FLORIDA DIGEST October 22, 2007

**IF YOU CAN'T ACCESS THE FULL ARTICLE, CONTACT US AT rays.list@comcast.net and we'll be happy to send the full article.


=

Forwarded from Paul Harris:

Where will you be on Monday Night? [tonight]

Hopefully you already have your ticket and will be joining the crowdsattending the Fort Lauderdale Gay Men's Chorus concert with legendaryBroadway diva Barbara Cook at the Broward Center. If not there are still afew tickets left ranging in price from $150 to $20 so that everyone canafford to attend. You can order your ticket NOW by going online atwww.browardcenter.org or by phone at (954) 462-0222.

The concert called "An Evening With Barbara Cook" marks the coming of age ofthe gay choral movement in South Florida. It is 21 years ago this year thatthe first gay men's chorus was founded. Barbara Cook has been a majorconcert performer for over 50 years including appearances on Broadway whereshe created roles in the original Broadway productions of "Candide" and "TheMusic Man." In "The Music Man," for which she won a Tony Award she playedMaria, the librarian, she played opposite Robert Preston.

Apart from singing numbers with the 81-member chorus she will be performinga 20-minute set on her own accompanied by a 48-piece orchestra. She will beincluding a song that is new to her repertoire, Kurt Weil's "Lost In TheStars," which was recorded by Frank Sinatra and Tony Bennett. In recentyears she has sung with a number of gay choruses. Asked to explain her gayfollowing she says "it is because they have taste." The Fort Lauderdale GayMen's Chorus will also be performing numbers from various Broadway shows tocomplete the program.

Tickets for the show, which looks as if it will probably be close to asell-out, are available from $20 to $150 and are on sale through theAutoNation Box Office, online at www.browardcenter.org or by phone at (954)462-0222.

This is a night that you do not want to miss...



=

The Miami Herald

http://www.tallahassee.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071022/COLUMNIST03/710220304/-1/CAPITOLNEWS

Sink takes one small step for domestic partners

By Bill Cotterell
Article published Oct 22, 2007
NOTEBOOK

When the Legislature passed Florida's Defense of Marriage Act several yearsago, defining weddings by statute as the legal union of one man and onewoman, former Sen. Daryl Jones of Miami made a thoughtful speech.

Forget about gay marriage, Jones said. That's what prompted the state law -Hawaii's Supreme Court had ordered that state's Legislature to show causethat marriage should be limited to heterosexuals, and there were rumblingsof "civil unions" in a few other states - but Jones said the issue had broadsocietal implications.

Essentially, Jones said, a lot of people live together unmarried becausethat's what they want, or because complications in their personal lives makeit better for them. Like it or not, the "Father Knows Best" or "Leave it toBeaver" family model - in which Dad goes to work and dispenses timelesswisdom while Mom stays home and settles kiddie disputes - is of a bygoneera, if in fact it was ever prevalent anywhere but on long-ago TV.

Jones predicted that the time would soon come when state government,Florida's largest employer, would have to adapt its personnel policies towhat's going on in society.

This month, Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink took a very small first steptoward such an adaptation. She announced that employees of the Department ofFinancial Services may use sick leave to care for domestic partners.

more . . . . .



=

St. Petersburg Times

http://www.sptimes.com/2007/10/22/State/It_s_a_gloating_old_p.shtml

It's a gloating old party

By ADAM C. SMITH, Times Political Editor
Published October 22, 2007

Sure Republicans head into 2008 with an unpopular president, an unpopularwar and no consensus on their best presidential candidate. But like mannafrom heaven, the Democratic presidential candidates' boycott of Florida'sJan. 29 primary has state GOP leaders giddy.

"I cannot imagine any candidate for president ever signing (such a pledge),but they have," a beaming state Republican chairman Jim Greer told partyleaders at the Presidency IV convention Sunday in Orlando. The RepublicanNational Committee, like the national Democratic Party, probably will soondeclare the Florida GOP is in violation of party rules and should lose halfits delegates to the national convention for setting its primary too early,Greer said, but don't sweat it.

The state party is trying to persuade the RNC that it technically complieswith the rules. It's also making a compelling political argument.

"Our party, because of what the Democrats have done, has an opportunity thatit has never had before to step forward and say every vote will count, nostate will have its delegates reduced. And it will benefit our party for 50years to come," Greer said. "Rules are important to any organization, but noone should be a prisoner of the rules."

Greer said he asks every presidential candidate he speaks to to promise toseat all of Florida's 114 delegates to the national convention, and "I canassure you those conversations have gone along very positively. ... When youread that the national party says Florida is penalized by 50 percent of itsvote, tell your neighbors, say, 'Fellow Republicans don't panic.' ... At theend of the day when the gavel comes down at that convention, I think we'regoing to have all of our delegates, but if not, we're in a great placeeither way."

more . . . . .


=


[Send your comments about articles to Rays.List@Comcast.net]
#####