Having worked for a myriad of LGBT causes, Michael Rajner is one of the most passionate activists in South Florida. He has served on the PLHIV (People Living With HIV) Caucus, worked on the Broward County School Board’s Diversity Committee, and currently is the chair of the Broward County Human Rights Board. Rajner was named one of Florida Agenda’s 100 Movers and Shakers last year, and we recently had a chance to speak to him about his work in the community.

Berkley: Do you believe that LGBTQ people in Broward County are often denied their civil liberties?

Rajner: Based on data provided by the Broward County Human Rights Section, roughly 10% of the complaints filed are related to LGBT discrimination.  The great thing about living in Broward County is our Board of County Commissioners is very forward thinking, strong supporters of LGBT-equality. In Broward County, the Human Rights Act protects individuals from discrimination because of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, marital status, political affiliation, familial status, disability, sexual orientation, pregnancy, or gender identity or expression, in connection with employment, public accommodations, and real estate transactions.

If anyone feels they have been discriminated against in any of the above, they should contact the Broward County Human Rights Section at (954) 357-7800.

Berkley: What do you think the next president should do to stop the spread of HIV?

Rajner: Last October I had a very brief moment to speak with Secretary Clinton at a private fundraiser. At the time I asked for her to speak more about HIV/AIDS domestically as too often candidates find it challenging to discuss because of the stigma of men having sex with men. Right now I’m working with a group of amazing activists from around the country and engaging the presidential campaigns in a dialogue. Too often HIV is left on the sidelines.

Berkley: Do you think the gay community was too harsh on Hillary when she praised Nancy Reagan’s HIV-awareness work?

Rajner: No, I firmly believe the LGBT community’s outrage was appropriate. The following day I was interviewed by MSNBC’s Joy Reid to express my own frustration.  Many of us were hurt—the Reagan administration was not our friend.  Secretary Clinton’s first apology didn’t go far enough, but her second apology helped greatly.  It reinforced why so many of us believe in her ability to lead.

Berkley: You have worked a lot within the school system. What do you think the Broward County School System could do to improve LGBTQ students’ lives?

Rajner:  Over the years I helped Broward School’s be the first school district in Florida to provide protections in non-discrimination for transgender students and employees.  I also had the honor to represent the LGBT community during School Board member Nora Rupert’s one-on-one interview with superintendent candidates during the hiring of Superintendent Robert Runcie.  He’s been an amazing champion for LGBT students, families and employees.  The most important thing we can do to improve LGBT students’ lives is perhaps to be a mentor or help financially by sponsoring events and opportunities the district is not able to budget.

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Much of the progress in LGBT rights in the past decade has come from the tireless efforts of lawyers like Elizabeth Schwartz. She is one of Florida’s most well-known legal advocates for the LGBT community, having participated in a number of important cases helping same-sex couples with adoption, divorce, and surrogacy.

Schwartz was spotlighted in our round-up of Florida’s 100 brightest LGBT community members last year, and we recently had the opportunity to discuss her career achievements and her outlook on the current issues facing the LGBT community.

Berkley: With marriage equality a done deal, what do you feel is currently the most pressing concern for the future of LGBT equality?

Schwartz: Marriage was a giant leap forward but certainly is no cure-all. It’s not like a switch was flipped and suddenly all is good for everyone; many in our community are still very much vulnerable.  I’m particularly concerned about those on our outer margins whether because of socioeconomic status or for some other reason. do not feel embraced by the mainstream gay community –like our trans family, people of color, queer youth and older adults. We have a lot to do to broaden the umbrella to provide protections for all.

Berkley: Are there any interesting LGBT-related cases you are working on now?

Schwartz: I’m working with NCLR on a lawsuit (Chin v Armstrong) to compel the State of Florida to issue birth certificates to LGBT married parents in the same way that they do for heterosexual couples.

Berkley: What brought you into the LGBT equality arena?

