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Saturday, July 19
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Source: South Florida Sun Sentinel , NBC6.net WILTON MANORS -- Vandals spray-painted anti-gay slurs on three homes and a car early this morning, police say. The incidents in this Broward County suburb are being investigated as a hate crime, police spokesman David Jones said. Wilton Manors is considered a gay-friendly neighborhood, Sun Sentinel reports, and has a significant gay population. An estimated 40 percent of its residents are gay, according to census data. Jones said this is the first time this kind of vandalism has happened in the area and it appears to be random. The words "gay"...
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Thursday, June 26
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Source: WPLG-TV , South Florida Sun Sentinel , NBC6 Miami , Lambda Legal press release MIAMI -- The family vacation cruise that Janice Langbehn, of Olympia, Washington, her partner Lisa Marie Pond, and three of their four children set out to take in February 2007 was designed to be a celebration of the lesbian couple's 18 years together. But when Pond, a healthy 39-year-old, suffered a massive stroke before the ship left port and was rushed to Jackson Memorial Hospital (JMH), the trip became a nightmare. Hospital administrators refused to let Langbehn into the Pond's hospital room, and...
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Friday, June 20
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Source: Miami Herald Fort Lauderdale's first and only openly gay city commissioner has decided to run for mayor, but his decision hasn't been welcomed by all gay politicos in the city because LGBT voters are now facing an increasingly difficult choice among a number of gay-friendly candidates, Miami Herald reports. After Lauderdale's outspokenly anti-gay mayor, Jim Naugle, enraged gay people in the city last year with a rant about ''homosexual activity'' in public restrooms, activists pledged to elect a gay-friendly mayor in the March, 2009 election. Early on, activists...
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Wednesday, June 11
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Source: Fort Meyers News-Press , WINK-TV , PrideSource.com Tallahassee, Fla. -- Gov. Charlie Crist on Wednesday signed the "Jeffrey Johnston Stand Up For All Students Act" into law. Jeffrey Johnston was 15 in June 2005, just having finished his ninth-grade year at Ida S. Baker High in Cape Coral, when he killed himself. He would have graduated with his classmates who just received their diplomas June 1 at Harborside Event Center. Jeff's mother, Debbie, led the crusade for Jeff's law. "I worried about kidnappers, and murderers, and drugs, and alcohol, and gangs and all those...
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Tuesday, May 20
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Source: Miami Herald Unmarried couples in Miami-Dade won the right to hospital and jail visitation on Tuesday, following an 8-4 vote by the County Commission, and county employees will be able to buy health coverage for their partners. Couples will be able to register their partnerships with the county's Consumer Services Department by late August. The system is open to unmarried, nonrelated couples -- gay or straight -- who are at least 18 and live together. ''It's a matter of compassion, a matter of correcting an injustice, a matter of moving forward as a progressive county,''...
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Tuesday, May 13
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Source: Northwest Florida Daily News , WMBB-TV FL anti-gay schools PANAMA CITY -- Saying "the core message here is of tolerance and fairness," a judge ruled today Heather Gillman can wear a t-shirt with pro-gay messages. U.S. District Judge Richard Smoak decided Tuesday the Holmes County School Board violated Heather Gillman’s right to free speech in November and ordered the board to alert students in writing that they are allowed to express their support for the equal treatment of gays in an appropriate and non-disruptive way. Gillman’s shirts included the slogans, “Gay? Fine by me,...
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Monday, May 12
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Source: South Florida Sun-Sentinel , Express Gay News , Palm Beach Post The last time interior designer Scott Graham was heard from, it was the evening of April 14 and he was in the company of a Honduran friend named Ricardo, police said Wednesday. That friend turned out to be Ricardo Funes-Valle, who police said has confessed that he stabbed Graham to death in Graham's West Palm Beach home at 113 Ellamar Drive. The body was discovered April 16. Funes-Valle, 20, was arrested in Tampa on April 29 by Hillsborough County detectives and the U.S. Marshal's Fugitive Apprehension Team on a West...
