Tag: Florida

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Florida: Corporations End School Voucher Funding After Report Of LGBTQ Discrimination

The Orlando Sentinel recently reported that 156 private Florida schools (all of them Christian) that receive public scholarship funding also discriminate against LGBTQ students and their families.

The Sentinel found 83 schools that refuse to admit LGBTQ students or could expel them if their sexual orientation or gender identity were discovered. Some also refuse to educate students whose parents are gay or to hire staff who are gay.

Another 73 schools call being gay or transgender a biblical sin but do not explain how those views play out in admissions or student discipline decisions.

Following the article, state Rep. Carlos Guillermo Smith (D) tweeted to companies who continue to donate to the voucher program and tagged Fifth Third Bank in the tweet. Fifth Third Bank responded saying, “Thanks Rep. Smith for your feedback. We definitely stand with #LGBTQ students and parents. We have communicated with program officials that we will not be contributing again until more inclusive policies have been adopted by all participating schools to protect the sexual orientation of all our students. (And, we will see you at the next @OrlandoPride!).”

“These schools are literally poisoning children’s minds against LGBTQ people, and they are funded by taxpayers,” Smith later told Florida Politics. “It’s wrong.”

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News Round-Up: January 16, 2020

(image via Instagram)
Some news items you might have missed: • InstaHunks: #TBT to when woofy Fran Dullon (above) was feeling a bit ‘country.’ #MamasPleaseLetYourBabiesGrowUpToBeCowboys • The Courier: It’s rare for people in the UK to die of AIDS-related illnesses, with the National Health Service immediately placing those diagnosed with HIV on antiretroviral therapy. Ross Scott, of Kirkcaldy, found out he had HIV in early 2017 after he began to develop health problems. A week ago he was placed in hospice care and warned he didn’t have long to live. Just hours after sharing his story yesterday, Scott passed away at the age of 25. • Bloomberg News: Vimeo Inc. defeated a lawsuit by a self-described “former homosexual” who accused the video hosting website of discrimination after it removed his videos promoting sexual orientation conversion efforts, according to a Wednesday ruling by the Southern District of New York. • Boxers NYC: Celebrating the sports gay bar’s first ten years in business, Boxers NYC shares this behind-the-scenes look at the hunky bartenders posing for its free (while supplies last) 2020 calendar.

• NBC News: Just hours before the deadline to file new bills for the coming legislative session, seven Republican lawmakers in Florida filed anti-LGBTQ bills late Monday. If passed, the bills would ban gender-affirming health care for transgender children, repeal municipal and county ordinances protecting LGBTQ workers, and legalize so-called gay conversion therapy in places that had banned the medically debunked practice. • AP: Ken Jennings won the “Jeopardy!” greatest-of-all-time title (and $1 million) by going all in with his 32,800 points for the Final Jeopardy round. The clue: “This area of Greece, home to Pan, is synonymous with a rural paradise; it’s a setting for Vergil’s shepherd poems the ‘Ecologues.'” And Jennings wrote the correct answer: “What is Arcadia?” • Netflix: A new fashion competition series from the streaming giant that features designers teaming up to create visionary looks that work for everyone. The winner will receive a $250,000 prize and the opportunity to debut their collection with fashion retailer Net-a-Porter. Hosted by Queer Eye’s Tan France and designer Alexa Chung, all 10 episodes of Next In Fashion launch on Netflix January 29.

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Florida Lawyer Suspended Over Social Media Attacks “YOU SICK QUEERS!”

Suspended attorney/failed judicial candidate Don McBath (image via Facebook)
A pro-Trump lawyer (and failed judicial candidate) in Florida has been disciplined by his state’s Supreme Court for homophobic and anti-Muslim comments made on social media. Retired Pasco Country attorney Donald McBath was suspended from practicing law for 91 days after the Florida Bar reviewed several disparaging remarks on his Twitter and Facebook accounts. He was also fined $1,380 for failing “to maintain the dignity appropriate to judicial office and act in a manner that is consistent with impartiality, integrity, and independence of the judiciary,” reports the Tampa Bay Times. Regarding LGBTQ people, McBath tweeted on February 25 this year, “Homosexuality is condemned by Jesus and if the homosexual continues committing that sin of sodomy, his soul faces ETERNAL damnation! Abstain, if you really have that mental illness. It’s not love.” He used big capital letters, so he really must have meant it… In January, he took issue with drag queen story hours in the Sunshine state writing, “YOU SICK QUEERS, leave our innocent children alone.” Taking issue with Muslim people, he tweeted on February 26, 2017, “Never trust a Muslim.” The next month, he fired off, “Muslims are deranged!” In the disciplinary report, the Florida Bar also took note of McBath’s Twitter bio which read (before it was suspended): “100% Trump supporter #MAGA; #KAG; proud DEPLORABLE; Pro-God; Christian; Pro-Life; Pro-Gun; Anti-Sharia; Constitutional Conservative; Former Major US Army.” During his candidacy for judge in the Sixth Judicial Circuit last year (which he lost in the primary by 16+ points), he owned up to the comments but told the Tampa Bay Times his social media remarks wouldn’t prevent him from treating LGBTQ or Muslim people fairly if they appeared in his courtroom. Riiiiight… This isn’t McBath’s first trip to the disciplinary rodeo as an attorney. In 1997, he was admonished for not competently representing a client. In 2002, he was publicly reprimanded for trust account violations. He was suspended for 21 days in 2007 for filing frivolous paperwork in a divorce case, and in 2014 he was admonished for threatening an opposing party in a cease and desist letter. (source: Tampa Bay Times)