Schwartz: Well, as a queer woman, I guess I could call it self-interest! I want to make the world safer for us all. But the other truth is that I came up and out in a community of fierce and fabulous gay men, so watching the devastation of the AIDS pandemic pissed me off and has energized me to fight in honor of each one of their memories.

Berkley: You represented the first LGBT divorce in Florida; do you think there are differences in an LGBT divorce compared to a straight couple’s divorce? Do you have any general advice for newly engaged or married LGBT couples?

Schwartz: LGBT divorces can be more difficult because very often we have been together for years before we could actually marry, and some of the rights associated with marriage at divorce—like how things get divided and what support is paid—are based on the length of the marriage. A well-drafted pre-nup can actually make a fairer result on divorce.

Berkley: What made you interested in helping LGBT couples with surrogacy and what advice do you offer couples seeking such an avenue?

Schwartz: When I started doing family formation for LGBT couples in the late 90s, we had a ban on gay people adopting so the main way gay men could become parents in Florida was to do surrogacy. I’ve worked to increase protections and smooth the legal process for gay dads in Florida, and it’s much easier now than it had been. My three bits of advice for couples wanting to do surrogacy are: save up because it’s not cheap, do gestational surrogacy not traditional surrogacy, and use an agency—don’t try DIY!

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By Dominic M. Calabro

While most Floridians are working and going to school this week, elected officials in Tallahassee are considering how to spend an eye-popping $80 billion of your hard-earned tax money. That’s nearly $4,000 for every adult and child in the Sunshine State.

Too few Floridians have the time to keep an eye on Tallahassee to make sure lawmakers are making prudent decisions with your money. That’s why Florida TaxWatch – the state’s premier independent government watchdog group – is on the job. It is part of our mission to ensure that your money is invested wisely in schools, transportation and many other areas while protecting the public’s right to know.

Lawmakers are finalizing their spending plans for the 2016-17 fiscal year. It seems likely that spending on education will be higher than ever and that other critical investments will be made as well.

Lawmakers often add funding for projects in their home district into the budget. Such funding for local projects does have a place in the state budget; however spending with statewide impact should be the priority. When the Legislature decides state money should be used locally, Floridians deserve to have these decisions scrutinized and prioritized.

Unfortunately, in the last days of the budget process, the budget is often stuffed with member projects, some that were never discussed or debated in public. Once the stuffed budget reaches the floor to be voted on, lawmakers cannot vote on individual projects or offer amendments, but only vote up or down on the whole budget. These “budget turkeys” skirt the budgeting process, diminishing transparency and accountability.

Florida’s hard-working taxpayers have the right to know when their tax dollars are being appropriated for special projects behind closed doors.

Every Legislative Session, Florida TaxWatch holds lawmakers accountable by bringing attention to these member projects through the release of our annual Budget Turkey Report. Florida TaxWatch’s “Budget Turkey” label is not a judgment of a project’s worthiness nor does it target specific members, but rather follows a strictly defined set of criteria, as follows:

• A project that circumvents established review and selection processes, such as a low-priority project funded ahead of high-priority projects;
• An appropriation that is inserted in the budget during the conference committee process and did not appear in either the Senate or House final budget; or
• An appropriation from an inappropriate trust fund; a duplicative appropriation; or an appropriation contingent on legislation that did not pass

In the interest of transparency, Florida TaxWatch delivered each lawmaker a letter at the beginning of session explaining these criteria so that they understand what exactly we will be looking for when we craft our list for this Legislative Session. Our goal with this report is to encourage legislators to give every appropriation the scrutiny and deliberation that our hard-working taxpayers deserve. Please visit our website – www.floridataxwatch.org – to sign up for our updates and learn more about what we are doing to make sure lawmakers remember every day to put you and your fellow taxpayers first in their minds and in their decisions.

Dominic Calabro is the President & CEO of Florida TaxWatch, the state’s premier taxpayer watchdog for more than 35 years.

