By JOSH POLTILOVE and KATHY STEELE The Tampa Tribune

Published: Jul 29, 2006

TAMPA - Hillsborough County Commission District 3 candidates stated their positions on gay and lesbian rights this week, with most saying there are more important issues.

"I'm not going to be sidetracked," said Democrat Chloe Coney, one of five candidates for the seat being vacated by term-limited Thomas Scott. "If we go and poll our community, [gay rights] would not be our top issue. We need to stay focused on what the community needs."

At the Tampa Heights Civic Association's candidate forum Thursday night, Coney said bigger issues include affordable housing and the county's growth.

Coney faces Kevin White and Dorothy "Nicolle" Admire in the Sept. 5 Democratic primary. The other candidates are Republican Ken Anthony and John Michael Craig, who has no party affiliation.

District 3 represents central and east Tampa and the Palm River area.

Candidates were asked about gay rights because six of seven commissioners, including Scott, voted in June 2005 to "abstain from acknowledging, promoting and participating in gay pride recognition and events" after complaints about a Gay Pride Month display at a county library.

Craig said he has gay friends and has been to gay pride events. He said libraries should have a room where people 18 and older can view adult-themed materials, including those dealing with gay issues.

Anthony said he opposes discrimination but said bigger issues include transportation, affordable housing and jobs.

Admire said "acceptance and tolerance" are important and that she sees nothing wrong with gay pride parades. But she said the county must create jobs, and address crime and transportation.

About 65 people attended the forum at Stetson College of Law.

White, a Tampa city councilman, did not attend because of a council meeting.

Candidates for state House of Representatives District 59 also spoke but were not asked about gay rights. Questions focused on homeowners insurance, transportation and a living wage.

"There is a property insurance crisis in Florida as we sit here right now," Democrat Warren Dawson said. "It has gotten out of hand and it wasn't dealt with in the last [legislative] session."

Dawson said Gov. Jeb Bush should call a special session to deal with rising insurance costs.

Other candidates to replace Democrat Arthenia Joyner, who is term-limited, are Democrats Betty Reed and Hakim Aquil and Republican Willis "K.C." Bowick. The district includes Palm River, Clair-Mel City, Progress Village, the university area, east Tampa, West Tampa and portions of Temple Terrace.

All candidates said they support a living wage.

"I would persuade my colleagues to live for two weeks on a minimum-wage salary," Reed said. "And the other thing we need to do is bring jobs to this area that will pay a salary that people can live on."

On transportation issues, Bowick said hybrid vehicles could offer a solution.

"One thing you have to look at is gas prices. They are sky high," he said.

Aquil said the state should consider incentives to promote alternative solutions, such as monorail systems.

"I do not like to make a lot of statements I don't know if I can fulfill or not," he said. "But there's never been a problem that there's not a solution."

The general election is Nov. 7.
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He also says on a radio talk show that he hasn't decided whether Florida should lift its ban on letting gays adopt kids.

By STEVE BOUSQUET, Times Staff Writer
Published July 29, 2006

TALLAHASSEE - Republican gubernatorial candidate Charlie Crist told a radio talk-show host on Friday that civil unions between gays are "fine."

Crist, the front-runner for the Republican nomination, added that he has not decided whether Florida should lift its long-standing ban on allowing gays to adopt children. He hasn't yet "reached a conclusion," he told Miami radio talk-show host Jim DeFede.

"Haven't taken a position yet," Crist told DeFede.

"Not thought about it one way or the other?" DeFede asked.

"Not extensively," Crist replied. "I haven't reached a conclusion, is what I said."

Later on Friday, when asked to clarify his position, Crist backed away from his radio comments. He told the St. Petersburg Times that he does not support repealing the adoption ban.

"My position is the traditional family is the best to adopt," Crist said.

He called the two sets of statements a "nuance" and said that the issue of gay adoption "is not a major focus of my campaign."

Crist's radio comments marked the second time in recent days that he has taken a position in opposition to the social conservative wing of the Republican Party. Last week, he said he supported legislation passed by Congress to expand embryonic stem cell research, and he disagreed with President Bush's decision to veto the stem cell bill.

Crist said on the radio that civil unions between gays are "fine, but I support marriage between a man and a woman."

Crist's Republican primary opponent, state Chief Financial Officer Tom Gallagher, opposes civil unions and gay adoptions. Gallagher's latest TV ad emphasizes his support for family values and his belief that marriage is between a man and a woman.

Gallagher's campaign declined to comment on Crist's statements. But a Gallagher supporter, Rep. Dennis Baxley, R-Ocala, issued a statement accusing Crist of changing his position.

"I am extremely disappointed that Charlie Crist has changed his position on gay adoption, has broken ranks with Gov. Jeb Bush and is considering allowing gay couples to adopt children in Florida," Baxley said.

Baxley cited "research" that concluded that the best environment for adoptive children "is to place them in a home with a mom and a dad."

The Christian Family Coalition, a group that opposes gay adoption, organized an e-mail campaign last March to pressure lawmakers to defeat a bill that would have eased the adoption ban. The bill did not pass.

DeFede, who was fired from his job as a Miami Herald columnist last year for taping an off-the-record conversation without the subject's permission, interviewed Crist on WINZ-AM 940, which calls itself South Florida's "progressive" talk station.

The station's Web site features a countdown clock that ticks off "Days Until President Bush Is Out."

During a sometimes heated exchange between the host and the candidate, DeFede revived a topic Crist faced last year: whether he is gay.

"The point is, I'm not. There's the answer. How do you like it?" Crist said. "Not that there's anything wrong with that, as they say on Seinfeld. But I just happen not to be."