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Saturday, May 03
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Source: Miami Herald Opponents of a domestic partnership proposal for Miami-Dade government employees threatened county commissioners with political retribution at a news conference Friday. ''Every commissioner who does vote for the proposal will be held accountable,'' said Anthony Verdugo, executive director of the Christian Family Coalition. In a statement released before the press conference the coalition of anti-gay groups said that voters "will know the names of those working against the best interest of working families and children." The proposal defines domestic...
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Thursday, May 01
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Source: Miami Herald , Cape Coral News-Press TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- For the last several years, proponents of anti-bullying legislation have fought for a state law that would prohibit harassment of students. Every year, the bills failed. Qnews update: Governor signs tough new Florida anti-bullying law (10-June-08) But on Wednesday, supporters were cheering after the Jeffrey Johnston Stand Up for All Students Act unanimously passed the Florida Senate; it previously got unanimous support in the House of Representatives. Next stop: Gov. Charlie Crist, who told reporters he would probably sign it into...
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Tuesday, April 29
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Source: Sarasota Herald Tribune , News-Press Tallahassee -- Instead of celebrating her son's 26th birthday yesterday, Pat Mulder was at the state capitol urging lawmakers to pass a bill that she hopes will help prevent another mother from suffering the pain she feels every day. "Last year I was in way too much pain to do anything like this," she said after testifying at a hearing for a tough new anti-bullying law. "The pain is still there but the motivation to make a difference is so much stronger." Mulder's son Ryan Skipper, who was openly gay, was killed last year...
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Sunday, April 27
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Source: Orlando Sentinel , News-Press , CBS News The parents of Ryan Keith Skipper, the victim of a gay-hate-crime murder in Polk County, will mark what would have been his 27th birthday Monday by joining others in support of anti-bullying legislation in Tallahassee. The Florida State Senate is one vote away from passing a bill designed to protect children who are picked on, legislative aides say. The measure's supporters say it would be the toughest law of its type in the nation. It would shift some focus to prevention, and require schools to take disciplinary action to stop physical or verbal...
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Sunday, April 27
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Source: Express Gay News An anti-discrimination bill that would have added sexual orientation as a protected class under the Florida Civil Rights Act was brought to a halt in the Florida Senate on April 23. The bill, sponsored by Sen. Ted Deutch (D. Delray Beach), had a breakthrough moment earlier this month when Sen. Jeff Atwater (R. North Palm Beach) agreed to co-sponsor it. Atwater, the bill’s first Republican sponsor, was influential in getting the bill heard in the Senate’s Commerce Committee on April 8. The bill passed the committee with a 7-1 vote, but it wasn't scheduled for another...
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Tuesday, April 22
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Source: South Florida Sun-Sentinel , Advocate , Palm Beach Post , WPTV By the time police announced Friday that the slain man found in a West Palm Beach home was, indeed, interior designer Scott Graham, his many friends and family already knew. Lt. Chuck Reed told West Palm Beach Post that there were "obvious signs of foul play," reporting that when he approached Graham's home, he found the garage door half-open and the front door unlocked. But the gay community is now left to contemplate the death of three community leaders and contributors in just over a month. "A lot of people...
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Sunday, April 20
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Source: Express Gay News , Miami Herald , Bay News 9 Gay American Heroes , the new traveling monument that memorializes gay men and women who have been killed due to homophobic violence, is scheduled to be displayed in the Florida Capitol Rotunda April 28. According to organizers, the exhibit marks the first time a gay-friendly display will be exhibited inside the hall that overlooks the entrance to the chambers of the Florida House of Representatives and Senate. The date of the exhibit, April 28, also marks the birthday of Ryan Skipper, a gay college student who was murdered last year in Polk...
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Thursday, April 17
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Source: Tampa Tribune , St. Petersburg Times , Palm Beach Post TAMPA -- The group backing a state constitutional amendment to limit marriage only to straight couples kicked off its publicity campaign Thursday with a group of Christian senior citizens. The Florida Coalition to Protect Marriage held several news conferences across the state heralding the Florida Marriage Protection Amendment, including one at Beulah Baptist Church in Tampa, the city's oldest black Baptist church. The coalition's former Florida4Marriage.org campaign is becoming Yes2Marriage.org, evoking its place as Amendment...
