Florida Agenda

FORT LAUDERDALE – Former “Mad Men” regular Bryan Batt joined Stonewall Summer Pride Grand Marshal Bruce Vilanch last week as members of the South Florida cast for the premiere of “Standing on Ceremony: The Gay Marriage Plays.” Its four-day run at the Broward Center for the Performing Arts’ Amaturo Theater ended Sunday, June 24. According to the producers, “From the potential spouses, to the impact vows have on friends, family, and colleagues, ‘Standing On Ceremony’ presents all perspectives and points of view.

Witty, warm and occasionally wacky, these plays are vows to the blessings of equality, the universal challenges of relationships and the often hilarious power of love.” Among the writers whose works were featured are Obie Award winner Mo Gaffney, Heideman Award winner Jordan Harrison, Tony Award nominee Moisés Kaufman, Emmy and WGA Award winner Joe Keenan, Tony Award nominee Neil LaBute, Sundance Jury Prize winner Wendy MacLeod, Obie Award winner José Rivera, Obie and Outer Critics Circle Award winner Paul Rudnick, and Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award winner Doug Wright. A portion of proceeds from the performances will benefit Equality Florida.

FORT LAUDERDALE – The exclusive Womyn’s T-Cruise will embark for a three-hour party cruise on Monday, May 28, from 2 to 5 p.m., leaving Fort Lauderdale on the south side of the New River, in Smoker Family Park. The Memorial Day event features music by DJ Jeanine Baisi, and host Tara T., with an afternoon of dancing, food, drinks, and fun, aboard the charter “Musette.”

The three-hour cruise will feature a tour of the Intracoastal Waterway and Fort Lauderdale’s beautiful inland islands and sights. Tickets are on special for $38 for adults, $10 for children. Fort more information, visit facebook.com/womynstcruise.

FORT LAUDERDALE – Deon Davis, the author of “I’ll Find A Way,” a book that chronicles her personal journey as the mother of a gay son, will be the featured speaker at a fundraiser next month with the goal to raise contributions for the establishment of a safe house for homeless LGBT youth. Davis, whose son Rashad came out to her when he was 15 years old, says that homeless gay youths comprise “a large percentage of our homeless population, but due to the intensity of its nature, they are not reported as” being gay.

The author also plans to establish a not-for-profit foundation, named after her book, with a “mission to get these beautiful young adults off the streets and into a safe house.”

Although Davis’s relationship with her son was stronger for his having come out to her, she notes that other gay teens “are not that blessed, and that is why we must step in and help our beautiful homeless gay community youth and young adults.”

To this end, Davis will host a fundraiser on Saturday, May 19 at PJ’S Corner Pocket (924 N. Flagler Drive, Fort Lauderdale), starting at 7:00 p.m. Davis says that the evening will include dancing, karaoke, fun, food, a private auction, and a raffle. A minimum donation of $5 is requested. For more information, visit deondavis.com.

FORT LAUDERDALE – Broward House last week announced the upcoming departure of its longtime COO, Kathleen Cannon, who has accepted the position of President and CEO of the United Way of Broward County.

Broward House President and CEO Angelo Castillo praised Cannon’s dedication and service. “Kathleen has served Broward House admirably as our VP and Chief Operating Officer for the past ten years,” SAID Castillo.

“We’re very thankful for her many contributions to the agency and for the depth of her personal commitment to our success—so evident in everything she does.” Broward House is South Florida’s oldest and largest HIV/AIDS community service organization.

Stacey Hyde, Broward House’s current Senior Director of Contracts and Performance Management will take over as Vice President and COO. “Stacy has demonstrated her commitment to the Broward House staff, clients, and programs for the past nine years,” said Terry DeCarlo, the organization’s Director of Marketing.

Previously, Hyde served as Broward House’s Director of Case management, Director of Behavioral Health, and Senior Director of Residential Programs. She obtained her masters in social work from Florida International University, and has worked as a case manager, therapist, and program manager with at risk populations, including adult substance abusers, youth at risk for gang activity, families in foster care, and those impacted by HIV/AIDS. She is also active in community events, including the Florida AIDS Walk, World AIDS Day, and The SMART Ride.

