City Club of Cleveland to host Ohio anti-LGBTQ+ hate group

The City Club of Cleveland – one of the country’s oldest free speech forums – has invited the president of a designated anti-LGBTQ+ hate group to headline an event, triggering outcry from Ohio’s LGBTQ+ community.

On January 16, Aaron Baer, president of the Center for Christian Virtue (CCV), will stand on the City Club’s venerated stage — the same stage that has hosted Franklin D. Roosevelt, Rosa Parks, Barack Obama and Robert F. Kennedy’s famous “On the Mindless Menace of Violence” speech delivered the day after Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated.

Baer is not appearing as part of a panel with opposing viewpoints, but instead is being given the entire stage, alongside a moderator. There will be a Q&A portion for attendees and listeners to ask questions.

CCV first appeared on the Southern Poverty Law Center’s (SPLC) list of anti-LGBTQ+ hate groups in 2015 and 2017, while the group still operated under the name Citizens for Community Values.

In 2023 – following a six-year absence from the list – CCV was reclassified as an anti-LGBTQ+ hate group following SPLC’s publication of project CAPTAIN, an in-depth report on “growing anti-LGBTQ+ pseudoscience and its primary manufacturers.”

Ohio’s Center for Christian Virtue reclassified as anti-LGBTQ+ hate group

CCV has partnered strategically with elected officials and other anti-LGBTQ+ hate groups to help pass Ohio House Bill (HB) 68, the state’s current ban on gender-affirming health care for transgender youth. Rep. Gary Click (R-Vickery), the bill’s sponsor, repeatedly cited CCV as helping to orchestrate the meetings that led to HB 68 being proposed.

Mission consistent

Dan Moulthrop, CEO of the City Club and the listed moderator for the forum, said CCV has been on the City Club’s radar since CCV hosted a 2021 forum with all of Ohio’s Republican candidates for U.S. Senate. Subsequently, he said, CCV’s legislative work indicated they had “amassed a meaningful amount of influence.”

“Given that, we reached out to find out if their leadership might be available,” Moulthop told The Buckeye Flame via email.

Moulthrop said that the forum featuring Baer is consistent with The City Club’s mission of “convening conversations of consequence that help democracy thrive.”

“Whether you agree or disagree with these individuals, a chance to hear directly from them, rather than just about them in the media or from a researcher, is the kind of thing that makes democracy work better,” Moulthrop said.

When the forum was posted on the City Club’s website, the description did not originally reference that CCV was a designated anti-LGBTQ+ hate group. Moulthrop said the description was updated to include that information after he received feedback from a community member.

“I would expect that [the SPLC designation] will be brought up during the forum and Mr. Baer will have a chance to respond to that designation,” Moulthrop said.

In addition to CCV’s ant-LGBTQ+ activity, Baer regularly posts anti–LGBTQ+ messages on X:

Baer repeatedly labels parents who support their trans children as child abusers, including posting that parents who have relocated their families to other states where gender-affirming care is legal are “people so desperate to abuse their children they’ll pick up and move.”
Baer has repeatedly posted that the only “conversion therapy” taking place in America is when trans children are affirmed.
Baer repeatedly misgenders trans women, calling them “dudes.”
Baer posted that LGBTQ+ identity can land an individual in hell.
Baer posted that marriage equality and trans identity are precursors to society approving pedophilia.

‘Truly concerning’

LGBTQ+ Ohio leaders questioned City Club’s decision.

Dwayne Steward, executive director of Equality Ohio, praised free speech as a cornerstone of democracy, noting the importance of difficult conversations and respectful debate. “However, if your message is rooted in oppression and erasure, it doesn’t leave much room for common ground or shared enlightenment,” Steward said.

Steward notes Baer and CCV’s “long history of anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric” and their role in the “avalanche” of anti-trans legislation that is “directly related to a 72% increase in suicide rates among Ohio’s transgender and gender non-conforming youth,” according to the Trevor Project.

“I hope any public forum featuring Baer that seeks inclusive community dialogue illuminates the harmful impact of his actions and the actions of his organization,” Steward said.

Phyllis Harris, executive director of the LGBT Community Center of Greater Cleveland, praised the role that the City Club plays in Cleveland’s civic life, but said that free speech “should never be used to legitimize rhetoric that undermines the safety, dignity, and well-being of [the LGBTQ+] community.”

“Our community plans to engage directly with Mr. Baer’s remarks and to ask whether he is willing to open his mind to learn more about our community and to disavow past statements that sow division and harm LGBTQ+ people,” Harris said.

Maria Bruno, executive director of the nonprofit Ohioans Against Extremism, took issue with the format of the forum, given that Baer is being given the entire stage, as opposed to panels that The City Club often hosts featuring diverse viewpoints.

“This implies that the host is lending its own legitimacy and credibility to the speaker’s point of view, particularly when the speaker is invited because of their political lobbying,” Bruno said. “It’s extremely concerning that the City Club would choose to lend its own credibility to an organization best known for pushing extreme legislation and hateful rhetoric.”

Bruno said that families have been harassed and even had to move out of the state as a direct result of the bills and rhetoric pushed by CCV.

“We don’t need to make more space for the lobbyists already exercising disproportionate power over our Statehouse and successfully legislating Christian nationalism into our state laws,” Bruno said. “Trust me, they get plenty of face time with Ohio’s powerbrokers as it is. I see no benefit from an event like this, and a lot of harm.” 🔥

IGNITE ACTION

The City Club of Cleveland will be hosting Aaron Baer of the Center for Christian Virtue on Friday, January 16 at 11:30 a.m. Tickets are open to the public and can be found here. The public can also submit questions for the event by texting them to 330-541-5794.