Florida Agenda

CORAL SPRINGS, FL – An 83-year-old man was so moved by the recent screening of the movie Bullied: a Student, a School and a Case that Made History that he pledged to donate $25,000 to efforts aimed at combating bullying and other hate crimes in Broward County.

The Jan. 30 screening, sponsored by the Broward Sheriff’s Office (BSO), was an encore showing of the film Bullied at the Coral Springs Center for the Performing Arts. The film chronicles
the story of Jamie Nabozny, a gay Wisconsin teen who fought his bullying tormentors in the federal courts and won. The suit led to a landmark decision that holds school officials accountable when anti-gay bullying persists.

“In 2010, the Sheriff’s Foundation of Broward County donated money on behalf of Sheriff Al Lamberti and BSO’s Hate Crimes and Anti-Bias Task Force to the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) to help produce the documentary,” said Capt. Rick Wierzbicki of the task force. “BSO was the only law enforcement agency in the nation to help produce the film.”

Following the screening, audience members were invited to ask questions of a panel assembled for the event. Instead of asking the experts a question, Leonard Solomon of Fort Lauderdale announced that he was so moved by the film and Nabozny’s story, that he would donate $25,000 to the cause of educating the public about the evils of bullying in particular and hate crimes generally.

“The movie made me realize the size of the bullying problem,” Solomon said. “There was a lot that struck me about it–the lawsuit–how lax the school administration was. I knew I wanted to get involved.”

BSO, in conjunction with the SPLC, premiered Bullied to South Florida audiences last September. Capt. Wierzbicki  says, “the message of the film, which was really Jamie Nabozny’s message to the bullies who made his life hell, is that all children and teens are entitled to attend school in a safe environment that’s free from harassment and abuse.”

The donation from Solomon, 83, will be split among three agencies: the Southern Poverty Law Center, the Anti-Defamation League, and BSO. Wierzbicki says that a portion of Solomon’s generosity will be directed towards supporting future public screenings of Bullied. In addition, BSO will create a new hate crimes/anti-bias/bullying financial account that will help pay for future town hall-style hate crimes and bullying forums, and disseminating information to the public about bullying and hate crimes.

“The generous gift from Mr. Solomon will enable the Anti-Defamation League to provide our Names Can Really Hurt Us assembly program at two high schools in Broward County,” said Robert Tanen of the Anti-Defamation League.

In spite of the Nabozny decision, bullying against LGBT students remains a national problem, with more than 80 percent of LGBT youth reporting harassment at school. Despite this, many schools across the country remain unwilling to address anti-gay bullying.

FORT LAUDERDALE, FL – The Broward Sheriff’s Office has made a $10,000 donation to a start teen suicide prevention hotline run by Broward House. The money was donated from the Department’s Law Enforcement Trust Funds to support at-risk youth. Money from the fund comes from seized property that was used in criminal acts and the grants are controlled by governing bodies for the police agencies that acquire the property.

The gift to Broward House must still be approved by the Broward County Commission. Broward Sheriff Al Lamberti does not think that County Commissioners’ approval will be a problem.

Broward House, a 23-year old organization that serves more than 6,000 people who are living with HIV/AIDS, said they hope to have the help line operating by mid-January.

MIAMI, FL — The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force announced this year’s donation of $200,000 to The Miami Foundation’s GLBT Community Projects Fund at a June 23 reception at Bacardi USA’s national headquarters in Miami.

Nearly 200 supporters, volunteers, charity representatives and VIPs attended. The donation represents two-thirds of the net proceeds from the 2011 Winter Party Festival and the 14th Annual Recognition Dinner. The remainder of the proceeds will go to the Task Force’s efforts to achieve LGBT equality throughout the U.S.

As he presented the giant symbolic $200,000 check, Russell Roybal, Task Force deputy executive director of external relations, said, “We at the Task Force have a very special relationship with Miami. Since taking over Winter Party and the Recognition Dinner a few years ago, we have ‘partied with a purpose’ at Winter Party and honored community leaders at the Recognition Dinner, all while raising a total of more than $1 million to support local community organizations and the amazing work they do.”

Retail Chain Faces Community Ire

by JAMES MICHAELS

LGBT activists has designated a national day of protest against neighborhood Target Department Stores for Saturday, August 14 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sporadic protests have already been held in numerous cities throughout the United States. Organizers are upset with the Target Corporation for making a contribution to MN Forward, a political organization supporting Republican gubernatorial candidate Tom Emmer. Emmer is known for opposing gay rights and especially gay marriage.

Earlier this year in January, the United States Supreme Court ruled, in a 5-to-4 decision that the government can not ban donations to political organizations made by corporations with the court claiming is was a case of free speech. The dropping of the ban did not include direct corporate donations to individual candidates.

Target’s donation was $100,000 in cash and another $50,000 in goods and services. Both Target and Best Buy, another retailer which made a $100,000 donation to MN Forward, had previously rated a 100% from the HRC Foundation’s Corporate Equality Index.

“Target has been a champion for workplace equality for many years,” said HRC President Joe Solmonese in a written statement. “That’s why their recent donation to MN Forward was so at odds with their sterling reputation as a great employer for LGBT people.

The fact that their political contribution was used to advance an anti-equality candidate was extremely hurtful to all fair-minded Americans.”

Target responded with: “Target understands the concerns of the HRC. We have had multiple conversations with the HRC during the past few weeks and will continue our constructive dialogue. Target respects the work of the HRC and appreciates our partnership with them over the years. We hope to continue to work with the HRC in a spirit of mutual cooperation.”

Target said that its decision to support MN Forward was based solely on helping to elect candidates who make lower taxes, jobs and economic issues a top priority.

Target’s chief executive, Gregg Steinhael also sent a statement to Target employees saying that the company is genuinely sorry about the donation and vowed to review the process in which political donations are decided.

Since the revelation of the donation, gay-rights activists have called for demonstrations outside of Target stores throughout the country and to destroy Target Visa credit cards. At first, Target stock has lost over $1.3 billion with the threat of a nationwide boycott, a loss of 3.5% but has since risen to pre-boycott levels.

Other research showed that Target has a history of supporting anti-gay causes. Abe Sauer wrote in The Awl that “The truth is not that Target and its leadership have suddenly turned on their commitment to gay rights. It’s more that it never really existed to begin with. Further research shows that Target has funneled significant funding to the most socially conservative of Republicans and that it boasts a frightening culture of anti-gay candidate support from Target’s own stable of top executives.”

The progressive-leaning MoveOn.org has joined in calling for a boycott of Target.

As a side note, Tom Emmer’s Democratic opponent for Minnesota governor is Mark Dayton whose family founded Dayton-Hudson Department stores which owns Target.

At press time, questions to Target corporate media relations department went unanswered.