Florida Agenda

An Interview with Stacy Hyde, Interim CEO

Broward House is Broward County’s oldest and largest HIV/AIDS community service organization. Founded in 1988, it has 15 locations throughout South Florida.

As previously reported, (Florida Agenda, November 14, 2012, SUNSHINE STATE: “Broward House CEO Resigns amid Child Sex Abuse Accusations”), this month, CEO Michael McGuigan resigned his position following an agonizing consideration by the agency’s board. Stacy Hyde has stepped in to serve as interim CEO. She has been with Broward House for 10 years this month, and has held a variety of positions in the organization.

“I have been in a leadership position here for 10 years in some capacity or other,” she noted. “So really I am continuing to do everything I have always done: I continue to focus on the staff, our clients and the community.”

Hyde says that the focus at Broward House is on the clients’ needs, and forging a path for future service. “We have staff that has been here for anywhere between two to 20 years, their passion doesn’t change due to one cloud,” she explained. “Our clients are our inspiration. We use their grace and strength to continue to move forward because they rely on us.”

Broward House helps over 6,000 people and Hyde says that every client is a unique opportunity to make a difference. “A client came here after suffering a lot of physical and sexual abuse,” she recalled. “He completed our substance abuse program, got better, and is now employed and happy.”

She says that the assistance the agency offers its clients come in all forms. “[There was] a gentleman who came here, but he died. He affected me because he died with grace and dignity, and without us I know he would have died on the street,” she related. “What also impacts me is the people we haven’t reached yet. In a way they affect me more because we haven’t reached them, and that is also what drives me: We have to reach them.”

Hyde says that she and Broward House plan to focus in 2013 on building upon the solid foundation the agency has set. “I always believe you can continue to strengthen your core,” she said. “I want to continue to grow our outreach and prevention programs. For example, we have an ‘MPowerment’ program that targets young MSM [men-who-have-sex-with-men] between the ages of 18 to 30.  It is crucial to reach the vulnerable.”

“We continue to strengthen our main offering,” Hyde noted, “because I believe if we expand the existing the services we can reach more individuals who are not in treatment. I also will be focusing on counselling and testing and reaching those who are HIV positive and don’t know it. That in itself is a big prevention component.”

Hyde says that no matter what services Broward House unveils, community support is “vital.”

“It takes the entire community to make changes,” she explained. No individual can do it all. It requires agencies, people, and business to do it. In any area HIV affects every single person, so it takes every single person to achieve change.”

For more information, visit browardhouse.org.

LONDON, UK — London’s High Court has ruled in favor of a Manchester (UK) man who was demoted at work for posting his opinions opposing same-sex marriage on Facebook. Adrian Smith had called the possibility of church-held gay marriage ceremonies “an equality too far.”

Later he added, “The Bible is quite specific that marriage is for men and women. If the state wants to offer civil marriage to the same sex then that is up to the state; but the state shouldn’t impose its rules on places of faith and conscience.”

Smith’s employer, the Trafford Housing Trust, has a company policy against expressing political or religious opinions that could be deemed offensive. Officials ruled that his posts were inappropriate, and cut his salary by 40 percent.

On November 16, the High Court found that Smith had done “nothing wrong,” and that his employer had unfairly punished him. “The breach of contract … committed [by the trust] was serious and repudiatory,” the judge wrote.

After the court decision, Smith said that he was proud to live in a “free country where people have freedom of speech.” Unlike the U.S., where free speech is guaranteed by the First Amendment to the Constitution, Britain has no such written formal guarantee.

By CHEF JEAN DOHERTY

Velouté sauce is one of the original “mother sauces” of classic French cuisine. It is also my soup every day at Le Patio. A lot of people ask me, “What is a velouté”? Despite the fancy-sounding name, velouté is actually just a white sauce that is usually stock-based and thickened with a white roux.

The word “velouté” is French from “velour,” which means “velvet.” As its name implies, a correctly made velouté will have a smooth and velvety texture.

The ingredients for a velouté sauce are butter, flour, and a light stock.  The type of stock will depend on the dish being created. Although chefs usually make velouté with chicken, veal, or fish, some also use beef, ham, or bouillon. This sauce is commonly referred to by the type of stock that was used in the recipe, such as a chicken velouté or a fish velouté. I use only olive oil and fresh herbs in my velouté.

