the city’s traditional views and being known for being decades behind the rest of the country.

Seelbach, 31, is a former staffer for Vice Mayor David Crowley and helped overturn a law that banned labeling LGBT people as a protected class in 2004. He currently sits as co-chair of the Cincinnati branch of HRC. Even the mayor of Cincinnati went on to say of the sweeping change that “voters clearly decided they wanted a progressive council,)

Being a fellow Kentucky transplant living in the city’s historic Over-the-Rhine neighborhood, I feel that he is a good fit for the neighborhood and the seat on city council.


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