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Deeply religious even from an early age, Bishop Makalani-MaHee fought internal demons that have directed his life and defined his career. Born into a Pentecostal family in the Bronx, Makalani-MaHee struggled with his gender identity for as long as he can remember. When he was unable to find easy answers within the religion that had been taught to him, he created his own internal guidance system based on a higher power centered on love.

Today, Makalani-MaHee is the transgender program coordinator for the Florida Department of Health in Broward County. With many challenges facing the trans community, trans women of color are especially left at a disadvantage. Saturday evening, 25-year-old Maya Young was brutally stabbed to death in Philadelphia, making her the latest causality of an epidemic of violence against this marginalized community.

One of our ‘Movers and Shakers’ profiled in last year’s inaugural round-up of Florida’s 100 brightest LGBT community members, we had the opportunity to dive deeper with Makalani-MaHee. We discussed his passion, black history, his transition, and the daunting obstacles faced by trans women of color.

KACALA: What drives your passion forward?

Makalani-MaHee: My passion here in the community, specifically as it pertains to the transgender community is very simply around making sure the ‘T’ in ‘LGBT’ is no longer invisible in our community. That not only the ‘T’ is not invisible but that we have a safer community for transgender people to navigate and move freely through.

KACALA: Tell our readers about the work you do with the trans community here in Broward County.

Makalani-MaHee: One of the things that I am charged with doing in my capacity as the transgender program coordinator for the Florida Department of Health in Broward County is of course making sure we reduce the incidence of HIV infection and STI infection.

My primary responsibility is to provide HIV education, risk reduction and linkage to trans woman who are at risk as well as making sure we are really addressing the social stigma that puts people at risk. It’s not just about talking about HIV infection, STIs and getting people linked to PrEP. It’s also about making sure they have employment, that they are linked into medical care, linked into mental health care. We are taking a holistic approach to making sure the whole person is being treated and affirmed when it comes to the transgender community here in Broward County.

KACALA: What are the obstacles trans men and women of color have to overcome in this community?

Makalani-MaHee: Employment, specifically when you talk about trans woman of color. They face discrimination when it comes to employment. It makes it difficult for you to be able to support yourself, to maintain housing much less actual valid health care as opposed to black market hormones. So if you have no employment, which leads to no housing, no medical insurance to link you into medical care than your options are very limited and a lot of these women are faced with doing survival sex work. Then that raises your incidence for not only HIV but STIs as well. So, it’s not just about employment. It’s about employment being a gateway to having a balanced, meaningful life.

KACALA: Tell me about your journey transitioning.

Makalani-MaHee: I spent over 25 years as an activist in the community and was very public as a radical activist and organizer. People were already familiar with me. I think that on a community level people had to adjust because they had this way of relating to me as a woman for 25 plus years. But I’m also glad the community was able to struggle with that adjustment. I was extremely blessed with community support. There was such an out pouring of support emotionally and even financially. That I know most people do not receive. I recognize that was extremely blessed to receive.

When it comes to my immediate family, coming to terms with my gender transition we are still trying to navigate. I haven’t spoken to my mother since the day I tried to tell her about my decision to transition. I understand why a lot of people are hesitant to be their authentic self to come out as trans. In this society, where it is estimated that less than 8% of the population know someone who is trans, we are still portrayed as freaks, we are still perceived as people who want to mess with “God’s creation” and messing with our gender. It is not perceived as us stepping into our authentic self’s.

I get that for some the thought of stepping into a community that is so unbelievably stigmatized is very scary. And the losses can be extremely real. Especially for trans women of color who face not only sexism but discrimination of employment that trans men do not experience. Because we are able to live “stealth.” We get to a point where do we do need to disclose we are trans. The costs for trans women are extremely different and those issues are compounded when we talk about trans women of color.

But I can honestly say, there is nothing I would do differently of the quality of life that I have now – I would not trade no matter the cost. If my family ends up being more supportive – wonderful. If my mother and I somehow reestablishing our relationship, wonderful. But if we do not. I know have sister and brothers that I didn’t have before. I now have people in my life who support unconditionally. Those gains ease the pains of the losses.