The full interview can be heard online at www.jimdefede.com.
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OKLAHOMA CITY For the first time in state history, an openly gay candidate is poised to become a member of the Oklahoma Legislature.Democrat Al McAffrey won a three-candidate primary race tonight with 51 percent of the vote, avoiding a runoff in the House District 88 seat in the heart of Oklahoma City. No Republicans filed for the seat.

McAffrey, a longtime Oklahoma City funeral director and a Navy veteran, said he didn't hide his sexual orientation, but didn't make it the focus of his campaign.

The District 88 seat was held by longtime state Representative Debbie Blackburn, who's being forced out of office because of term limits.
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Words construed as intolerant and offensive by some are downplayed by others.

By ERIC DEGGANS, St. Pete Times Media Critic
Published July 25, 2006

It was the last straw for Birgit Van Hout: a caller to the morning show on Tampa's only FM Spanish-language radio station, La Nueva, had phoned in to express his disgust with homosexuals.

She remembers the host saying "let's exterminate them all" before playing the sound of a machine gun.

Officials at the station, CBS Radio-owned WYUU-92.5 FM, say Van Hout misunderstood the June 9 incident; the caller was insulting a friend and the sound effect was a regular part of the feature. But Van Hout wrote a letter of protest to WYUU, forwarding the missive to area media outlets when La Nueva failed to respond.

Along the way, she has sparked a local debate over the friction between traditional Spanish-language radio style and mainstream values - as such radio stations become bigger businesses with larger audiences and federal officials face more pressure to referee it all.

In some cities in Texas and California, Spanish-language stations dominate their markets.

"Instead of working to ... create a community that is more inclusive, they're just reinforcing old stereotypes," said Van Hout, executive director of the pro-tolerance group Community Tampa Bay, who is married to a Cuban man and speaks Spanish around her home.

Van Hout criticized WYUU, which flipped formats from country to Spanish-language in August, for offering material filled with macho references, sexist language and numerous derogatory references to homosexuals - particularly the Spanish word maricon, which many people translate as an anti-gay slur.

Ricardo Blanco, program director for La Nueva, admitted that on air personalities may use the word maricon, but he insisted the word doesn't translate as a slur, only as "gay." Still, he has told his personalities to "back off" performing the segment Van Hout criticized. Dubbed El Paredon, for the wall where you place those facing a firing squad, it features listeners calling in to express what they dislike.

CBS Radio officials declined to provide an audio copy of the exchange, citing company policy. "We do take our role in the community very seriously," said Charlie Ochs, senior vice president and Tampa Bay market manager for CBS Radio. "We never have any intent to offend our listeners."

Blanco said La Nueva executives didn't respond to Van Hout's letter initially, because she also suggested the station hire her group to provide sensitivity training.

"It's almost like a shakedown," said Blanco.

Van Hout denied she was trying to leverage the incident into business for her group, and she isn't the only listener who is concerned about La Nueva's content.

Others have criticized how the radio station talks about women, and differences between area Hispanic groups.

It's an issue that has emerged nationally: Spanish-language stations often touted as the voice of the Hispanic community have faced complaints from some listeners about the mix of anti-gay, overtly sexual and profanity-filled material featured in some shows.

Last year, an arbitrator ordered Univision Radio to pay $270,000 to a San Francisco man who was revealed as gay during a prank call by a DJ aired without his knowledge (the Federal Communications Commission also levied a $28,000 fine).

Gay activists across the country have begun to protest insulting commentary by Spanish-language DJs, who they say are rarely disciplined by federal broadcasting authorities.

"If I were to put on a scale the sensitivity of Spanish-language radio to gay and lesbian issues, I would have to put it at less than 1 on a scale of 1 to 10," Ivan Roman, executive director of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists, told the San Francisco Chronicle last year. "It's seen as perfectly normal to ridicule gays and lesbians, to see them as less than human."

Carlos Macias, the Spanish-language media manager for the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, said his group has reached out to station owners such as Univision Radio and Clear Channel, in an effort to convince them to abandon homophobic language on air.

"It doesn't matter what country you are in, in Latin America that word is offensive," said Macias, who disputed Blanco's interpretation of the word maricon. "(It's) used to denigrate a gay person, especially a gay man."

The San Francisco incident led Univision Radio to enlist GLAAD last year in training radio personalities at select stations on how to talk about lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender issues on air - an effort which was expanded to the company's 10 largest markets this year. Univision Radio stations in New York and Los Angeles have also featured programs devoted to LGBT issues, Macias said.

The Sacramento Bee noted that Spanish-language stations were handed three indecency-related fines between 2001 and 2005, compared to 12 such fines issued for English-language stations in 2004 alone.

But FCC spokesman David Fiske denied that the commission fails to regulate Spanish-language radio content closely enough.

He noted many listeners dont realize the agency doesn't monitor radio broadcasts, but only rules on complaints made to their office by the public - levying fines for any material it judges obscene (overtly sexual or involving bodily functions) or profane.

The commission is expected to soon issue notice of a huge package of radio fines which may include some Spanish-language outlets, Fiske said.

Determining whether a term is offensive can be tricky because some words may have different shades of meaning for different nationalities, said Jackie Madrigal, Latin formats editor for Radio & Records magazine.

"(The FCC) needs people who ... know the difference between a word that's offensive to Colombians or to Mexicans," Madrigal said. "Ultimately, it's the audience that decides what they want to listen to."

Franco Silva, a volunteer who hosts an English-language show featuring Spanish-language music for Tampa community radio station WMNF-88.5 FM, decided a while ago La Nueva's approach was too divisive - saying that the El Paredon segment sometimes featured listeners from one Hispanic nationality complaining about another group.

"Latin radio the way they're doing it hasn't really evolved," said Silva . "(And) I don't think you need to resort to that kind of abuse and shock."
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By Erika Slife
South Florida Sun-Sentinel

Delray Beach - A divided Delray Beach City Commission on Tuesday narrowly decided to ban discrimination against gays and lesbians in city government and offer benefits to domestic partners of employees.