Start out with minced onions, tenderly simmered in extra virgin olive oil, stir in a little flour (to make the roux that will lightly thicken the soup), and cook until the oil and flour are foaming nicely, moisten with a stock (or milk or wine, depending on your major ingredient), and then simmer for a few minutes more. That’s the traditional base for a myriad of soups, be they based on chicken, mushrooms, artichokes, broccoli, or even fish.

When making vegetable soups, don’t be too lavish with chicken stock, particularly canned stock. If it is too strong, you’ll muffle the taste of vegetables like broccoli or zucchini. No rules here—trust your own judgment and taste: You are the chef.

WASHINGTON, DC — The religious conservative legal advocacy group, the Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), is calling for state and local officials who are responsible for issuing marriage licenses in Maine, Maryland, and Washington state to abstain from personally issuing licenses to same-sex applicants, citing objections of faith or conscience.

Three legal memos advise municipal clerks in Maine, county clerks in Maryland, and county auditors in Washington that provisions in state law allow them to delegate responsibility to co-workers who don’t have “conscience-based objections” to issuing licenses to same-sex applicants.

“No American should be forced to give up a constitutionally protected freedom, nor should any American be forced to give up his or her job to maintain that freedom,” said Senior Counsel Austin R. Nimocks. “Religious freedom is paramount to every American, including those issuing marriage licenses. They can perform their job without violating their conscience.”

The memos also advise clerks or auditors who encounter resistance to contact ADF for legal assistance.

ADF (originally known as the Alliance Defense Fund) was founded in 1994 by a group of influential conservative ministers (including then-Coral Ridge Ministries senior pastor D. James Kennedy and James Dobson, founder of Focus on the Family), with the goal of “defending the right to hear and speak the Truth through strategy, training, funding, and litigation.”

Team Sponsor Says Clothing Message was Meant in Fun, Camaraderie

FORT LAUDERDALE – Although the 2012 SMART Ride was an outstanding achievement—raising in its ninth year over $860,000 to use for direct services benefiting those with HIV/AIDS—this year’s competitive and team-building event has been the backdrop of a less-than-friendly exchange between friends who support one another’s businesses and causes, but who have become embroiled in what may be an unfortunate misunderstanding, and what one person calls “hurt feelings.”

The SMART Ride is run as a team event in which fundraising is achieved alongside the esprit de corps and good-natured rivalry so common to modern sport. “It’s a camaraderie that’s built to work and excel together, as much as it is to raise as much money as we can for a very worthy cause,” explains John Zieba, co-owner of Rosie’s Bar and Grill in Wilton Manors, sponsor of the Friends of Rosie’s team in the SMART Ride, and the object of some of those hurt feelings.

But David Vincent, founder and CEO of the Live Free Be Strong [LFBS] Foundation, which sponsors the Live Free Be Strong ride team, says that the friendly competition took an unfriendly turn in the lead up to the race, with the Rosie’s team members sporting shorts that bore the message “Live Free Be Stronger” on the back side.

“It sent the wrong message,” said Vincent. “We are an anti-bullying organization, and several members of my team came to me very upset at what they felt was them being targeted” in a form of bullying by the apparel worn by Team Rosie’s.

Vincent says that there may have been some  objections to the attire by members of the Rosie’s team themselves.He says, too, that some members of his team, who are employed at Rosie’s, may have felt harassed, however unintentionally, by the message on the shorts.

Zieba, shocked, says that nothing could have been further in the minds of him, Mulcahy, and their team. “This was meant to be fun, tongue in cheek, a tradition we started last year. We chose to single out their early fundraising efforts as a good-natured way of competing with them, not to injure them in any way.”

He challenges the suggestion that there was any retaliation in mind behind the shorts. “We have employees who ride on other team, including New Moon,” a neighboring establishment frequented by gay women.

Tim Haymon, who was the captain of the Rosie’s team (but is not employed by the establishment), says he was not aware of any complaints from his teammates about the shorts. He acknowledged that he had heard “there was some hurt feelings,” but wasn’t personally involved in decisions about team attire.

There’s no disagreement between Zieba and Vincent or anyone else in acknowledging Rosie’s support for the LGBT community, and in particular Vincent’s LFBS Foundation.

“I am a friend of both John and Cliff [Mulcahy, Zieba’s business partner]. They are great guys, and terrific supporters of this community.” He adds that they “wrote the very first check to the [LFBS] Foundation, and that he “used to ride on the Rosie’s SMART Ride team.”

