As budget hearings go, the first hour of Monday’s gathering on the East Side was pretty upbeat, even jovial at times. White-haired community activist Leon Thomas commended City Manager Sheryl Sculley for always greeting him with a hug, and joked that it must be because he’s so handsome. Reps from the Boys and Girls Clubs, Girl Scouts and various other groups stood up and enthusiastically trumpeted their causes.

Then Gerald Ripley walked up to the microphone. Ripley, the longtime pastor of the evangelical Abundant Life Church, brought a touch of gloom to the room by denouncing Sculley’s proposed initiative to offer benefits to domestic partners of municipal employees. Ripley said he was speaking on behalf of a group of 85 local pastors who all adamantly oppose the plan.

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