The decision comes following a push by the Palm Beach County Human Rights Council to change the city's anti-discrimination clause and provide employees in committed, long-term relationships the same benefits it offers married employees. The Commission directed City Manager David Harden, who had strongly opposed the initiatives, to expedite the changes to the city's guidelines.

To qualify for the benefits, domestic partners will have to be registered with the Palm Beach County's domestic partnership registry.

"I do support this," said Commissioner Brenda Montague, whose opinion decided the majority. "I think this is their time and I think we need to get into the 21st century. We've been on the cutting edge for so many other areas and I think we need to step up to the plate with this."

Mayor Jeff Perlman and Commissioner Jon Levinson also supported the initiative. Vice Mayor Rita Ellis and Commissioner Fred Fetzer opposed the measure based on "philosophical differences."

"I do not support this," Ellis said. "I am an employer. I do believe in a legal document that makes people partners."

Fetzer added that he was worried about the costs of adding domestic partner benefits. Both said they do not believe in discrimination of any kind.

The decision was made after Rand Hoch, founder of the Palm Beach Human Rights Council, gave a presentation to the commission.

At times, the discussion turned personal. Commissioner Jon Levinson said he had a gay cousin who was in a loving, long-term relationship. Montague said she gave her support as an African-American and as a woman.

The decision comes on the heels of the Palm Beach County Tax Collector Pete Carney announcing he is extending health insurance to domestic partners. The tax collector's office became the last county agency to offer such benefits.

West Palm Beach and Lake Worth also offer their employees health insurance for domestic partners.

Earlier this week, Harden issued a strongly worded memo to commissioners about why they should not change the city's anti-discrimination policy or add domestic partner benefits. He called it "bad social policy" because it would devalue marriage.
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By Erika Slife
South Florida Sun-Sentinel

July 18, 2006

Delray Beach· City Manager David Harden has taken a strong stance against a gay rights group's push to change the city's anti-discrimination policy or add domestic partner benefits, arguing that it would be "bad social policy" to do so.

In a two-page memo to the City Commission, Harden wrote: "Extending family benefits to domestic partners and their children on the same basis as we currently provide for spouses and their children devalues marriage by saying that families constructed on some other legal basis, other than marriage, are of equal social value."

"I think it's bad social policy," Harden said. "I think it's good social policy to encourage marriage."

He also cited studies that assert the benefits of traditional marriage and outline the health risks of gays and lesbians.

"I've tried to present it as objectively and non-politically as possible," Harden said. "I don't really have anything to add to it."

The Palm Beach County Human Rights Council will present its position at tonight's City Commission workshop. The group's founder, Rand Hoch, said the group would continue to pressure the commission to institute changes.

"The city manager is staff. He doesn't make policy. The elected officials are the ones who make policy," Hoch said.

The city's anti-discrimination clause states: "The City of Delray Beach does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, religion, age or disability in employment or the provision of services."

The Human Rights Council wants the city to add "familial status, marital status and sexual orientation" to the list of protected groups.

"Let's face it: It's a civil rights battle. It's so ridiculous for people to be fighting for something like that," said Myrna Rogovin, a Delray Beach resident and president of the local chapter of Parents, Family and Friends of Lesbians and Gays. "Just as other citizens are afforded these benefits, so should the gay community. It should be a non-issue."

However, Harden wrote that he believes the city "has ample protection in place for any employee or applicant who might feel that have suffered discrimination on account of their sexual orientation. If you add sexual orientation, it could be challenging to determine where to stop. For example, I understand it is well documented that both obese and short people suffer discrimination at times."

Harden, 63, who described himself as a "committed Christian" in 2003, said in an interview Monday he'd only heard of such statistics, but did not have them on hand.

The Human Rights Council also wants Delray Beach to provide current and retired employees in committed, long-term relationships the same benefits it offers married employees, regardless of sexual orientation. About 8.4 percent of Delray Beach residents live with someone not related to them by marriage or birth, and 2.5 percent of residents identify themselves as unmarried partners living together, according to statistics compiled by Hoch. He plans to provide this information to the City Commission tonight.

"Generally it's less expensive if you add in domestic partners, people who have domestic partners tend to be healthier and younger and don't have children the same rate as other couples do," Hoch said. "Bringing in domestic partners, bringing in gay people does not add to the total cost of the plan."

The governments of West Palm Beach, Lake Worth and Palm Beach County have all recently expanded their gay rights laws. In West Palm Beach, a little more than 2 percent of the city's employees receive health benefits for their domestic partners, according to the Palm Beach County Human Rights Council statistics. In Lake Worth, it's less than 1 percent.

Harden said he knows openly gay workers but that no employees have ever asked for domestic partner benefits. The city has approximately 870 full-time employees.

Erika Slife can be reached at eslife@sun-sentinel.com or at 561-243-6690.
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By Josh Hafenbrack
South Florida Sun-Sentinel

July 18, 2006

Palm Beach County Tax Collector Pete Carney announced he is extending health insurance to domestic partners, becoming the last county agency to offer the benefits. Also, sexual orientation has been added to the 269-employee tax office's non-discrimination policy.

Carney, a Republican, made the changes as he campaigns to keep his job in the fall election. Gov. Jeb Bush appointed Carney to the position in April, after longtime Tax Collector John K. Clark retired.

The domestic partner benefits start Oct. 1, offering health, dental and life insurance and long-term disability benefits. Domestic partners will pay the same premiums as married couples, Carney said.

Palm Beach County employees controlled by the County Commission can get domestic partner benefits, but premiums are almost five times higher for domestic partners as for spouses. The Palm Beach County School Board also charges more for domestic partners.