SMART Ride founder Glen Weinzimer told the Agenda, “A lot of our teams have a healthy rivalry, but none of them did anything that took away from their tremendous accomplishment,” adding that “what we’re doing together is so much bigger and more important than an unfortunate misunderstanding.”

Weinzimer suggested that, “from an organization standpoint, if there are any hurt feelings, both teams should make it clear that there was no ill intent, and focus their great energies on continuing the invaluable work they do for our community. Their hearts and souls are all in the right places.”

“The real news here,” says Zieba—who offered his apologies to those, including Vincent, who may have been offended, no matter how unintentionally—is “the $860,000 that was raised for an amazing cause, and that we remain committed to supporting this community, and that includes supporting Dave [Vincent] and his Foundation.”

FORT LAUDERDALE – On Tuesday morning, U.S. Rep. Allen West conceded to Democrat Patrick Murphy, ending one of the most expensive races for the U.S. House.

“While there are certainly still inaccuracies in the results, and the actions of the St. Lucie County and Palm Beach County Supervisors of Elections rightly raise questions in my mind and for many voters, after much analysis and this past weekend’s recount in St. Lucie County, our legal team does not believe there are enough over-counted, undercounted or fraudulent votes to change the outcome of the election,” West said.

West’s bid to challenge the 18^th Congressional District seat resulted in backfire for the GOP freshman in his candidacy for the redistricted House seat.

A recount of the November 6 election results held in Port St. Lucie found Murphy winning by over 1,900 votes, a margin that was wide enough to trump an automatic recount. GOP officials claimed irregularities in early voting, and requested the initial recount.

West, a first-term lawmaker and tea party ally was one of two black Republicans serving in the U.S. House. In the race for the 18th district seat, West’s campaign raised over $17 million, more than four times that of Murphy.

West was an early favorite of the Right. In a 2011 email circulated to House members, West referred to U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz as “the most vile, unprofessional, and despicable member of the U.S. House of Representatives,” and said that she was “not a Lady.”

West’s concession means Republicans hold a 234-200 seat majority in the U.S. House. The still-unresolved race for U.S. Rep. Mike McIntyre’s (D-N.C.) district—in which McIntyre appears to have defeated his Republican challenger by a razor-thin margin—may be headed for its own recount.

MIAMI – This month, the White House announced the nomination of Judge William Thomas to serve on the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida. If approved by the U.S. Senate, Thomas will be the first openly-gay black man to serve as a federal judge.

Of Thomas—who serves currently as a judge on Florida’s 11^th Judicial Circuit—President Obama said that he and six other nominees “represent my continued commitment to ensure that the judiciary resembles the nation it serves.”

Thomas is the seventh openly gay attorney nominated for a federal judgeship, which includes lifetime tenure. The first openly-gay black jurist nominated by Obama, Thomas would be the second out black judge. (Semi-retired federal Judge Deborah Batts was nominated by President Bill Clinton. She was also the first openly-gay federal judge.)

CHARLESTON, SC – On Saturday, November 19, a majority of parishes belonging to the Episcopal Diocese of South Carolina voted to leave the Protestant Episcopal Church of the U.S. The secession concerned doctrinal disputes over the church’s acceptance of same-sex unions, and its ordination of gay clergy.

The conservative South Carolina diocese is the fifth one to leave the mainline Protestant church’s national body. In recent years, Episcopal congregations in California, Illinois, Texas, and Pennsylvania have also left the fold.

The Episcopal Church is part of the worldwide Anglican Communion, and has about 2 million members, making it the 14th-largest American religious denomination.

In July, the national church approved a liturgy for use by clergy in blessing same-sex unions, as well as gay marriages in states where they are legal—the largest American denomination to do so.

In 2003, the church elected its first openly gay bishop, V. Gene Robinson, of the Diocese of New Hampshire. In 2008, conservative Episcopalians bolted the main branch, declaring a rival Anglican Province of North America.

The vote to sever ties came during a diocesan convention of about 200 people held in Charleston, just one month after the Episcopal Church’s certification that Bishop Mark Lawrence of the South Carolina diocese had abandoned the church’s doctrine, discipline, and worship.

Conservative Episcopalians say the Bible’s text condemns homosexuality, while progressives say it is subject to interpretation.