Broward House’s Castillo offered praise and encouragement for her outgoing COO. “I knew from the first day I met Kathleen that her talents would be called upon to tackle greater challenges,” she said, adding, “for me personally, it’s been a privilege to have Kathleen on my management team.

Kathleen will remain a personal friend and colleague and she will always be a member of the Broward House family.”

FORT LAUDERDALE – Former federal prosecutor Chris Mancini’s campaign to unseat the current Broward State Attorney—who was first elected to the office in 1976, the year Jimmy Carter was elected president—takes on a new dimension tomorrow, when the candidate officially qualifies for his run for office, and his name goes on the ballot.

Mancini, a criminal attorney and former litigator with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida, says that a major part of his election strategy with be support from Broward’s large gay community. “I have served the LGBTQ community with Pride for over a decade,” says Mancini. “I understand the importance and needs of this community, and also realize their potential power and influence.”

Mancini, whose previous courtroom trial experience includes the Miami Rivers Cops case, says there is plenty of room for improvement in the way cases are prosecuted under the current system. “As a lawyer, I see many problems with the judicial system in Broward County, and how groups and individuals can be targeted,” he notes. “Unfortunately the current State Attorney’s Office has been ineffective and inefficient in addressing these problems. The 36-year-old system created by the current State Attorney just does not meet our needs.”

If he is elected, Mancini would like to establish an initiative he calls “’Justice Without Prejudice,’ where you do not receive special favors if you have power or money, or suffer undue persecution if you are poor or a member of a minority group.”

Mancini is calling for “a new way of approaching the issues, with new solutions. We need to implement restorative justice programs that have reduced recidivism by 50 percent in states where these programs are used.” He also stressed the “need to fight corruption on all levels of government. We need to ensure that there is one standard of justice; that you do not get special treatment if you have money or a badge.”

Mancini’s campaign headquarters will open on Friday to an invited group at his office at 908 N Federal Hwy, in Fort Lauderdale.

FORT LAUDERDALE – A push by Florida-based evangelical voters to mobilize unregistered voters could provide the push needed to deliver Florida’s 29 electoral votes to the Republican presidential nominee— whomever that individual proves to be.

At a meeting last week at Fort Lauderdale mega-church Calvary Chapel, John Stemberger, president of the Orlando-based Florida Family Policy Council (FFPC), told nearly 200 assembled volunteers, “We’re organizing Florida to take back America.”

The volunteers were mobilized to recruit thousands of local Christians who haven’t registered to vote in an effort to create an evangelical voting bloc that will deliver the Sunshine State to the GOP in November. In 2008, Barack Obama won Florida’s 27 electoral votes. (Under the U.S. Constitution, the increase to the state’s population under the 2010 U.S. Census resulted in an addition of two congressional seats and two electoral votes.)

“What you do or don’t do in the next seven months could mean the difference in who is running the free world. It’s that serious,” emphasized Stemberger, whose organization is affiliated with the conservative Family Research Council (FRC).

“We live in a complacent nation, and that affects everybody,” noted Scott Spages, an official of Faith Forum, which draws its members from Calvary Chapel’s Broward and Palm Beach County campuses. “And there is a tendency among the faithful that God is directing things, when, in fact, He specifically calls on us to be involved in the governance of our land. And that’s often confused by the faithful,” he told the Sun Sentinel.

According to FRC data, in 2008, Florida was home to 668,890 conservative Christians who didn’t vote because they weren’t registered. Obama won the state by 236,450.

“With a fraction of that, we can win Florida,” Stemberger said at Calvary Chapel. “These are people who would vote the right way if they were registered.” For Stemberger, the Florida Republican Party’s former political director, “the right way” means stopping the Democratic Obama, from being reelected.

Critics, including LGBT rights activists, say that fractures within the Republican coalition may make it difficult for the party to win with or without an energized base of heretofore unregistered voters. They also point to the likelihood of Mitt Romney’s presumptive nomination, and the potential the former Massachusetts governor’s Mormon faith has to turn off potential Christian evangelical and fundamentalist voters, many of whom do not view the Latter Day Saint (Mormon) religion as truly Christian as they understand the term.