"I have a business mentality," Carney said. "In order for me to attract quality candidates and to retain good employees, it's something we needed to do."

Costs are expected to be minimal. For example, in the 275-employee property appraiser's office, only two employees have enrolled for domestic benefits, according to the Palm Beach County Human Rights Council.

One of Carney's Democratic opponents, state Rep. Anne Gannon, agreed with the decision to offer domestic partner benefits.

"Having just gone through the terminal illness of my husband, I can't think of anything more important than to know that your partner, whether it's someone you're married to or not, is taken care of," she said.

Democrat Randy K. Johnson Sr. of Riviera Beach also will be on the Sept. 5 primary ballot.

Human Rights Council Founder Rand Hoch praised Carney's decision. More than two dozen public employers in Florida, as well as scores of private businesses, now provide benefits to unmarried and same-sex couples who live together, he added.

"It's now mainstream," he said. "Ten years ago, it would've been controversial. But now, everybody's doing it."

Hoch said the domestic partner issue sets up a tough decision for the Human Rights Council: whom to endorse in the tax collector race. Gannon has been a past board member of the organization, but Hoch noted that Carney not only started the domestic partner benefits, he announced the change at the Human Rights Council's election-season meeting.

Josh Hafenbrack can be reached at jhafenbrack@sun-sentinel.com or 561-228-5508.
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By Scott Travis
South Florida Sun-Sentinel

July 13, 2006

A gay rights group is touting a new nondiscrimination policy at Florida Atlantic University as a victory for gay and lesbian students and employees.

The policy, which updates previous anti-harassment guidelines, says the university is committed to maintaining an environment free of "unlawful discrimination and harassment" that is based "on a legally protected class."

The policy, which the Board of Trustees approved June 28, mentions race, color, religion, age, disability, sex, national origin, marital status, veteran status and "any other basis protected by law."

It's that last catch-all category, the "any other basis," that technically protects gay students and employees, said Rand Hoch, the founder of the Palm Beach County Human Rights Council, a gay-rights group.

The reason, he said, is that six of the seven FAU campuses are in Palm Beach and Broward counties, which have ordinances that ban discrimination in employment, housing and public accommodations on the basis of sexual orientation. So FAU is essentially agreeing to offer its employees and students on its campuses these same protections, he said.

FAU also has a campus in St. Lucie County, which does not specifically ban discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. But Hoch said he assumes FAU would consistently enforce its policies on all campuses.

The policy outlines grievance procedures for anyone who feels they have been harassed or discriminated against.

Hoch pushed for a policy change after some professors complained to him that gay faculty had no protection from retaliation. So he met with university officials last month in the hope of getting sexual orientation specifically added as a protected class. But he said he was told that the trustees were unlikely to approve language specifically addressing sexual orientation. The proposal that passed was a compromise, he said.

"It is as good as we are going to get from FAU at this time," he said.

FAU spokeswoman Kristine McGrath sent an e-mail statement saying that the university's policies "continue to protect the entire university community from all forms of unwelcome harassment and discrimination."

The trustees' audit and finance committee proposed the changes, which received full board approval, the statement said.

Hoch said this new policy goes beyond the protections offered at some other state universities. The Board of Governors, which oversees the state system, requires only that universities adhere to all state and federal nondiscrimination laws. Sexual orientation is not included.

Fred Fejes, an FAU communications professor, said he hoped the new policy would be more specific in its protection of gay employees and students.

"Legally speaking, it's good enough," he said. "In terms of attracting talent, it could present a problem. Basically, it is still saying the university is uncomfortable with it."
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Jeff Kunerth
Orlando Sentinel Staff Writer

July 12, 2006

With little opposition from conservative Christian groups, the Orange County Commission on Tuesday unanimously approved a fair-housing ordinance that prohibits discrimination against gays.

"It's the right thing to do," Commissioner Mildred Fernandez said. "Orange County is a county that's changing, and it's changing for the better."

The inclusion of sexual orientation was applauded by members of the gay community.

"The County Commission acted in a very courageous manner. I don't think any of us anticipated it would be unanimous," said Patrick Howell, president of the Log Cabin Republicans of Orange County.

John Stemberger, one of the few conservative Christian leaders to show up in opposition to the ordinance, said he was disappointed by the vote.

"I think they did not reflect the vast majority of people in Orange County," said Stemberger, president of the Florida Family Policy Council.

In addition to sexual orientation, the new ordinance also adds disability and familial status to race, color, religion, gender and national origin. Familial status includes pregnant women and family size.

Orange now joins Monroe, Miami-Dade, Palm Beach and Leon counties in adding sexual orientation to their fair-housing laws. The ordinance takes effect immediately, said Mitchell Glasser, Orange County Housing and Community Development Division manager.

The ordinance is aimed primarily at people in the real-estate business who have three or more properties for rent or sale, Glasser said.

But individuals also fall under the ordinance if they employ a real-estate agent or service to sell or rent their property. If they advertise their property, they are also under the ordinance, assistant county attorney Wanzo Galloway Jr. said.

"If it goes to the public, you should not be discriminating," Galloway said. "The intent is that there should be no discrimination."

The amended ordinance did draw fire from one woman who said it violated a person's property rights and another who said it went against the Bible.

But most of the seats in the County Commission chamber were filled with people who supported expanding the fair-housing law to include sexual orientation.
Several of the people said it sends a symbolic message to corporations and employers looking to relocate in Orange County.

"We need these kinds of ordinances if we want to remain competitive," Michael Morris said. "This is going to send a message that this is the kind of inclusive community we all want to have."

Several of the commissioners said the ordinance reflects the reality that gays and lesbians are residents of Orange County who deserve the same protections as others.

"I don't see this as a truly controversial issue.
There are people in our community who are gay and lesbian, so let's get over it," Commissioner Homer Hartage said. "As an African-American, I have experienced discrimination. I know how it stings."

