Florida Agenda

By Cliff Dunn

MIAMI, FL – When ABC kicks off the fourteenth season of Dancing With the Stars, Olympic swimming champion Greg Louganis hopes to go for the gold as a member of the show’s dancing cast.
Louganis, an Olympic gold medalist who competed in the 1976, 1984, and 1988 games, says the hit series has broken many conventions, with openly gay stars Lance Bass, Carson Cressley, and Louis Amstel appearing as contestants,  and Chaz Bono breaking the transgender ceiling last season. The next, he says, should be to include an HIV- positive cast member.

“I don’t mind being the sacrificial lamb,” Louganis joked. “There are so many important issues that relate to our community, I would like to use the show as a vehicle to draw attention to them.”
Louganis cites ongoing awareness of HIV/AIDS, and the national focus this year on anti-bullying campaigns that reach LGBT youths, as well as the suicides in recent months of LGBT teens. “These deaths are so tragic,” Louganis notes, “and we need to come together to fight bullying in every shape and form it takes.”

Louganis attended the University of Miami from 1978 to 1981 on a diving scholarship. He competed in the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal, placing second in the tower event. In 1978, he won his first world title in the tower dive. He won two world diving titles in 1982, and in 1984, at the Los Angeles Olympics, Louganis won gold medals in the springboard and tower events.

In 1988, Louganis tested positive for HIV. That year, competing in the Seoul Olympics—where he repeated his double-gold medal win—Louganis hit his head on the swimming pool springboard during the preliminary rounds while performing a reverse 2½ pike.  He suffered a concussion but completed the preliminaries despite his injury, earning the gold medal. His comeback earned him the title of ABC’s Wide World of Sports 1988 “Athlete of the Year.”

Fans of the Olympian have set up a Facebook page, “We Want Greg Louganis on Dancing with the Stars,” and POZ magazine has likewise launched a campaign to encourage readers to contact the show and get Louganis to trip the light fantastic. The gold medalist can also be followed on Twitter @greglouganis.

“People can also contact the show’s official page and let the producers know they want to see me on the program,” Louganis said. “[Writer] Armistead Maupin suggested that if I’m selected for this season, I should dance with a male partner, which would be timely in light of marriage equality being so much in the national awareness this year.”

Dancing With the Stars season  14 premieres on Monday, March 19 at 8 p.m.

HOLLYWOOD, CA – A fart fetish group has made an offer to ABC to license the rights to the recent appearance on the network’s “Dancing with the Stars” where Nancy Gracy allegedly lets one loose after her dance performance.

A representative for Clips4Sale.com told TMZ that the company made an offer to ABC for the 3-second clip for licensing the footing for a website catering to “Fart Fanatics.”

It is unknown how much the clip is worth or if ABC has decided to license the footage.

By Nicholas Snow

At deadline for the first edition of my column for the Florida Agenda, both Chaz Bono and Carson Kressley have made it past week one on ABC’s Dancing with the Stars (DWTS), and I fully predict they will each make it past week two as well. I also foresee one big GLAAD award for the show that is putting the “T” in LGBTQ visibility like never before. But do fans and followers of the show worldwide agree about the historic nature of the program? I asked my own followers on Facebook as well as fans of the official DWTS page for their perspectives.

Robert Whitaker of Newport, Rhode Island, responded, “I believe that we have to embrace others that may appear to be different from ourselves as it is our differences that make us truly beautiful inside and out! Chaz has more courage, grace and dignity than many of the people who have issues with him on DWTS! He is all man where it counts in his heart and soul.   He’s a gem and a gentleman!”

One detractor who I don’t believe wants to be named expressed, “If I say that I do not like it — and I do have a right to say and feel that way just as you have a right to feel the way you feel about it — will you take what I say as just a person who has a right to feel and say that I don’t like it, or will you just take what I say and say that I am wrong and fight with me about it. Am I right?” No, he isn’t.
Sindy Rose believes that “Chaz has tremendous courage and is a source of inspiration,” adding that “a small and vocal group hasn’t stopped him. I am in awe of him.”

Arlene Deane said, “I would like to congratulate these men for the courage it takes just to be themselves every day. I may not exactly understand them and their feelings but I know their lives can’t be easy because of other peoples’ fear and prejudices. I commend both of them as I do all of our armed forces. Courageous is what they all are and we should be inspired to be ourselves and stand up and fight for that freedom!”