To the concerns of these latter day “doubting Thomases,” Stemberger has a reply. “You may not like the [GOP] nominee,” he told one group of volunteers. “We have got to think clearly about this. We can’t be purists. If we’re purists, strategically we’re done. And so we have to understand the stakes are high. The world is at stake.”

FORT LAUDERDALE – What a difference a year has made to the policy positions of Rep. Allen West (R-FL), at least in terms of marriage equality. On Friday, April 6, the freshman congressman, who represents Florida’s 22nd Congressional District—which includes parts of Fort Lauderdale and Wilton Manors—was asked by CNN host Kyra Phillips if he believed that gay marriage was an issue for the federal government to decide.

West, a social conservative who is seeking to win the newly created 18th Congressional District seat created by the redistricting that followed the 2010 U.S. Census, surprised the news anchor by sidestepping the question, saying that there “are a lot people that try to take you down a rabbit hole to discuss things that really aren’t that important.”

Registering both her shock and her familiarity with West’s previous public comments on the issue of marriage equality, Phillips interrupted the House member. “Wait a minute. “Are you saying gay marriage is not important?” she asked.

Said West, who appeared uncomfortable with the question, “I think if you poll the American people—I don’t think they’re going to bring up gay marriage as one of the top concerns. The American people are concerned about where they’re working.” That answer marked a departure for the former Army lieutenant colonel, who told the Eagle Forum Collegians 2011 Summit in Washington last year that gay marriage was a slippery slope with one destination: the end of society as we know it.

“The term ‘gay marriage’ is an oxymoron,” West told the Forum last June. “Because marriage is a union and a bond between a man and a woman to do one thing: the furtherance of society by procreation, through creating new life.” He cautioned that by continuing to permit the existence of nontraditional institutions, “it just becomes a matter of time before you don’t have society.”

FORT LAUDERDALE – Some of the nation’s best and most well-known lesbian comedians will make a stop in South Florida next week, as the Queer Queens of Qomedy plays shows in Fort Lauderdale, Miami, West Palm Beach, and St Petersburg.

Producer and comedian Poppy Champlin announced last month that the nation’s largest LGBT rights organization, the Human Rights Campaign (HRC), had signed on as the tour’s 2012 sponsor.

Vickie Shaw

For the South Florida run, Champlin tapped comedian Vickie Shaw to headline the tour’s performances. Shaw, a mother, grandmother, and favorite on Olivia Cruises, says of her origins, “I’m from Texas where the speed limit is a suggestion.”

Barb Neligan, a former writer for the CMT cable network, brings her native Tennessean sensibilities to the hilarious stories she recounts about growing gay in a traditional Irish Catholic family in the Deep South. Accompanied by her banjo, Neligan informs audiences, “I’m from Nashville. It’s the law.”

Says producer/performer Poppy Champlin: “This show is just what the doctor ordered: it is working all over the country and getting people to come together. Gay men and women both enjoy these shows. [Through] HRC, 10 percent of sales go towards fighting for our LGBT rights.” She adds: “Fighting with laughter: I like it.”

Barb Neligan

Performance times for the Queer Queens of Qomedy: Saturday, April 7 at 8:00 p.m. at The Palladium in St Petersburg; Sunday, April 8 at 8:00 p.m. at the Ft. Lauderdale Improv (Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino); Monday, April 9, 8:30 pm, Miami Improv; Tuesday, April 10, Palm Beach Improv, West Palm Beach.

For more information, visit queerqueensofqomedy.com.

FORT LAUDERDALE – The Anti- Defamation League (ADL) of Florida honored Broward Sheriff’s Office (BSO) Capt. Rick Wierzbicki this week for his direction of the agency’s Hates Crimes/Anti- Bias Task Force, and for “fostering better community relations through authentic and timely actions.”