Stemberger argued that the county was creating a new class of protected people who didn't deserve the same protections as racial minorities, women and people with disabilities.

"Sexual orientation is not a civil right," he said.

In passing the ordinance with a single public hearing, Orange County avoided the contentious, often hostile battle between gays and conservative Christians that marked Orlando's passage of an anti-discrimination ordinance in 2002.

Howell painted the passage as another blow to the conservative Christian groups who oppose equal rights for gays but have now lost consecutive battles in Orlando and Orange County.

By not showing up, he said, "They conceded defeat.
It's pretty amazing."

The hearing appeared to catch the opposition by surprise.

Stemberger said he didn't find out about the ordinance until Monday. Many of the other leaders who opposed the Orlando ordinance were out of town Tuesday.
Stemberger said he thought the County Commission tried to keep the sexual-orientation amendment under the radar.

"The county did not want to hear public input, or that place would have been packed," he said. "Obviously, the opposition had inside information. They knew more than we did."

Kathryn Norsworthy, a leader of the Orlando Anti-Discrimination Ordinance Committee, said the lack of opposition may signal that gay rights are becoming more accepted in Central Florida.

"It's like they said: It's not controversial. Housing is a basic human right," she said.

But in voting for the fair-housing ordinance, Commissioner Bill Segal warned that the law should be used to protect rights, not advance a cause.

"This ordinance is a shield, not a sword," Segal said.
"Don't use it to badger landowners or carry the banner of some kind of movement."
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GENDER IDENTITY
5-year-old 'girl' starting school is really a boy

Broward County schools' progressive policy on transgendered children will be tested by the admission to kindergarten this fall of a boy who believes that he's a girl.

BY ROBERTO SANTIAGO
Miami Herald
rsantiago@MiamiHerald.com

One little girl entering Broward County kindergarten this fall is actually a boy.

Few will know this genetic truth, because the 5-year-old's parents and school administrators have agreed that it's in his best interest to blend in as a female.

Mental health professionals have diagnosed Pat -- not his real name -- with gender dysphoria, a condition in which a person believes that he or she is the opposite gender. After two years of examination, they have determined that he is not simply effeminate or going through a phase.

'Gender dysphoria can take place during a fetus' development in the womb,'' said noted gender specialist and sexologist Marilyn Volker, Ph.D., of Miami.

While this tyke is likely the youngest transgendered child admitted to a South Florida school, he is not unique. Both the Broward and Miami-Dade County school systems have policies in place to smooth the way for such students and their families.

Equality Florida, which advocates for Florida's gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community, and PFLAG -- Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays -- say the two school districts have the most progressive policies in the state.

Broward and Miami-Dade are among the most exemplary school districts ''when it comes to the rights of transgendered people,'' said Tobias Packer, South Florida Field Organizer for Equality Florida, who himself is transgendered.

Carole Benowitz, Florida state coordinator for PFLAG, agrees. Her adult son is gay.

Benowitz said that two years ago -- at a Broward high school she declined to name -- she was called in after a group of boys beat up another student, whom they believed to be an effeminate boy. In fact, the victim was transgendered -- a biological female who looked, dressed and behaved like a male. Benowitz was brought in to counsel the administrators, the students and the victim.

''People have an understanding of what it means to be gay or lesbian -- but when they hear that a person is genetically one gender but lives as another gender, that threatens a number of people because they don't understand what that means,'' Benowitz said. ``And that misunderstanding can make lives very difficult for transgendered children and their parents.''

''In addition to behaving like the opposite sex, a person with gender dysphoria naturally relates to the opposite sex,'' Volker said. ``They also have a persistent and recurring discomfort with their own external body parts and genitalia because it does not match their internal gender identity. Simply said, they were born into the wrong body.''

FEMININE LOOK

The soon-to-be kindergartner looks quite feminine, cartwheeling around the yard and playing with dolls. Pat says he hates his penis, and he refuses to wear boys' clothing.

He and his three older siblings -- two girls and a boy -- live in a middle-class Broward County neighborhood with their father, an attorney, and their mother, who has a master's degree in counseling.

Pat's parents had never heard of gender dysphoria until they took their child for treatment. He was insisting that he was a girl, and often tried to hide his penis between his legs.

After long consultation with a team of pediatric endocrinologists and therapists, then with school officials, the parents decided that it was in Pat's best interest to live as a girl.

''The school officials have agreed to continue working with the family and medical professionals to help create an environment that will maximize the child's ability to learn and grow within the school system,'' said family attorney Karen Doering, who specializes in defending the rights of people who are transgendered, gay, bisexual or lesbian.

Gender dysphoria -- called gender identity disorder by the American Psychiatric Association -- is commonly misunderstood today, much as homosexuality was 50 years ago.

Although the association has not taken a formal position, the scientific community is increasingly determining that it could be a genetic condition, not a mental disorder.

At the school, teachers and the principal are prepared. The child will use unisex bathroom facilities, will be addressed by a unisex name -- not Pat -- and has been asked to dress in gender-neutral clothing, such as shorts or pants and a shirt.

School officials said this is standard practice in Broward and Miami-Dade for helping transgendered children fit in.

''The policies the districts have in place are progressive,'' Benowitz said. ``They both aim to ensure that transgendered students are treated like any other students, and take direct action when misunderstanding or violence take place.''

Leah Kelly, executive director of student support services and exceptional student education for the Broward school system, could not comment on any specific case.

``But I will say the Broward school system has admitted transgendered children before, and that it is a private matter between the parents, school administrators and the child.''

Discretion plays a great role in protecting transgendered children and the privacy of their parents, Kelly said. The objective is for them to blend in, she said.

Tony Valido, an educational specialist in the Miami-Dade schools Division of Student Services, said that Miami-Dade's approach to helping transgendered children goes one step further -- simply because there is a greater need.

