FLORIDA DIGEST Sunday March 9, 2008

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From Equality Florida
Exciting news from the Capitol!
Legislative session is underway and Equality Florida is here, full-time,lobbying legislators on the issues that affect the lives of Florida's LGBTcommunity. We have worked hard over the last year to introduce 5 pro-LGBTbills this session and I wanted to update you on several of them. Also, ifyou haven't signed up for Lobby Week - March 17 to 20 - there's still time.
Even if you can only make it for a couple of days, RSVP now by going towww.eqfl.org.
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Sun-Sentinel
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/
Go to the links for the following articles:
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West Palm Beach: Klein among speakers at gay Democratic Caucus
The Florida Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Democratic Caucus willhear this weekend from a member of Congress and an array of local electedofficials and candidates.
The organization's winter conference takes place in West Palm Beach. Thegroup has 15 chapters across Florida, though much of its leadership, andmany of the people attending the event, are from Broward County.
U.S. Rep. Ron Klein, D-Boca Raton, is one of the speakers. His districttakes in some of the gay neighborhoods in the Fort Lauderdale area, andlocal and national GLBT political activists helped him defeat then-U.S. Rep.Clay Shaw, R-Fort Lauderdale.
http://www.pamshouseblend.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=4697
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Advocates turn out en masse for transgender civil rights bill
http://www.baywindows.com/index.php?ch=news&sc=glbt&sc2=news&sc3=&id=71227
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Miami Herald
http://www.miamiherald.com/
Go to the links for the following articles:
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McCain brings his campaign to FloridaJohn McCain made Florida his firstcampaign stop after clinching the GOP presidential nomination
http://www.miamiherald.com/548/story/447281.html
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Sun-Sentinel
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/
Go to the links for the following articles:
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Fort Lauderdale Mayor Jim Naugle should be leading campaign against hatecrimes
As a resident, homeowner and taxpayer in Fort Lauderdale, I am veryupset at the latest homophobic rant by Mayor Naugle in his "Message from theMayor," printed in the city-sponsored, taxpayer-funded issue of Focus onFort Lauderdale.
We elect a mayor to lead and fairly represent his or her entireconstituency. Once again, under the guise of protecting our children, MayorNaugle has chosen to discriminate against gays and pander to our worstfears. Last year, our mayor had gays ruining restrooms, now it is publicparks. Sound familiar? Why not look at prostitution in public parks, drugdealing in public parks? Or how about hate crimes and murders perpetratedagainst gays in Fort Lauderdale?
That this statement was published during a week when we saw the murderof a gay teenager and the brutal beating of a gay man at a popular localrestaurant is despicable and beyond comprehension. Bigots like Naugle willalways say that they are not responsible for the ugly hate generated bytheir incendiary words and accusations. Are any of us naive enough tobelieve that?
The Town of Provincetown in Massachusetts instituted a comprehensive andvery effective program to eliminate hate crimes. How can we possibly combatanti-gay hate crimes in Fort Lauderdale, when the mayor is leading thecharge to discriminate against them?
D.K. Richards - Fort Lauderdale
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/opinion/sfl-brmail925sbmar09,0,4886670.story
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Clergy need to speak up against hateful actions in Lauderdale community
March 9, 2008
You are correct that Fort Lauderdale Mayor Jim Naugle needs to quicklyspeak out against the recent horrific violence experienced by gay men in thecity, but so too do our religious leaders.
Conservative black ministers literally stood behind the mayor during hisanti-gay tirade last year. A homophobic black minister would be just asresponsible for violence by members of his community against gay peopletoday as a racist white minister was responsible for violence by members ofhis community against black citizens in the 1960s.
History will look back without sympathy at the roles played by theseso-called "men of God" in feeding hatred from their pulpits.
Brian McNaught - Fort Lauderdale
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/opinion/sfl-brmail908sbmar09,0,3848637,print.story
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Gay candidates focus on wider agenda at Democratic Caucus meeting
GLBT Democratic Caucus members strategize at West Palm winter meeting
Until Bryan Caletka was elected, he said the Davie Town Councilroutinely stripped government contracts of language banning discriminationon grounds of sexual orientation.
When Caletka got to the dais, he said the practice stopped after hethreatened a showdown over this issue.