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Gay Man Attacked & Dragged Tied To Minivan For Blocks

According to News4Jax in Jacksonville, Florida, police have arrested a suspect in a brutal crime where a person was severely beaten then tied to the bumper of a minivan and dragged for over two blocks last Friday. Police say the victim was left unconscious in the street after the rope tying him to the car was cut. The victim was taken to a nearby hospital with life-threatening injuries. The victim, according to doctors, has not regained consciousness since the attack due to immense swelling in the brain. There is surveillance video of the incident, but police say it is “horrendous” and can’t be released due to the graphic nature of the attack and injuries. The Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office says 34-year-old Eric Bridges, an ex-convict, has been charged with attempted murder. He remains in jail while being held on $500,000 bail. The victim, initially reported as possibly transgender, is now being identified as a gay male. The name of the victim has been withheld by the family. No details as to what spurred the incident have been revealed as yet.

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Florida Man Tells Facebook He Gets His AR-15 Back Soon, “Don’t Go To Walmart Next Week”

On August 6, three days after a white supremacist shot and killed 22 people at a Walmart in El Paso, Texas, an idiot in Florida wrote on his Facebook account, "3 more days of probation left then I get my AR-15 back. Don’t go to Walmart next week."
Richard Clayton (mug shot)

On August 6, three days after a white supremacist shot and killed 22 people at a Walmart in El Paso, Texas, another white supremacist in Florida wrote on his Facebook account, “3 more days of probation left then I get my AR-15 back. Don’t go to Walmart next week.”

From ABC News:

Richard Clayton, 26, was arrested by Florida Department of Law Enforcement authorities on Friday in Winter Park after making an online threat last week, according to police.

On Aug. 6, Clayton allegedly posted on Facebook, “3 more days of probation left then I get my AR-15 back. Don’t go to Walmart next week.”

“Clayton appears to believe in the white supremacist ideology and has a history of posting threats on Facebook using fictitious accounts,” Florida Department of Law Enforcement officials said.

He was not on probation, despite his threat, Florida officials told The Associated Press.

Clayton was charged with intimidation through a written threat and is being held at Orange County Jail on $15,000 bond.

Clayton reportedly threatened one of the police officers that arrested him asking if he was Hispanic. He also pulled out his genitals and threatened to pee in the officers’ patrol car.

More from WKMG News6:

Clayton was arrested at his parents’ Winter Park home Friday evening. Winter Park police detailed how Clayton was uncooperative and belligerent during the arrest, at one point telling an officer: “Officer, I hope that the next call you go to, you get blown away and killed. God, I pray that happens.”

Court paperwork details how Clayton repeatedly asked an officer if he was Hispanic and that “they are what is wrong with this country. They come in and are ruining everything.”

At one point, Clayton repeatedly asked an officer if he was a Nazi, then proceeded to expose himself and threatened to urinate in the police car. After an officer told Clayton he was not Hispanic, Clayton replied, “OK, well then, I guess I won’t pee in your car, then.”

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Minister Stiffs Waiter ("If He Wasn't Gay") Then Arrested For Assaulting Female Manager

Frederic Sterry Smith, 62, of St. Augustine, Florida, was arrested and charged with simple battery after ripping up his restaurant bill and shoving it down the female manager's blouse.
Mug shot of Frederic Sterry Smith (St. Johns County Sheriff Office)

Frederic Sterry Smith, 62, of St. Augustine, Florida, was arrested and charged with simple battery after ripping up his restaurant bill and shoving it down the female manager’s blouse.

According to the Naples Daily News, Smith and his female companion had finished eating at the restaurant when he wrote on the receipt “if he wasn’t gay,” with a zero-dollar tip.

Upon seeing the homophobic message the male server took it to the manager on duty, who went outside to confront Smith.