MIAMI-DADE DIVERSITY

''Unlike Broward, Miami-Dade has a more diverse population of students,'' Valido said. That's especially true in high school, where there are a number of openly transgendered teens, mostly boys who believe they are girls.

Each Miami-Dade high school has a Sexual Minority Network where students who are gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgendered can turn to an in-house counselor or teacher for help.

That means advice on trying to fit in and understand who they are, said Valido, who added that there have been no reported incidents of violence or bullying.

The network has been in place for at least 15 years. Valido said that in the last few years, sexual-minority students have become more vocal.

''Sexual-minority students are coming out younger and younger, as early as 10,'' said Valido, who hopes the Sexual Minority Network will be expanded to middle schools next year.

It's not clear how many transgendered children are in the system. The U.S. Department of Education does not maintain statistics on the number of transgendered children in the school system, nor are schools asked to report it.

Some parents of transgendered children worry that societal revulsion, fear and anger could prompt someone to call a social-service agency, such as the Florida Department of Children & Families. A complaint that a little boy is being sent to school in girl's clothing could lead to accusations of abuse and neglect, they fear.

Those fears are not unrealistic, said Abbie Cuellar, an attorney specializing in child welfare issues.

''The parents must make sure that documentation on behalf of their child is ready and continuously updated,'' Cuellar said. ``Gender dysphoria is greatly misunderstood, and all it takes is one well-meaning but ignorant person to start making calls.''

But Gary Gershowitz, a spokesman for the Department of Children & Families in Tallahassee, said that parents of transgender children in Florida have nothing to fear.

''Documented gender dysphoria does not rise to the level of abuse or neglect,'' Gershowitz said. ``Anyone can call and file abuse for any reason. But in a worst-case scenario, a child protection investigator would look for signs of physical abuse or squalor, because it is the safety of the child that is of concern. If none is found -- and especially if there is documentation of gender dysphoria -- the case would be closed.''
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By Jeff Kunerth
Orlando Sentinel

July 11, 2006

Gays and conservative Christians are expected to clash today when the Orange County Commission considers adding sexual orientation to its fair-housing ordinance.

It's not the first time the two sides have tangled, and it probably won't be the last as the Orlando area becomes both home to a number of conservative Christian organizations and a growing, increasingly visible gay community. When the two communities converge, the politics can be rough.

"They direct venom and hatred toward anybody who opposes them," said Mathew Staver, president of the Liberty Counsel, a national organization based in Central Florida that opposes gay rights.

Michael Slaymaker, a leader of the gay and lesbian Orlando Anti-Discrimination Ordinance Committee, counters that the meanness and hate coming from the conservative Christian groups only prove the need for protection of gays under the law: "Unfortunately for them, they prove our case."

The county's fair-housing-ordinance amendments, which will be debated by the County Commission during a public hearing today at 2 p.m., prohibits people selling or renting their property from discriminating against a person based on sexual orientation. The county defines sexual orientation as a person's "actual or perceived heterosexuality, homosexuality, bisexuality or gender identity or expression."

The new ordinance also prohibits discrimination in housing based on disability and "familial status," which includes family size and pregnant women. The ordinance already prohibits discrimination based on race, color, religion, national origin and sex.

When the Orlando City Council voted to add sexual orientation to its anti-discrimination ordinance in 2002, Slaymaker and Staver went head to head. The proposed Orange County change is narrower in scope than the Orlando ordinance, which banned discrimination in employment and housing within city limits. But the county, with 1 million people, is much larger and more conservative than Orlando.

In advance of today's public hearing, the gay community says it has been collecting cases of housing discrimination based on sexual orientation.

"We need this because discrimination, unfortunately, does exist," Slaymaker said. "We need it because it's time for Orange County to move forward on this."

The conservative groups are expected to argue that adding sexual orientation is unnecessary and affording gays and lesbians a protected status endorses homosexuality.

"There is no significant history or problem or issue with discrimination based upon sexuality in Orange County. To the contrary, this community is very tolerant and even accepting of gay and lesbian neighbors," said John Stemberger, president of the Orlando-based Florida Family Policy Council.

If it passes, Orange County would join four counties and 11 cities in Florida that bar housing discrimination against homosexuals. Nationwide, 11 states -- but not Florida -- and 145 cities and counties have fair-housing laws for gays, according to Lambda Legal, a New York-based gay civil-rights organization.

Both sides hope to avoid a repeat of the demeaning name-calling that characterized the Orlando ordinance debate. Each side accused the other of dehumanizing it -- conservatives called gays perverts; gays called conservatives Nazis. Leaders on both sides said the opposition refused to even shake their hands.

As adversaries, they both characterize themselves as the underdog.

"It's much more difficult to rally people to keep the status quo than to change it. In that way, they have a bit of an advantage," Staver said. "They are single-issue focused and that gives them a strategic advantage."

Jeff Kunerth can be reached at orlandosentinel.com or 407-420-5392.
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by Wayne Besen

In an effort to ban same-sex marriage, white evangelical leaders have entered into a sordid marriage of convenience with a few like-minded black preachers. This unholy alliance is not a beacon of true diversity, but rather a diversity of ways to attack people who are different or hold divergent beliefs. In a perverse way, these ministers have advanced equality in that they have proven, if nothing else, that hate can be colorblind.

Just last week, for example, a leading anti-gay black preacher and ally of Jeb Bush, Rev. O'Neal Dozier, spewed bigoted remarks about Muslims on a right wing radio show. He explained that he was leading the charge to block an Islamic Center from being built in a Fort Lauderdale suburb because "Islam is a dangerous religion."

Instead of apologizing for his remarks, Dozier threw gasoline on the fire in an interview with The Miami Herald. The preacher explained in no uncertain terms that Islam was a synonym for Osama.

