Posted on 06/23/2012 8:27:47 AM PDT by scottjewell
The state’s largest gay-rights group will begin the search for a new leader to succeed Ed Mullen, who resigned after being arrested last Saturday during Columbus Pride festivities.
Mullen, hired as executive director of Equality Ohio last year, faces misdemeanor charges of menacing and disorderly conduct.
According to police and court reports, he went onto the property of a Buttles Avenue resident and threatened him around 7:20 p.m. last Saturday. The complaint filed in Franklin County Municipal Court said Mullen also began taking pictures of the man’s house, saying, “Smile now, we’ll be back for you.”
Reached by email, Mullen declined to comment. He has pleaded not guilty to the misdemeanor charges.
Equality Ohio officials wouldn’t discuss reasons for Mullen’s departure, effective June 29.
“Ed’s leaving for personal reasons, and we regretfully accepted his resignation,” said Paul Feeney, a board chairman at Equality Ohio. “We didn’t ask for his resignation. We wish him all the best.”
The property owner could not be reached for comment.
Mullen, 44, is a civil-rights lawyer. He came to Columbus from the Chicago area last year to lead the 30,000-member organization. He succeeded Sue Doerfer, who resigned in 2010.
Feeney said leadership tenure is a problem for many gay-rights advocacy organizations. The San Francisco-based Equality Federation lists 48 member organizations across 40 states, and Feeney said at least 12 executive directors have left their posts in the past year.Advocates cite struggles with fundraising, pay and exhausting social and legal battles.
The challenge comes amid other signs of progress, he said.
“We’re having great success at the city level and in the urban centers,” Feeney said. “There is momentum in the movement that we’re trying to capitalize on.”
Public opinion on issues such as same-sex marriage has been shifting, with some polls showing a majority of Americans in support. For more than a decade, gains had averaged about 1 percent a year, Feeney said.
“Now, it’s about 5 percent,” he said.
The Equality Ohio boards expect to appoint an interim director soon and begin a national search for an executive director, Feeney said.
rprice@dispatch.com
Homo punk gets punked
It sure seems that a lot of liberals afoul of the law.
Other than the fact that the names of both cities begin with the letter "C" they could not be more different. Apparently, nobody bothered to inform this thug that he had passed the borders of the Reich and was now in America. Frankly, the homeowner should have shot the bastard when he came threatening. This is Ohio!
“Buttles Avenue”.... You can’t make this sh*t up.....
Those guys are fags!
Mullen must have thought he was King of Buttles Avenue.
They can't be that difficult to replace. One butthole looks just like the next to these people.
Queers are haters. So conflicted.
why, did the home owner catch him and another queer performing some filthy perversion on his lawn or in his bushes, take offense and tell them to get off his property???
LOL! My thought, too!
Must be one of them there bash back perverted homosexuals.
"See you on the back, er, flip side."
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