In a ceremony and presentation held during the Florida ADL’s Regional Board Meeting on Tuesday at the Westin Hotel in Fort Lauderdale, Wierzbicki received the prestigious Anti-Defamation League Doris and Murray Felton Excellence in Law Enforcement Award for his “extraordinary efforts in combating hate crimes and bullying in Broward County.” Katherine Fernandez Rundle, the State Attorney of Miami-Dade County and Chairperson of the Selection Committee, said that Wierzbicki’s and the Task Force he commands “exemplifies an ongoing commitment to make your community a better place to live and work.”

Wierzbicki, who was nominated for the commendation by Broward County Sheriff Al Lamberti, has also been the recipient of the Dolphin Democrats of Broward County’s Community Alliance Award, and has been cited by both the Anti-Defamation League and the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) for his contributions to promoting the film Bullied.

The documentary—based upon the true story of a gay teen’s court battle to uphold the rights and safety of LGBT students–has done much to raise awareness of the scourge of anti-gay bullying in schools. It has been shown several times in Broward County, most recently in Coral Springs: at that showing, a private citizen donated $25,000 to promote the film and anti-bullying initiatives.

Of their decision to select Wierzbicki, a former Chief of Police of Wilton Manors, the committee wrote: “We concur with Sheriff Al Lamberti, who nominated you for this honor, on your unwavering dedication and involvement with various initiatives.”

By RICHARD DAVID CHAMBERLAIN

A funny thing happened on the way to J. Alexander’s—the outlet of the chain restaurant that’s been a fixture on Federal Highway for decades. My houseguest, who apparently is a J. Alexander’s aficionado of sorts, had just traveled into town from Tennessee, where the restaurant has its corporate headquarters and where he had “the worst piece of prime rib that ever once grazed.”

I heard this tale of his disenfranchised taste buds at least three times before I finally offered to take him to our local branch, hoping that he might find succor for his continuing disappointment.

Admittedly, we approached the place on a Saturday night—a time when J. Alexander’s normally is SRO. Perhaps it was the “hurt-puppy” look on his face, but we were seated immediately upon entering.

Having eaten in this particular establishment with some regularity over the years, I knew the drill and kept pace as my guest dismissed a glance at the menu and ordered a drink (Manhattan, no rocks, double cherry), an appetizer (fire-grilled artichoke with herb butter rémoulade) and an entrée (the aforementioned slow-roasted prime rib with smashed potatoes).

I rallied with tap water (plenty of ice), a bowl of soup (chicken pasta), and a veggie burger (made in-house and topped with Monterey jack cheese)—all ordered as one long sentence. My houseguest was not about to get one up on me.

He had downed his Manhattan and ordered another in the ten-minutes it took for his artichoke to arrive—long enough apparently for the liquor to set in and his voice to rise just loud enough to be heard several booths away.

Fortunately, it was praise he was spouting, as he dipped the delicate artichoke leaves into the rémoulade and smiled as he savored the succulent flavor.

He barely had time to wipe the butter from his lips, when a second server, new to the table, delivered my burger and what appeared to be half a cow drizzled with au jus—so big was his prime rib. Any suspicions that he may have harbored disappeared as his knife cut through the healthy portion of beef like the proverbial warm butter.

I would like to say that he immediately hailed “Hallelujah” upon first bite, but such was not the case. In fact, he said nothing until he had consumed nearly three-quarters of the serving—which, you may remember, was large enough to feed four mortal men. Only then did he push his plate away from his expanding stomach and said, “Now that’s prime rib.” This was a good thing.

For the record, my veggie burger was as moist and flavorful as it usually is, with my side order of string fries perfectly crisp and seasoned as if from a Tex-Mex ranch house. So too the soup, which was far too generous in size to consume.

The prime rib is priced at $26, which was a bargain compared to the pricey $12 artichoke appetizer. The homemade veggie burger runs $12 as well, with the bowl of soup adding another $6 to our tally- -which, I’m happy to report, my houseguest paid when yet a third server delivered it to the table. Not however before my guest ordered a “small taste” of Key Lime pie ($8), muttering something that sounded like “well this is Florida, after all,” under his breath.

When he finally slid from the booth, doggie bag in hand, he turned to look at the open-beam ceiling and attractive art hanging along one brick wall. “Now this is everything J. Alexander’s should be,” he said. Tell them Guy Magazine said so.