"We don't want our area to be a breeding ground for terrorists," Dozier said.
Dozier sounds an awful lot like former segregationist Rev. Jerry Falwell, who in 2002 told 60 Minutes, "I think Muhammad was a terrorist."

Read More
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By KERRY ELEVELD
New York Blade
Jun. 26, 2006

The anti-gay Marriage Protection Amendment (MPA) was defeated handily in the U.S. Senate earlier this month. Senator Lindsay Graham (R-SC) has said that gay marriage is not going to be a "magic bullet" for Republicans in the upcoming elections. Polling across the country suggests that opposition to same-sex marriage is steadily decreasing, and yet the Democratic party still treats any gay-related issue like a hot potato.

Though several U.S. senators spoke eloquently about LGBT people and discrimination during the MPA floor debates, most senators simply argued that the Senate had more important issues to focus on. Both New York Senators Hillary Clinton and Charles Schumer sidestepped the debate entirely, choosing not to speak at all.

"I continue to feel that Democrats are being frightened mistakenly,"
said Ethan Geto, a Democratic political consultant and president of Geto & de Milly. Politicians misread the same-sex marriage controversy of the 2004 elections, said Geto, "and people got very scared to touch anything gay politically."

He has been circulating a white paper among leaders of the Democratic party—including Sen. Clinton and DNC Chairman Howard Dean—that argues that Sen. John Kerry did not lose the election to gay marriage and that voters never equated "moral values" with LGBT issues.

"The whole moral values thing was completely misinterpreted by the news media in 2004. What moral values meant to most voters was compassion and taking care of the poor, not all this anti-gay stuff," Geto said.
"It's pretty irrefutable when you really look at the data and the statistics."

Geto's white paper cited a post-election Zogby International poll that asked voters, "Which moral issue most influenced your vote?"

The paper noted, "Gay marriage came in a distant last, with a 9 percent response; nearly five times as many people (42 percent) cited the Iraq war. Among Catholics, only 11 percent chose gay marriage, while nearly six times as many people chose "poverty" or "greed," which tied for first with 31 percent each."

Analysis of state voting patterns also indicated that gay marriage didn't hurt John Kerry, and he actually did better in states with same-sex marriage referenda on the ballot.

Geto wrote, "Only two of the states Gore won in 2000 (New Mexico and
Iowa) switched to Bush in 2004, and neither of these states had a gay marriage question on the ballot. But three key swing states (Michigan, Ohio and Oregon) did have gay marriage proposals on the ballot–and John Kerry outperformed Gore in all three."

Sen. Kerry won both Oregon and Michigan in the 2004 election. Though he lost Ohio to President Bush, Kerry came two points closer to winning it than Gore had in 2000.

Getting Clear

Empire State Pride Agenda executive director Alan Van Capelle said that gays and lesbians have to work harder to beat back the myth that Kerry lost on LGBT issues.

"Gay marriage is not why John Kerry lost the 2004 elections. Having six positions on the war in Iraq is why John Kerry lost the election," Van Capelle said.

A Pew Research Center Poll from October of 2004 centered on Kerry's lack of decisiveness: "Of the criticisms lodged against Kerry, the 'flip-flop' charge has the greatest impact. Nearly a third of swing voters (32 percent)—and 37 percent of all voters—say hearing this criticism makes them less likely to vote for Kerry."

Matt Foreman, executive director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, noted that Kerry's message on same-sex marriage was also muddled. "I couldn't understand John Kerry's position on marriage equality, and I follow this stuff pretty closely," he said.

Which speaks to a bigger issue. "The Democratic party needs to develop a coherent and compelling message around LGBT equality and start speaking that message clearly, authentically and fearlessly," said Foreman, adding, "I say this because it's in the Democratic party's best interests."

Foreman said the candidacy of George W. Bush proves that speaking to a party's base gives candidates an edge. "George Bush became more right than John McCain," he said.

Perhaps even more confounding than the fact that the Democratic party has misread the "values" debate of the 2004 election, is that it's not clear how sidelining gay issues helps woo new votes. Same-sex marriage is not an issue that wins over swing voters.

"People conflate different things," Foreman said. "Marriage is not an issue that moves the movable. The people who feel so strongly against marriage are already way on the right. They are never going to move toward the Democrats, period. The people in the middle—marriage equality does not register with them on any scale taken."

The risks outweigh the benefits. On this point, ESPA's Van Capelle is unequivocal.

"The Democratic party can go on the 700 Club and they can talk to Jerry Falwell and they can do all these things to court the conservative vote, and they will never be conservative enough to win their support,"
Van Capelle said.

"But in doing so," he added, "they will alienate and isolate a group of LGBT voters who otherwise would have been out in the streets and writing checks for them and hosting house parties for them, etc."

It takes an election

Geto said that the LGBT community gives an enormous amount of money to candidates, disproportionate to its numbers in society.

"Gay people can clearly help make a national candidacy," he said, pointing to the fact gays and lesbians helped launch Howard Dean's 2004 presidential campaign. Dean received strong LGBT support because he signed civil unions into law in Vermont.

"The gay community with every single year has become more sophisticated in its political giving, in its strategizing, and I think we will see more of a payoff, particularly if we can get at least one house back with the Democrats this fall," said Geto.

And as gay giving gets more sophisticated, appealing candidates are also getting more plentiful. "When Howard Dean did civil unions in Vermont it was considered radical, revolutionary. Now, it's ho-hum,"
Geto said.

Van Capelle noted that civil unions even became the fallback position for President Bush after the 2004 elections.

"I'm sure that there were people at one point who said, 'We don't have to be terrific on queer issues because where is the queer community going to go but if not the Democratic party,'" said Van Capelle. "We are now learning from Sen. Russ Feingold that there are choices within the Democratic party—that there are Democrats who are standing up for marriage equality in a big and forceful way."

