Carla Hale’s attorney, Tom Tootle, said it could be a couple of weeks before the Columbus Community Relations Commission responds to Hale’s complaint about her firing from Bishop Watterson High School.

In the letter, Hale wrote she was fired based on her sexual orientation; an act she called a “flagrant and unapologetic” violation of city code.

Hale stated she is open to meeting with the Columbus Catholic Diocese to reach a resolution.

The former physical education teacher was fired in late March after the Diocese received an anonymous letter noting Hale listed her same-sex partner in an obituary.

The Diocese has said its employees cannot go against church teachings.

Jennifer Tyrrell also wants the group to abandon its policy of excluding gays, which the organization reaffirmed Tuesday.

Tyrrell wore a tan Scout uniform as she arrived Wednesday at the Boy Scouts national offices in Irving with her partner and two children, including a 7-year-old Cub Scout.

Tyrrell, who was carrying three boxes filled with the petitions, then went into a private meeting with representatives of the 102-year-old organization. Tyrrell presented the same petitions to the organization at its annual convention in Orlando, Fla., in May.

For five years, Bonnie McGinness says she was doing what she loved; working as an English teacher in public schools in Ohio. She says she got good reviews and her students were learning. But things changed when her marriage fell apart.

“After going through a divorce, I was outed as a lesbian. And after I was outed, homophobic panic swept through the community and I was the subject of what I would call a witch hunt,” says McGinness. “I received death threats at work and home. I was harassed and feared greatly for my physical safety. For 5 years, I was an excellent teacher but once word got out that I was a lesbian, I didn’t have a chance. Ultimately, my family doctor informed me that my health was deterioration and I needed to resign.”

McGinness moved to a different community and once again got a job as a teacher but she experienced the same problems all over again once it was discovered that she was gay. She soon discovered she’s not the only one who’s had this experience.

“This happens all of the time, every year,” McGinness says. “Sometimes it’s public, sometimes it’s not. And this is frustrating because even now when I go back to the community, my kids still live there, people come up to me telling me how wrong it is …what I went through….that they are so sorry for what I went through and how somebody should have done something to stop it. They are right…it was wrong,” says McGinness.

Democratic State Representative Nicky Antonio, a lesbian herself, says it’s time that sexual orientation be included in the state’s civil rights act.

“The constitution makes no exceptions and neither should the state of Ohio,” says Antonio.

Republican State Representative Ross McGregor agrees that sexual orientation should be protected under Ohio’s civil rights act. He says it’s important for the state’s economic development.

“If we are really intent on creating a 21st century economy, then we have to be welcoming to those people with the talent and creativity to take these jobs,” says McGregor.

But a long time opponent of this type of legislation will once again oppose it.

“Homosexuality is about sexual desires and whom you choose to have sex with and that is not a basis for civil rights,” says Phil Burress with Citizens for Community Values.

Burress says there is no proof that homosexuals are being discriminated against and he says the same goes for stories like that of McGinnis’.

“That’s not a history of discrimination. I mean just about everyone who you speak to has claims they’ve been mistreated or discriminated against. In the 21 years that I’ve been president of CCV, I’ve had 13 death threats but I’m not asking that the laws be changed to protect me,” says Burress.

Burress says the campaign to put sexual orientation into the civil rights act is nothing more than an attempt to allow gay marriage in Ohio. But he says he’s not losing sleep over the bill.

” The bill is not a risk. It passed the house last year because it was Democrat controlled. I think they had 3 or 4 Republicans who joined them. And they are targets for defeat because they supported such legislation. When it got to the senate it died. It’s not going anywhere in the house and the senate,” says Burress.

But backers of this bill say it’s important to keep the conversation about this issue alive, no matter its chances in the legislature.

Wait staff circulate a ballroom of the Athletic Club of Columbus offering guests mimosas in champagne flutes and light hor’ derves.

Mock wedding cakes, floral arraignments and photography books line tabletops. Sound like a bridal show? Well, sort of. The event is called Fully Committed. It’s a wedding show for same sex couples.