When asked if he had written the message on his check, Smith said yes. He then grabbed the bill, and ripped it up. He grabbed the manager’s shirt collar, pulled it open and shoved “the torn check down her shirt, touching her breast with his hand,” according to the police report.

Police quickly tracked the man down, and when questioned about the incident Smith reportedly became “verbally abusive and angry,” denying the stunt.

“I can say whatever I want, to whoever I want!” he told the officers. 

His female companion told the police, “We didn’t touch her.”
Apparently, the couple’s denials were not convincing.
Smith was booked into the St. Johns County Sheriff’s Office jail on a charge of simple battery, and released on $500 bail.
Fox News reports that Smith “works as a minister and president at Servant’s Heart Disaster Relief, a St. Augustine-based nonprofit and evangelical ministry ‘devoted to helping hurricane victims in North America and the Caribbean.'”

This is a “man of God?”

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News Round-Up: July 17, 2019

(image via Instagram)

Some news items you might have missed:

• InstaHunks: Steve Raider and Ocan Jan (above) barely fit in the same photo. #TheresTheBeef

• CBS News: The House voted 230-198 to hold Attorney General William Barr and Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross in criminal contempt of Congress for obstructing a probe into the administration’s failed bid to add a citizenship question to the 2020 census.

• Twitter: A gay teen, Brandon Austin, slayed the inter webs with his graduation ‘death drop’ on Twitter, which has now been ‘Liked’ over 230,000 times.

• NBC News: A Florida man is in custody for allegedly using a pair of scissors to cut off the penis of a man he suspected of sleeping with his wife, according to a police report.

• Axios: The White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) projects the federal deficit will surpass $1 trillion this year, the first time the U.S. deficit has surpassed the $1 trillion level since the 4-year period following the Great Recession. In 2016, Donald Trump campaigned on a promise to wipe out the deficit and also the entire federal debt, which has surpassed $22 trillion.

• Netflix: The streaming giant gave a giant slap to the folks at the upcoming ‘Straight Pride’ event for using their logo and claiming Netflix was a ‘possible’ sponsor. In their cease and desist letter, the legal team for Netflix wrote, “Our legal department is here, its queer, and its telling you to steer clear.”

• Out Music: Carly Rae Jepsen teamed up with Jordan Alexander and Bud Light for a performance of the ‘Pride Remix’ of her single “Feels Right” at Toronto Pride. The single is from her fourth album, Dedicated, out now.

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LGBTQ Group Suspends Exec Director After Accidentally Honoring Men Accused Of Gay Bashing

SAVE executive director Tony Lima suspended after praising four accused gay-bashers

SAVE, South Florida’s longest serving organization dedicated to protecting LGBTQ people from discrimination, is facing awkward questions after it appears to have honored four men accused of taking part in a violent attack on two gay men.

I reported on the attack when it occurred in May 2018 after the Miami Beach Pride Parade.

Dmitry Logunov and Rene Chalarca were severely beaten by four men as they walked home after celebrating LGBT Pride. Surveillance cameras captured the violent beating and helped lead to the four attackers’ arrests.

The four men – Pablo Reinaldo Romo-Figueroa, 21, Luis Alonso-Piovet, 20, Juan Carlos Lopez, 21, and Adonis Diaz, 21 – were soon arrested and charged with felony aggravated battery and could face up to 30 years in prison.

The Miami Herald reported at the time that Miami-Dade prosecutors also filed enhanced aggravated battery with prejudice hate crime charges.

All four pleaded not guilty to the charges and the cases are still pending.

The four men accused of the 2018 Miami Beach gay-bashing

South Florida Gay News reports that at the SAVE Champions of Equality gala two weeks ago on June 14, SAVE executive director Tony Lima recognized the four men telling the crowd they were “wrongly accused.”

In a Facebook video, Lima told SAVE supporters that the father of Lopez, openly gay Juan Lopez, reached out to SAVE weeks ago to arrange for his son to volunteer with the non-profit.

The father has maintained that his son could not have committed the violent hate crime and that he “loves LGBT.”

Since that time, Lima says the men have each spent a few hours volunteering with SAVE participating in tasks like data entry for the group. Additionally, the four purchased their own tickets to the annual gala.

In response, WLRN reports that SAVE has “placed Executive Director Tony Lima on paid administrative leave” while the organization conducts a thorough review of the episode. Lima has served as executive director for SAVE since 2013.

Terry Gonzalez-Chaveza, a spokesperson for the Office of the State Attorney, has issued a statement flatly denying any mistake in charging the men. “The defendants in the case are not wrongly accused,” said Gonzalez-Chaveza, according to SFGN.