Sen. Feingold made strong pro-LGBT statements during the MPA debate and came out in support of legalizing same-sex marriage earlier this year.

Geto bemoaned the fact that politicians aren't more visionary, but said they will likely fall in step as voter behavior leads the way. He said a recent massive public opinion poll shows "overwhelming support" for repealing "Don't ask, don't tell," and that the majority of Americans support a national gay civil rights bill as well as some form of civil unions or domestic partnerships.

"The electorate has sent the signal to politicians, 'Go ahead and do it, we'll either not care or we'll say it's a plus,'" said Geto, referring to lending supportive for LGBT rights.

In the next few years, he believes, the Russ Feingolds of the world are going to become the center of the Democratic party rather than the outliers. "I am absolutely persuaded," said Geto.
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By Lois K. Solomon
South Florida Sun-Sentinel

July 9, 2006

As a Wednesday deadline looms for opponents of same-sex marriage, supporters are gearing up with their own campaign to make Florida's marriage laws gay-friendly.

Opponents of gay marriage, supported by the Florida Coalition To Protect Marriage, will pass around a flurry of petitions in the coming days to try to meet their deadline to get enough signatures to force a constitutional amendment question onto Florida's 2008 ballot.

The coalition has missed several self-imposed deadlines like this one, but chairman John Stemberger, of Orlando, thinks the group is getting close.

"Momentum has built up in the last few weeks," said Stemberger, president of the Florida Family Policy Council, an offshoot of Focus on the Family, a national conservative Christian group. "This is our own internal push to finish the job."

Meanwhile, a Florida gay-rights group has begun a campaign to educate voters about the upcoming ballot.

Equality Florida says Stemberger's coalition is finding the signature-gathering process is not so easy.

"They have consistently failed to meet every self-imposed deadline," said Brian Winfield, communications director of the St. Petersburg-based group, which says it has 14,000 active supporters.
"It's a lot more work than they thought it would be."

Still, Equality Florida knows the organizers are likely to get enough signatures by the deadline. In response, members are preparing their own campaign, called FairnessForAllFamilies.org, to oppose the amendment.

Equality thinks the majority of Floridians approve of gay unions: A poll the group commissioned last year found 55 percent of state residents favored "legal domestic partnerships" that would provide gay and lesbian couples the same benefits, such as health insurance, that married heterosexuals get.

However, the Coalition To Protect Marriage thinks there is a core of Floridians who will vote in favor of the amendment, especially with a presidential election on the ballot.

The Florida Supreme Court agreed in March to allow a state constitutional ban on same-sex marriage to go on the 2008 ballot if backers get enough voters'
signatures. They had gathered about 466,000 at last count, but need 611,009, or 8 percent of the people who voted in the last presidential election.
Officially, organizers have another 18 months to get the signatures.

The coalition is riding a wave of hostility toward gay marriage that began in February 2004, when the Massachusetts Supreme Court cleared the way for gay and lesbian couples in the state to marry. When President Bush was re-elected in November 2004, there were 11 anti-gay marriage initiatives on state ballots, and some political analysts think the amendments' presence on those ballots helped turn out support for the president and other Republicans.
Twenty states have amended their constitutions to ban gay marriage and six more will ask voters to add amendments this fall.

Still, some think the anti-gay marriage push may have run its course by the time Florida votes in 2008.

"I don't see it as a huge factor for turnout," said Daniel Smith, political science professor at the University of Florida. "It allowed Republicans to have a moral-values issue in 2004, when they needed an issue. But this time around, it's seen as more of a ploy. Florida already bans gay marriage."

Florida's law, passed in 1997, limits marriage to two persons of the opposite sex. But supporters of the amendment say the law could be overturned in court.
They seek an amendment that judges can't touch.
Republicans think this twist will appeal to voters:
The party has contributed about $300,000 to the campaign, Smith said.

Stemberger said his coalition had been wondering how to generate interest in the campaign over the summer when two unexpected incidents in June brought publicity to the petition drive.

In Sunrise, volunteers collecting signatures at a Promise Keepers convention said they were ridiculed by police officers, who they said removed petitions from a table, threatened them with arrest and kissed each other to "mock the volunteers," according to a complaint filed with the Police Department.

Stemberger said the group also got an unexpected boost when a Jacksonville church published the names of the more than 400,000 who have signed the group's petitions. Leaders of the nondenominational Christ Church of Peace said they wanted to show an alternative voice in the debate over gay marriage.

"Their effort helped us considerably," Stemberger said. The name posting brought new attention to the coalition and helped members gather more signatures, he said.

Petition-signers are not only Republicans, Stemberger said, but a "good mix of Catholics and Protestants."

One Protestant church that has become an enthusiastic supporter of the amendment is the Worldwide Christian Center in Pompano Beach. The Rev. O'Neal Dozier said he has been pressing his congregation to gather signatures for months.

"This was a biblical issue before it became political," Dozier said. "We don't want to see marriage changed. It could spread marriage into things God never intended. Then there are no boundaries."

Sidney Lanier, of West Palm Beach, has also been gathering signatures. A member of Northwood Baptist Church in West Palm Beach, he said he has gotten an assortment of responses when he has asked people to sign.

"It ranges from, `Yes, thank you for doing this,' to `No, I disagree,'" Lanier said. He said he sent Stemberger an envelope with 46 signatures last week.

Still, not all Baptist churches have embraced the campaign. Lanier's pastor, the Rev. Patrick Moody, said he has not exhorted his congregation to support the amendment.

"The Bible clearly states marriage is between a man and a woman, but that doesn't mean we exclude anyone,"
Moody said. "Some in the church are politically motivated, but we're not motivated from the pulpit to preach in that way."
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