J. Lauren Events’ Jen Wooster-McBride came up with the concept.

“Well, I had an increase in inquiries from same-sex couples, as well as I had a lot of straight couples, asking my position on marriage equality. They wanted to work with someone who they felt had the same values that they have. And so I kind of approached a few vendors and said, ‘If I did this, would you participate?’” she said.

That was a mere eight weeks ago. Twenty vendors, all of which are GLBT-owned or allied, signed on for the event.

It’s the first gay wedding show in Columbus. For Lindsey Aubel and Stephanie Bolek, who’ve been together five years, the event is a life-saver, or a wedding-saver.

“We’re here because we’re in the short panic mode of, ‘Oh my gosh do we have everything ready for our wedding?’ which is going to be on June 15,” Aubel said.

Aubel said she would not have felt comfortable at a traditional wedding show because she says there it’s all about the, “bride and groom, bride and groom, bride and groom. You know, we don’t have the groom part of it. It always makes me feel uncomfortable when people kind of stereotype that and it’s not always the case anymore.”

Brian Coovert owns a floral design company. He says it’s about time Columbus had a gay wedding show. And he was excited to take part in the event as a GLBT-owned vendor.

“We have to make everyone feel comfortable whether they’re gay, straight, lesbian, bisexual, whatever. Everyone has to be comfortable coming in and know that there is a product there for them; we are there to help them in any way we can. But it’s also a great way to connect with people in our community and to support each other as vendors even,” Coovert said.

Meeting others in the GLBT community was one of the reasons why Sabrina Powers and Brittany Hale of Columbus signed up for the show. But Hale said it’s not the only reason. Their wedding is a year away.

“To see what services that we can use that would be more accommodating to our lifestyle,” Hale said.

About 50 couples pre-registered for the event and just as many were expected to pay at the door. Currently, Ohio law does not permit same-sex marriages or civil unions. And Jen Wooster-McBride said she thinks because of the law, same-sex couples have a hard time seeing themselves going through the wedding planning process. But she said the event’s turnout has shown otherwise.

“As civil unions become closer to Ohio, so being legal in Illinois, Iowa, Washington D.C., Delaware’s up for a vote right now. As that gets closer to our state, more and more couples see it as an option. And so I think that we’re just kind of on the forefront of people really becoming interested in celebrating their marriage,” Wooster-McBride said.

Florist Brian Coovert envisions Fully Committed as an annual wedding show.

“It’s the first year and I guarantee you it won’t be the last,” he said. “And next year it’ll be even bigger and better.”

As last-minute tax filers mail out their returns tonight, members of the group “GetEQUAL” say they’ll picket outside the main post office on Twin Rivers Drive. The group says several parts of the federal tax code are unfair, including provisions in the federal Defense of Marriage Act, or DOMA, that require gays to file as single, even if they’re married and live in a state that recognizes same-sex marriages and civil unions. Ohio doesn’t recognize either.

The protest comes as Congressional Republicans are mounting a defense of DOMA, which the Obama administration has instructed the Justice Department to stop enforcing because it’s unconstitutional.

In an interview with WOSU’s Marilyn Smith, Lawrence says as many as 5,000 players, game officials, and fans will visit the city as the week-long competition and related events get underway.

Lawrence: We’ve been working at it for two years. We’ve got a huge board. We’ve got a volunteer director. We have a fund-raising director. We have an operation’s director, a hospitality director, a marketing and communications director.

Smith: So its kind of like setting up a small city or a small company/

Lawrence: Pretty much, pretty much.

Smith: How is it that Columbus was chosen?

Lawrence: We actually bid two years ago in Seattle. So we went through a bid process. And at the time we were actually competing against Dallas, Texas for the right to host. What we presented we called ‘unprecedented convenience.’ Columbus just has a real unique combination. First of all, Berliner Park is the largest sports complex in the country. So it is the first time that all of the teams will be able to play altogether for the entire week in one park. Normally the event is spread out over three, maybe even four different parks in a city. So its going to produce a lot of excitement just as everybody can be together in the same park. And then you put on top of that, that its only five minutes away from the downtown host hotels. Everything is just a couple of block walk or a short cab ride from the restaurants and the bars and the nightlife.

