Most readers might think that House Speaker John Boehner (R-West Chester) would be too busy to meet with just anyone during the past few weeks, while he was grappling with a budget impasse and impending shutdown of federal government. But the Orange One took time out of his busy schedule in late February to attend the National Religious Broadcasters convention in Nashville.   

People like Phil Burress must live in an alternate reality, full of strange fears and repressed desires, while ignoring the true dangers all around them like soaring unemployment, families that struggle to put food on the table and politicians beholden to corporate interests. Burress, who is president of the anti-gay, anti-pornography, anti-anything-different Citizens for Community Values (CCV), spent the election season trying to convince voters in Bowling Green, Ohio, to repeal the city's two human rights ordinances. His big fear? Men in dresses.  

In early September, news reports told the tragic tale of 15-year-old Billy Lucas in Indiana, a floppy-haired boy who liked to show horses and lambs at county fairs. After daily torment and harassment from bullies who perceived he was gay, Lucas was so broken, so depressed and felt so alone that he hung himself in his family's barn. "Bullying is out of control," says Patrick Moloughney, co-chairman of the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN) chapter in Cincinnati.  

For all of his frequent talk about cutting taxes and limiting the size of government, uber-conservative Chris Finney keeps costing area taxpayers more money. He supported the notorious Article 12, which gave Cincinnati a national black eye and cost the city more than $25 million in lost business, according to the Convention and Visitors Bureau. Now another of Finney's bizarre antics has cost Hamilton County $9,700 in taxpayer money.  

If I were a betting man, I'd bet the approval of Issue 3 on Nov. 3 points Cincinnati in a new direction. I'd bet that a gambling casino at Broadway Commons makes this city a bit more progressive. And I'd bet Citizens for Community Values will try to keep us from using the casino.  

Last week I signed two settlement documents to conclude our 2008 lawsuit against Citizens for Community Values (CCV), the City of Cincinnati and dozens of other local government officials and conservative civic leaders. After a long year of fighting for our First Amendment right to publish CityBeat without government interference, I'm pleased and gratified to wrap up the legal proceedings on such a positive note.  

No one likes paying unnecessary taxes or wasteful government spending, but not everyone agrees on abortion, gay rights or whether pornography is harmful. A regional group that's trying to revive its fading political power, the Coalition Opposed to Additional Spending and Taxes (COAST), knows this lesson well.