KACALA: Where does your deep seeded spirituality come from?

Makalani-MaHee: It is one the greatest gifts my mother ever gave me. The love of God. I was born and raised in a black Pentecostal church. That relationship and core has definitely been the sustaining force in my life.

KACALA: What does Black History mean to you?

Makalani-MaHee: You know, the first thing that comes up for me around Black History Month is in the midst of all the challenges we continue to face in this society, especially around the Black Lives Matter campaign – the struggles around race in this country still challenged us. What Black History Month reminds me for us to take an opportunity to remember we come from strong stock. That we come from people who weren’t supposed to make it – who not only made it – but we didn’t just survive we thrived. I think that is a message trans folk and the LGBT community in general can take away. We don’t die. We multiply. We can absolutely change the narrative of our oppression

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Tech Data Corporation is one of the world’s largest wholesale distributors of technology products, services and solutions, generating $27.7 billion in net sales for the fiscal year that ended on January 31, 2015. Headquartered in Clearwater, Florida, the company is ranked No. 107 on the Fortune 500, just behind Nike and beating other large brands like McDonalds and Exelon. Tech Data is also one of Fortune’s “World’s Most Admired Companies” and is ranked No. 450 on the Global 500.

A key leader in the success of Tech Data is John (“JT”) Tonnison. The company’s executive vice president and chief information officer (CIO), he was appointed to lead the strategic direction, operations, and go-to-market execution of the company’s worldwide cloud business in July of 2015. In this expanded role, Tonnison will oversees Tech Data’s cloud leadership in the Americas and Europe. One of our ‘Movers and Shakers’ profiled in last year’s inaugural round-up of Florida’s 100 brightest LGBT community members, we had the opportunity to dive deeper with Tonnison. We discussed work life balance, obstacles he has had to overcome, and the Competitive Workforce Act.

Born and educated in the United Kingdom, Tonnison began his career in the ‘tech.com boom’ and held executive management positions in the U.S., United Kingdom and Germany with TSN, Ameriquest, Log 2000, Frontline Distribution and Mancos Computers. Tonnison joined TechData in 2001.

One obstacle Tonnison had to overcome on his path for success was himself. In his early years at TechData, Tonnison had a very solid reputation for delivery, getting tech done, and for creative and pragmatic solutions to problems. “I did not have a good reputation for developing a leadership team that would sustain without me. I was not considered a people leader.”

The company then paired Tonnison with a Doctor of Psychology in a mentoring relationship to help him re-frame his approach to guiding his team. The doctor would shadow Tonnison throughout his work days and then sit at dinner with him with some very candid feedback. “He substantially changed my operating mode and that was to move me away from answering questions as a virtue when being asked them. When getting into that rapid fire where somebody would ask me for an answer for a problem.”

Dr. Frank Merritt was Tonnison’s executive coach. With a PhD in Psychology, Merrit was and is the CEO of TalentQuest. He pointed out to Tonnison, “You seem to think that you are doing this great macho high velocity thing. Very high energy. You are getting thorough lots of answers really quickly but what you are actually doing is you are negating the need for the people to come to you to find their own thoughtful answers because they know you are going to do it very quickly. So why waste the time if you can do it quicker? Secondly, if they have had a thing that they have been thinking about or worrying about, and they can’t solve and bring it you and you solve it quickly, they are insulted. This is not good.”

“This very profoundly shifted me into a more questioning style in response to questions,” Tonnison remembers. “To go back and respond in ways to help someone unblock their limitations and road blocks in their own thinking. To throw another idea out there to explore but to do it in a questioning style so they can find their own way.”

When asked about work life balance, Tonnison quickly jokes, “What’s that?”

“IT in the tech industry is very high velocity, very fast moving, an ‘always on’ business, ” Tonnison continues. “One of my responsibilities as CIO is for all of the technology throughout the world. Running our business at this high speed velocity – there is not exactly downtime in IT.”