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Monday, April 14
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Source: South Florida Sun-Sentinel , Boca Raton News It looked like a big victory for gay and lesbian Floridians and their allies: A state Senate committee overwhelmingly approved legislation last week that would ban discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation. And the measure picked up the support of a top leader in the Republican-controlled Legislature, state Sen. Jeff Atwater, the Broward- Palm Beach County legislator in line to become president of the Florida Senate after the November elections. Passage was hailed by some activists. "Today's vote is truly historic," said...
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Friday, April 11
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Source: Palm Beach Post , TCPalm FL anti-gay schools Okeechobee, Fla. -- A see-saw legal battle over a gay-straight club Okeechobee High School took another bounce Wednesday when a federal judge tossed out the lawsuit filed by a then-student at who said she was wrongfully denied the right to start a Gay-Straight Alliance on campus. The former student, Yasmin Gonzalez, has graduated, so she's no longer affected by the school's decision to ban the club, U.S. District Judge K. Michael Moore said in a ruling Wednesday. Gonzalez's attorneys with the ACLU tried to maintain her stake in the...
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Tuesday, April 08
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Source: Orlando Sentinel , Miami Herald (press release) Thanks in part to Republican Senate President-designate Jeff Atwater (R-North Palm Beach), a Senate panel has advanced a bill barring employers, landlords and government agencies from discriminating against gays, lesbians and bisexuals. The bill cleared the Senate Commerce Committee Tuesday by a 7-1 vote after Atwater decided last week to sign on to it as a co-sponsor and lobbied other Republicans on the panel to support it. Senator Ted Deutch (D-Boca Raton) introduced S. 572 which would amend the Florida Civil Rights Act and Florida's...
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Thursday, March 27
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Source: St. Petersburg Times , Tallahassee Democrat Tallahassee, Fla. -- A proposed constitutional amendment to ban gay and lesbian marriage was compared Wednesday with amendments prohibiting pregnant pigs and creating high-speed rail. Patricia Ireland, former president of the National Organization for Women, told Tallahassee's Capital Tiger Bay Club that the amendment is yet another example of something that should not be in the Florida Constitution. "There are more important things that belong in our Constitution," Ireland said, noting that passage of the amendment would result...
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Thursday, March 27
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Source: Palm Beach Post , TCPalm FL anti-gay schools About two weeks after the ACLU said there were no longer any active members in the Gay-Straight Alliance group it represents, two new students have joined the club. The ACLU now plans to ask a judge to reinstate an order that Okeechobee High School allow a gay-straight alliance on campus because the club has regained members. The American Civil Liberties Union filed a federal suit against the Okeechobee County School Board in November 2006 on behalf of the Gay-Straight Alliance and its then-current president Yasmin Gonzalez saying the school...
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Sunday, March 23
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Source: Palm Beach Post , South Florida Sun Sentinel Michael Brown WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. -- A prominent south Florida gay activist and bar owner was killed last week by his ex-boyfriend, police say, in what they're calling a murder-suicide. Michael Brown, owner of HG Roosters, a bar that has been a gathering spot for the city's gay community for more than two decades, was beaten and stabbed to death by a former boyfriend who was found dead in his apartment with him Friday evening, police have determined. On Saturday night scores of men and women packed HG Roosters, where candles flickered...
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Saturday, March 22
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Source: South Florida Sun-Sentinel King shooting by William Butte "Are you looking at me, you faggot? You know what I do to faggots? I break their necks!" Melbourne Brunner heard this expression of irrationality, fear and hatred just moments before he was attacked by a stranger last month in front of a restaurant on Fort Lauderdale 's toniest street. Brunner's partner had the temerity to say "Good morning" to the would-be assailant when they made eye-contact as he passed by their table. [see Qnews summary ] But Brunner was lucky, so to speak. He survived the assault...