Smith: How important do you think is Columbus’ gay community. This is a fairly large and extensive gay community. Did that make a difference?

Lawrence: I think it made a huge difference. And to be honest I think we had to sell that a little bit to people coming in from the West and East coasts. A lot of people even asked us whether there were gay people in Columbus in the beginning. But our community has really stepped up. We actually have over 500 people from the community who have volunteered. A large majority of our financial support has come from within the community. I think without it, I think it would have been pretty difficult undertaking to bring this event here.

Smith: Now tell me a little bit about the tournament it self. How is it either the same or how does it differ from what we might think of as a regular baseball play-off?

Lawrence: It would be exactly the same. If anybody would come out and watch all you’re going to see is a softball tournament. It’s the best teams from 37 different gay, lesbian leagues around the country. The final championship games will be played on Saturday.

Smith: So are there separate final games for women and for men?

Lawrence: This event, its majority men but some of the teams will have women playing on them. There’s four divisions. So there’s A-B-C-and D. The top four to eight teams. And each division will be playing on Saturday until they reach the championship game.

Smith: And what does the winner of each division receive?

Lawrence: A trophy, the thrill of winning the World Series.

Smith: The thrill of victory!

Lawrence: Yes.

A quarter doesn’t buy much anymore; at least at parking meters in downtown Columbus. A quarter in this meter on Gay Street racks up only seven minutes.

Driver Christie Rogers, who had to dig up a handful of quarters, says the 50 percent rate hike is another reason not to come downtown.

“It’s a problem because I think people should be incentivized to visit downtown not disincentivized and I think it’s going to make people less likely to patronize the local businesses,” Rogers says.

Jeff Mathes worries that Rogers is right. Mathes owns the restaurant called Barrio on North High Street

“The number one complaint we get is that parking is inconvenient and expensive,” Mathes says. “So to raise that [rate] is kind of like a slap in the face.

The rate increase apparently caught many local business owners – including Mathes – off guard. But City of Columbus Public Services spokesman Rick Tilton says some business owners did know about the change.

“We did brief some business owners on Gay Street; we briefed some business owners in the Short North,” Tilton says. “So we have been briefing the business owners in areas where there’s a lot of concern about this. But Barrio owner Jeff Mathes says he first heard about the increase only a week ago – one business day before the new rates took effect.

Businesses in the Short North were in the dark about the new rates, too, says John Angelo, executive director of the Short North Business Association. That is until he asked for and received a meeting with city officials about a month ago.

“We learned about the rate increases through the media,” Angelo says. “And we immediately began asking for a conversation with the city. We thought that was going to be a dialogue but as it turns out it was more a sharing of the fait accompli – you know, ‘this is what we are doing.’”

A spokesman for Columbus City Council said members are concerned about the “unilateral decision” made by Public Services. John Ivanic says council wants the city to speed up the transition from coin operated parking meters to ones that accept credit cards.

In the meantime, Jeff Mathes says he’ll help subsidize parking for lunch-time diners at his restaurant during the month of December.

“While we try to fight that fight at City Hall, basically we’re giving our customers a dollar in quarters every time they make a reservation here for lunch. [We'll] basically subsidize their parking because we don’t feel that they should be footing the bill,” Mathes says.

A small but growing coalition of legislators say they intend to lobby strongly for a law that would add gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgender individuals to those protected from discrimination in hiring, credit and housing.

Rep. Dan Stewart, a Columbus Democrat, and Sen. Dale Miller, a Cleveland Democrat, said today that the issue affects Ohio’s economy. Stewart says people across the country know they can be fired in Ohio for being gay and so don’t move to the state.

Twenty-one states have similar discrimination protections in place.