Tonnison continues to explain that while his role as CIO is overwhelming and fast paced at times, his home life maintains an important balance. “We find that balance in our household boils down to the individual person. My partner is a not-for-profit guy. And I think my work and lifestyle  become his balance. My needs become high velocity capitalist commercial engine. His needs are far more about hearts and minds and mission and about what society needs.”

Tonnison has been with his partner for eight years. “In any relationship, you have to be able to talk about both of your interests and both of your jobs. I actually think it is that balance that provides the balance for me. You reconnect with someone who is so deeply mission centric, who is so focused on real world harm, real world hurt, real world inequalities, and imperfections in our societies to improve people’s lives That is what creates balance for me. It reminds me even though I am a leader of this huge corporate entity that outside there are lots of real life people with real world problems and challenges and absence of fairness. Those things still need our attention, still need our compassion, and still need time.”

Describing his household as capitalistic and caring, Tonnison is the self proclaimed capitalist half of that. “When it comes to the equality causes, what I do and bring to there with the full support and faith of my corporation, we bring the economic imperative into the equality conversation. There are numerous forums of voices. When it comes to my role as I represent this Fortune 500 company, we bring the voice to strongly argue why equality is a powerful positive economic force.”

Tech Data is a leading voice in the Florida Businesses for a Competitive Workforce coalition, promoting the Competitive Workforce Act (SB120).  “I personally have been very active on behalf of the corporation, expressing to the Florida legislature the economic motive and moral imperative of expanding the state’s definition of equality to catch up with society’s overall evolved thinking and standards.  I have spent face time with the chair of the house committee on who’s desk the bill lies, and the state senator who’s district the majority of our Florida employees reside, and who sits on the judiciary committee that is hearing the bill this session. I have spoken publicly on behalf of the coalition, appeared in Tallahassee in person to give testimony in the hearing of this bill.”

On February 8th, Tonnison gave again testimony to the judiciary committee of the state senate, in favor of SB120, seeking to add LGBT protections to the 1992 Civil Rights Act. He stayed in Tallahassee as the bill was carried forward into the next day’s agenda.

Shifting the overall culture of Florida is extremely important to Tech Data, who has to compete with more progressive states like California and Washington when it comes to recruiting tech talent. “We are a heavily technical based company. That means the products we sell and service use technology on a massive scale to make our business work. So we need technology talent. Technology talent and Florida are not terribly synonymous. There are states that are far more clearly defined as technology states. Establishing and growing Florida’s relevance, reputation and appeal to technology companies, students and talent comes out on a number of fronts that need to be progressed.”

One of those fronts is to demonstrate some of those characteristics of the places where technology is more obviously at home. “One of the characteristics of that is open inclusive equatable freedom where you have a tremendously diverse industry. As you try to appeal to students, to talent, to businesses for investors –  to try and echo some of that progressive thinking and openness we believe is a very important aspect of placing Florida on the map.”

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In 2017, thousands of participants, spectators and leaders from around the globe will travel to Miami for World OutGames IV. This ten-day event will bring to life more than 450 events across three areas: sports, culture and human rights. World OutGames Miami promises to ‘challenge attendees physically, stimulate them intellectually and enliven them emotionally.’

Leading the charge in bringing this larger-than-life event to South Florida is long-time community advocate Ivan Cano. As Chief Executive Officer of the World OutGames, Cano was instrumental in fighting for it to be hosted in Miami. One of our ‘Movers and Shakers’ profiled in last year’s inaugural round up of Florida’s 100 brightest LGBT community members, we had the opportunity to dive deeper with Cano. We discussed the path to where he is today, the fight he fought to bring the OutGames to Miami, and his true opinion on all things body and soul.

In his late teens, Cano started working for the Gay Games in 1994. Beginning as a volunteer, he soon became a staff member and worked there for about a year. “That experience really set me off on this path to be an activist,” he told us. “Seeing the absolute pure joy of people being out and open to be themselves in the mid-90s and bringing their best to the table. Obviously at that time we didn’t have social media or internet that branched me to Europeans or Asians or South Americans. Here, it was a global event where all these people came out of the woodwork and got to meet and create relationships and friendships during those times. That really cemented all of the feelings and passions to bring me to nonprofit work.”