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Thursday, March 20
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Source: TCPalm Okeechobee High School no longer needs to allow the Gay-Straight Alliance to meet on campus while the club's lawsuit is pending, a judge ruled Tuesday. A judge originally ordered the high school to allow the club to meet while the case is pending. Recent court filings in the federal case revealed the club no longer has any more members at the school and a judge recently agreed to take the club's name off the lawsuit. The suit still continues in the name of former president Yasmin Gonzalez, though the school district is trying to have her removed from the case because she...
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Monday, March 17
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Source: Miami Herald From mounting a major offensive against Fort Lauderdale's mayor to winning county protections for transgender residents, South Florida's gay community wants politicians to know: We're here. Get used to it. Buoyed by rising numbers, gay and bisexual activists have racked up a few recent political victories and now some political candidates hoping for a November win are actively courting them. A few openly gay candidates are vying for several local, county and state seats, including one who could become the state's first openly gay state legislator. ''We've...
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Friday, March 14
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Source: Palm Beach Post , Miami Herald , TCPalm.com Attorneys for the Okeechobee County School Board want a judge to toss out a lawsuit brought by a former student, who said Okeechobee High School violated federal law by not allowing a Gay-Straight Alliance to meet on campus. Yasmin Gonzalez, the club's founder, has graduated, so her complaint is moot, school board attorney David Gibbs argued in a court document filed Thursday. Gonzalez remains a plaintiff in the lawsuit, which claims the school district violated the federal Equal Access Act by allowing other clubs to meet on campus but banning...
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Monday, March 10
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Source: Washington Blade King shooting The defining setting for anti-gay violence for the last decade was a rickety fence in a desolate Wyoming field. But a string of anti-gay beatings, shootings and killings in recent months shows that homophobic hatred didn’t disappear when Matthew Shepard was killed 10 years ago this October, nor is it confined to rural pockets of America’s heartland. In the last year alone, young gay people have died at the hands of straight friends in central Florida, been beaten to death after leaving a bar in Greenville, S.C., and assassinated in an eighth grade classroom...
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Saturday, March 01
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Source: South Florida Sun-Sentinel and Miami Herald FORT LAUDERDALE -- As police continue to investigate two possible hate crimes against gay people, mourners, community leaders and activists united Thursday at an emotional vigil to honor the life of a 17-year-old gay teenage youth at the spot where he was killed last week. About 150 people gathered on an empty lot along Fort Lauderdale's Sistrunk Boulevard on Thursday in memory of the boy that most never knew yet felt they needed to honor. Flowers were woven into the wire-mesh fence, and stuffed animals lined the top of it. State and federal...
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Tuesday, February 26
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Source: WSVN TV and South Florida Sun Sentinel FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. -- Police are searching for a man driven by hate, who beat a gay man and threatened him and his partner, after they finished a meal at an outdoor restaurant. Melbourne Brunner, 37, was eating with his partner at the Floridian restaurant, at 1410 E. Las Olas Blvd., around 3 a.m. when a man walked by their table and started shouting at the two men, said Sgt. Frank Sousa, spokesman for the Fort Lauderdale Police Department. Sousa said the man continued to verbally abuse the two men and made a violent motion with his hands, claiming...
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Sunday, February 24
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Source: Southern Voice , Miami Herald Miami -- "There is nothing that can make up for what my children and I endured that day," said Olympia resident Janice Langbehn about the way she was treated on the day her partner, Lisa Pond, died. "We only want the hospital to take responsibility for how they treated us and ensure that it doesn't happen to another family." On the one-year anniversary of Lisa Pond's death, Lambda Legal announced its intent to file a lawsuit on behalf of Pond's same-sex partner and family. Qnews update: Olympia woman sues Miami hospital that...
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Saturday, February 23
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Source: South Florida Sun-Sentinel , Miami Herald FORT LAUDERDALE - The shooting death of a gay teenage boy who was dressed in women's clothing is being investigated as a possible hate crime, while detectives try to determine whether he was targeted because of his sexual orientation. Simmie L. Williams spent much of Thursday looking after his 1-year-old nephew, Jamar. He cooked dinner for his mom and told her he was going out to meet some friends. Denise King said goodbye to her son -- for the last time. Shortly after 1 a.m. Friday, King's daughter received a call from the hospital. Williams...
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