Michele Marchesa of Cinnaminson, New Jersey expressed, “Many celebs that have appeared on DWTS have been in trouble with the law. You would think that would upset people. No, all this furor is over Chaz Bono because he had a sex change. For example, Tom Delay violated campaign finance laws; Macy Gray — DUI; Aaron Carter, Michael Irvin and Louie Vito — possession; Kelly Osbourne — bar fight; Lil Kim — perjury; Brandy —reckless driving; David Hasselhoff is a fall down drunk and Lawrence Taylor was caught with an underage prostitute. But to some of these idiots … Chaz Bono on DWTS is the worst thing that ever happened.”

Michelle Cvitkovic insightfully responded, “Why are they history-making appearances? Billy Tipton’s wife and kids didn’t know he was transgendered until he died. Liberace was famous before Carson was born. Paul Lind and Charles Nelson Reilly were mainstays on television in the 60′s and 70′s. When an out and proud gay man is partnered with a man, and an out and proud lesbian is partnered with a woman, then we’ll see history-making appearances. Someone’s already said that Carson was happy to be paired with a female partner.

I’d still love it if he could dance one spotlight with a male partner. I can’t help but wonder if his performance would be even more magnetic.”

To Chaz on his Facebook page, Andrea Stephens-Grimmelsman of Cincinnati, Ohio, wrote, “I think you are pretty awesome — such a gentle soul and kind heart.  We need more people like you in the world.”

Mark Adamson of Inverell, New South Wales expressed, “Chaz, you are an amazing man. So brave! Have been a fan of your mum’s for most of my life. And to see you finally become the person you were born to be is inspiring. Much respect my friend.  Much respect.”

For me, Aizen-Choi C. Kym of Fort Wayne, Indiana answers the “is this history-making?” question best. “Thank you for being visible. Your courage gives me strength to continue my journey.”

I met Chastity Bono backstage at the L.A. Pride festival one year. She was very down to earth. Now, Chastity is history just as Chaz is making history, evolving the world’s consciousness.

Follow Nicholas Snow online at  www.Facebook.com/SnowbizNow, www.Twitter.com/SnowbizNow, and at www.SnowbizNow.com. Follow “The Power To Be Strong” HIV Testing/ Safer Sex Awareness Campaign at www.Facebook.com/PowerToBeStrong.

NEW YORK, NY – Fox News has called on parents not to let their children watch the upcoming season of “Dancing with the Stars” because Chaz Bono will be appearing on it.

Fox cited conservative doctor Dr. Keith Ablow, who said that the last thing vulnerable children and adolescents need as they wrestle with the normal process of establishing their identities, is to watch a captive crowd in a studio audience applaud on cue for someone whose identity culminated with the removal of her breasts, the injection of steroids and, perhaps one day soon, the fashioning of a make-shift phallus to replace her vagina.

LOS ANGELES, CA – There has been much controversy over Chaz Bono being a contestant on the upcoming season of ABC’s “Dancing with the Stars”. Bono, the son of Cher, will be the first transsexual contestant on the show, a casting choice that has been both applauded and derided.

Show regular Lacey Schwimmer, who will be Chaz’s dance partner, is not happy about the criticism the show has received over choosing Bono as one of the contestants.

“It’s disappointing,” Lacey told TheInsider.com of the negative reactions. “No human is perfect, so why are they pointing out what they perceive to be an imperfection in someone els

e? It’s not cool. We’re all taught to not bully, or harass, and treat everyone as equals, yet all these people are doing exactly the opposite.” Luckily for Lacey and Chaz, the supportive sounds are drowning out the negative noise. “At the end of the day, everyone is going to have a hater. I choose not to listen to it, because it’s ridiculous. To us, it’s more important to focus on the positive people.”

For Lacey, finding out that Chaz would be her season 13 partner was the best kind of news. “I was absolutely thrilled. I’ve always been a huge supporter of the LGBT community and I couldn’t be more excited to have Chaz. Not only is he Sonny & Cher’s child, but he’s also a generally cool person.” And while producers didn’t ask Lacey’s permission to pair her with Chaz, she believes they knew it was an unnecessary conversation.

“This is my sixth season — the producers know that I’m very open-minded and really accepting of everyone,” Schwimmer said. “Ever since Lance [Bass] was on the show, it opened the door for the LGBT community to be accepted in Middle America and it’s about time. It’s 2011, let’s evolve a little bit here.”