The next important event in Canos’s development as an activist and community leader was attending the 1994 National Conference on LGBT Equality: Creating Change. The National LGBTQ Task Force organizes the annual conference, a skills-building event for community and allies with over 2,000 attendees each year.

From the Boston to New York AIDS Ride to Gavin Newsom’s mayoral campaign in San Francisco, Cano spent the next years of his career focusing on non-profit and activism work for the LGBT community across the nation. At one point, he faced a crossroad, whether to pursue politics or stay in the non-profit sector while working in hospitality. He chose the latter.

“I felt like there was a missing link in my heart as I was getting a little older. I realized what are my next steps after accomplishing so much in New York, San Francisco, and London? I realized that I should be doing more for my culture. I decided to move to Miami. It was warm, it was Latin, and it was right up my alley! But once I moved, little did I know that I was starting from scratch.”

After acclimating to his new community, he quickly became involved in many different initiatives and local organizations including Miami Beach Gay Pride Parade and Festival. While chairing at the Miami Beach LGBT Business Enhancement Committee, Cano raised an important question when he saw something was missing from the local LGBT community in Miami.

“I always had a question in the back of my mind; why aren’t we doing anything with sports here? I spoke with some key leaders and they said that it was possible but it would take a lot of time and money. Money is the key factor and energy.  After I landed here in Miami, I always asked the question: what if? What if? Why can’t we? Why can’t we? I like to push the button and I kept trying to push it but no one listened to me so I dropped it.”

However, the desire to bring something sports related for the LGBT community in Miami was still in the back of his mind. Then a meeting at the Convention Center changed all of that. “One thing led to another and within two hours we brought up that same question, what if we could bring the WorldOut games here? Because the bidding was still in the cycle and we could apply. After that conversation with Bruce Townsend and Jerry Torres, that ‘what if’ became a two month race to build a board, create a bid, get people to buy into it and the rest is history.”

Licensed by the Gay and Lesbian International Sport Association, the World OutGames Miami 2017 will be held throughout Miami – Dade County.  Half of it if not more will be in Miami Beach, where the games main village will be located. Other venues being used or looked at are the Convention Center, Flamenco Park, FIU, Downtown Miami, and Tamiami Park.

The OutGames not only welcomes all levels of athletes to participate, but also members from outside the LGBT community as well. “First and foremost, the games are open to anyone. Gay, straight, transgender, lesbian, bisexual, intersex, anybody under the sun. Everyone is welcome to come because we aren’t gonna ask that question first and foremost. If are going to talk about a global event and diversity and unity, we have to stop drawing the lines and invite everyone with a true sportsmanship spirit. Bring your best and be your best.”

Cano cites the Miami Beach Visitor and Convention Authority and Greater Miami Convention and Visitors Bureau helping and supporting the important endeavor to bring more LGBT people to the community – not only for the OutGames but all year long.

Cano wants the games to transform people’s perspective on sports, taking the possible negative experiences from childhood and develop them into positive experiences and life long relationship.  “Some of us have had a very negative experience with sports back in grammar school or high school. Being the person who was picked last because your body was funny or you looked funny or you were awkward or you were just different. Here, it is about turning something negative into a positive.”

I related my recent experience of trying to transform my body, but Cano quickly reminds me that we are much more than that. “It’s so interesting you mention physical body. At the end of the day, your mind and soul is really what makes you the person you are. Not your body. That is just an after affect. Being in a positive space where you are going to bring your best and have fun is what we are trying to do here. It’s competitive but it’s a bonding experience. It fills your bucket of friendships. That is one of the beauties of sports.  It’s another avenue to be your best.”

For more information on the World OutGames Miami 2017, please visit www.outgames.org.

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