Gay bar youngstown ohio

It is a place filled with union halls and blue-collar families for whom the auto bailout meant survival, delivered by a president many here see as their bar. The Mahoning Valley is, without question, Barack Obama country. A retired auto worker who made air-bag parts. A lifelong Democrat and ohio member whose wife, brothers, aunt, cousins are all Democrats and union folks, too.

But Allie is also a deeply religious man, an elder deacon at his Baptist church who quotes from the Bible with ease. And he fervently opposes what the president last week decided to publicly support. But six months from an election that will decide whether the president keeps his job, a question hovers over the moment: Was it, somehow, a game-changer?

In three very different regions of a state where the election could be won or lost, voters themselves have been considering that. And their reflections reveal something far more pragmatic than an electorate that shifts its views because of the headline of the day, no matter how historic.

Allie is but one example, a voter as adamant in his opposition to same-sex marriage as he is in his support — still — of Obama. It may be far more subtle than a changed mind or a changed vote, but it is there all the gay. The Rev. Jenkins preaches to a mostly black congregation in Cleveland, where high turnout among African-Americans will be one make-or-break factor youngstown Obama in Ohio.

She knows there are those who theologically disagree with his position; she heard as much from one colleague last week. One who will stand up and say: This is what I believe. He preached change.

For some Republicans here, the gay marriage youngstown only reinforced long-held suspicions of, and opposition to, Obama. But more than that, this statement feels like another in-their-face reminder that the country is headed off-track in ways that have nothing to do with job numbers and debt statistics.

Will this renewed debate go so far as to be ohio decider in the state that itself could determine the election? Probably not. Will it dominate the discussion gay the campaign goes on? Not likely. This is a place, like much of America, far more concerned about jobs and foreclosures, but also matters such as student loan costs, collective bargaining rights and fair elections laws.

But bar gay marriage entered into the dialogue here on the ground? And what we find in those conversations is what we may already know as Americans: That while our families, our pocketbooks and our communities may drive our choices come Election Day, our hearts — whether motivated or alienated — play a part as well. This is rural southern Ohio, the Appalachian region that shares a border with Kentucky and is home to tiny villages dotted with barns and Amish-owned shops.

Life really feels a little slower in this place where, to so many, God and family matter more than anything material. Rob Portman campaigned across the region with Brad Wenstrup, a Republican candidate in the congressional House district that Portman formerly represented. Democrat Bill Clinton carried this predominantly white and blue-collar swath of the state both times he ran.