Russell Cormican, a Broward County criminal defense attorney, told SFGN that the men may have decided to volunteer in an attempt at personal penance, or perhaps to ‘put their best face forward’ hoping it might help their cases.

SAVE also issued a statement via Facebook.

“We want to extend our deepest apologies first, to the victims, and equally, to the community for any insensitivity that may have been conveyed on our behalf by their attendance and mention at the gala,” read the statement.

“Our number one priority is to promote, protect and defend equality for all people, and it was never the intent of our organization to send a message that we in any way support, exonerate or justify the actions of these individuals.”

SAVE goes on to say the organization is “currently investigating this matter more thoroughly” and promises to provide “an update to our supporters and the community at large as soon as we gather all the appropriate information.”

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New Florida Poll Shows Biden Would Beat Trump 9+

A new poll of Florida voters from Quinnipiac University shows former Vice President Joe Biden leading Donald Trump by 9 points in a hypothetical head-to-head match up 50% - 41% respectively.
Donald Trump (L) Joe Biden (R)

I know, I know, it’s way early but I always find polls (from reputable firms) interesting to gauge the mood of voters.

A new poll of Florida voters from Quinnipiac University shows former Vice President Joe Biden leading Donald Trump by 9 points in a hypothetical head-to-head match up 50% – 41% respectively.

Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders would trump Trump by 6 points, 48% – 42% respectively.

Some Democrats did better than Trump but within the statistical margin of error:

• Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren 47% to Trump’s 43%

• California Sen. Kamala Harris 45% to Trump’s 44%

• Former Texas Rep. Beto O’Rourke 45% to Trump’s 44%

• Mayor Pete Buttigieg 44% to Trump’s 43%

Also from the survey:

• Democrats back Joe Biden 91 – 3 percent versus Republicans backing Trump 90 – 7 percent.

• Florida voters are not hip on impeaching Trump 62 percent against versus 32 percent who support.

• 54 percent of Florida voters say they are better off today than they were in 2016; 23 percent say they are worse off.

• But Trump’s approval rating is still upside down: 44% approval versus disapproval at 51%.

On the Democrats side, Joe Biden has a huge lead among his fellow contenders garnering 41 percent.

It drops a lot to the second place with Sanders getting 14 percent, Warren 12 percent, Buttigieg 8 percent and Harris scoring 6 percent.

While Trump won Florida’s 29 electoral votes in 2016, he beat Hillary Clinton by only 1.2 points – 49 percent to 47.8 percent respectively. So anything along the lines of this poll is devastating for Trump.

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Audio: Lawmaker Laughs About Legislation To Execute Gays

Florida state Rep. Mike Hill (R) with Donald Trump (L)

A Florida lawmaker is being called unfit for office after a recording revealed him joking about executing gay Floridians.

An op-ed in the Pensacola News Journal shares an audio clip of Florida Rep. Mike Hill in a recent meeting with a group called Women for Responsible Legislation.

In the recording, a citizen comments, “In 1 Corinthians, it says that a man who has an affair with another man will be put to death.”

Hill can be heard responding, “It says that in the Old Testament, too.”

Another attendee inquires, “Can you introduce legislation?”

Laughter is heard in the background as Hill joins in the chuckles before saying, “I wonder how that would go over?”

It probably won’t surprise you to know that Hill’s Twitter account describes the 60-year-old as “Pro Life! Pro Guns! Pro Jesus!”

Andy Marlette, who penned the op-ed, writes that with that comment, “Hill proved why he is both an unfit legislator and an unfit Christian.”

Remember folks, this is the same state that lived through 49 people shot to death and 53 more injured at a gay bar, Pulse Nightclub, in June 2016.

Hill went on to share in the same meeting that he believes being gay is “a behavior, and it’s a choice” and that LGBTQ people don’t need legal protections.

In a longer audio clip obtained by The New Civil Rights Movement, Hill can be heard saying, “You can say, ‘But I was born that way.’ OK, well, fine, but nobody’s forcing you to engage in that relationship, even if you were born that way.”

In his essay, Marlette wonders why Hill, who clearly considers himself a Christian, didn’t just say, “No sir, stop right there, that’s wrong, that’s not what Jesus would do.”

But, he didn’t.

The op-ed calls for the Florida House to weigh in as well as Pensacola Mayor Grover Robinson.

“It’s not enough to groan, roll our eyes and privately lament Mike Hill,” writes Marlette. “When public officials espouse cruel and immoral ideas, we are morally obligated to shout them down in the public square.”

As news of the recording has gone public, State Rep. Carlos Gulliermo Smith, who is the first openly gay Latino legislator in the state, has called on Hill to either apologize or resign.

(source: Pensacola News Journal)