That kind of result is one reason the openly gay high school teachercurrently serving as Davie vice mayor is seeking higher office. He's one offour candidates challenging Broward County Commissioner John Rodstrom in theAugust Democratic primary.
Like most of the gay elected officials who spoke Saturday to the FloridaGay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Democratic Caucus winter meeting,Caletka said gay activism wasn't what motivated him to run for office.
He ran, he said, because he couldn't convince the incumbent for hisdistrict that there was a crime problem in his neighborhood. He won 76percent of the vote in the March 2006 election.
Saturday's gathering was a day of strategizing for the Democratic caucusmembers. Central themes were figuring out how to get more openly gay men andlesbians elected, how to target and motivate gay and lesbian voters and howto win policy victories in state and local governments.
Candidates who've won election to offices said it's important toemphasize to voters, gay and straight, the policy ideas and experience theoffice-seekers have in other areas. Gay-related issues aren't the mostimportant aspects of the job, they said.
Broward County Commissioner Ken Keechl said the gay perspective hasnothing to do with 99.9 percent of his decisions. "I don't view myself as agay county commissioner, just as I don't view myself as a gay Democrat. Iview myself as a county commissioner who happens to be gay and a Democratwho happens to be gay," he said.
Keechl said he ran as an openly gay candidate, he didn't experiencehomophobia and it wasn't an issue.
Former Fort Lauderdale Commissioner Dean Trantalis said he doesn't think theanti-gay sentiment is gone. "There is homophobia. There is a virulent strainof anti-gay feeling throughout our country. It positively exists in FortLauderdale."
Keechl said gay candidates are making strides. Four years ago, he saidthe same GLBT caucus might have one gay candidate. Looking around the roomSaturday, he said he spotted 10.
Mark LaFontaine of Oakland Park is hoping to become Florida's firstopenly gay state legislator. He is one of four candidates who have declaredtheir intentions to run in the Democratic primary for the open state Houseseat in District 92, which includes Deerfield Beach, Fort Lauderdale, LazyLake, Oakland Park, Pompano Beach and Wilton Manors.
Number-crunchers involved in his campaign estimate that 24 percent ofhis district's population is gay, the highest percentage in the state.
Despite the high concentration of gay voters, LaFontaine said, "Wecannot take it for face value that relying on the GLBT population is goingto get us elected."
He's campaigning throughout the district, not just in areas with lots ofgay residents.
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/broward/sfl-flbgaydems0309sbmar09,0,7551893.story
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Miami Herald
http://www.miamiherald.com/
Go to the links for the following articles:
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Democrats torn between party, GOP allegiances
South Florida Democrats in Congress find themselves balancing their partyinterests and their relationships with GOP colleagues facing Democraticchallengers.
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/miami_dade/story/449806.html
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Express Gay News
http://www.expressgaynews.com/

Go to this link for the following articles:
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Award-winning lesbian author to read at Stonewall
Romance, sci-fi novels translated into several languages
http://www.expressgaynews.com/2008/3-6/locallife/pulse/4483.cfm
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Fort Report
http://www.fortreport.com/
Go to the links for the following articles:
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Our position: If Democratic Party won't seat delegates, it should pay formail-in vote
National Democratic Party leaders are now stuck in a mess of their ownmaking. They foolishly chose to punish Florida and Michigan for earlyprimaries by refusing to seat any of their delegates at this year'spresidential convention. Now the race between Barack Obama and HillaryClinton is so close that it could hinge on the fate of those delegates.
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/opinion/orl-ed09108mar09,0,1910781.story
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Empty chair attack is having an effect
One way not to get picked as John McCain's running mate: hand the FloridaDemocratic Party a nifty way to attack you every time you campaign withMcCain. There are signs that the Florida Democratic Party's new line ofattack against "Empty Chair Charlie Crist" is starting to sting, and thusCrist loses some ground in the Veep-O-Meter this week.
http://www.sptimes.com/2008/03/09/State/Empty_chair_attack_is.shtml
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DISENFRANCHISING FLORIDA AND MICHIGAN?
The vote was once denied to women. It was denied to blacks. It was denied tothose without land. And today, Florida Gov. Charlie Crist and Michigan Gov.Jennifer Granholm tell us, it is being denied to their people.
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2008/03/disenfranchising_florida_and_m.html
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