Florida Agenda

TALLAHASSEE—Florida’s conservative Republication lieutenant governor finds herself at the center of a political gay ménage a trois between her, a possibly-disgruntled former aide, and a media that eagerly wants to know “What Did the ‘Loo’ Do, and Where Did She Do It?

Carletha Cole, a former aide to Lt. Gov. Jennifer Carroll—as part of the legal defense in her criminal trial—said that she caught her boss in “a compromising position” with another aide, shortly before she was fired in 2011. Cole’s allegations against the state’s second-highest constitutional officer are part of an ongoing prosecution of the ex-staffer, for revealing a recorded conversation between Carroll’s chief of staff and a reporter for the Florida Times- Union, a Jacksonville newspaper.

Cole’s legal motion claims that she interrupted Carroll, 52, and a female staff member in what she implies was an intimate—and lesbian—embrace. “When she entered the office,” the motion reads, “she found the Lieutenant Governor and her Travel Aide, Beatriz Ramos, in what can only be described as a compromising position.”

The motion claims that Ramos “jealously hoarded the Lieutenant Governor’s attention in a manner which can only be described as bizarre,” and says that Cole was told to reserve adjoining hotels rooms for Ramos and Carroll.

Officials are trying to keep certain records sealed, which prompted the filing of Cole’s motion—which includes the picture of a Machiavellian environment that surrounded Lt. Gov. Carroll, in which her deputies recorded conversations, and in which Carroll herself appeared more concerned with publicity than policy. Cole’s trial was scheduled to begin this week, but its start has been delayed.

Cole also claims that Gov. Rick Scott’s operatives “had specifically instructed staff members to covertly record communications within the Lieutenant Governor’s Office, as well as any and all communications with a member of the press, in order to permit rebuttal of any misquotes or inaccurate attributions.”

It says that John Konkus, Carroll’s chief of staff, “regularly joked about his ability to covertly record conversations, allowing the participants of the conversation no knowledge that the recording was occurring, given that Mr. Konkus’ ‘smart pen’ looked like an unassuming writing implement.” The motion says that Konkus’ smart pen was actually a recording device.

In 2011, Cole took a polygraph test. When asked, “Did you ever observe Lt. Gov. Jennifer Carroll and … Ramos in a sexually compromising position in the Capitol?” she answered “yes.” Although he noted that “Ms. Cole’s charts were somewhat difficult to read,” Timothy Robinson, the retired chief polygraph examiner for the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE), said he believed her answers to be truthful. “Her charts, in my opinion, are indicative of a non-deceptive examinee (truthful),” Robinson wrote, adding, “Ms. Cole passed her polygraph.”

Ex-Staffer Claims She Found Florida Lt Gov in “Compromising Position” with Female Aide Test Examiner Says Accuser “Passed Polygraph”

By Cliff Dunn

“A juror could reasonably conclude that the [FDLE] investigation into the Defendant was tainted by the Lieutenant Governor’s Office, in an effort to ensure the Defendant’s arrest, prosecution, and ultimate assassination of her character, in order to shield the Lieutenant Governor and her staff from legitimate inquiry into their own misdeeds,” said the motion, which was filed by Stephen Webster, Cole’s attorney.

Carroll vehemently denied allegations of a surreptitious gay work affair, telling Tampa Bay Local 10 television that “black women that look like me don’t engage in relationships like that.” The lieutenant governor also emailed a video to supporters, denying the lesbian rumor.

“The problem is that when you have these accusations that come out, it’s not just one person you’re attacking,” she said. “It’s an entire family. My husband doesn’t want to hear that. He knows the type of woman I am. My kids know the type of woman I am.”

Carroll, a former state House Member and the first African American elected to statewide office in Florida, is a staunch religious and social conservative, elected as Scott’s number two in 2010. She has lamented that, concerning today’s more progressive and tolerant atmosphere, “When it comes to our Christianity, there is no gray area. It is either you believe or you don’t believe. And if you believe, you believe with all of your heart, all of your soul and all of your might.

FT. LAUDERDALE, FL – Services and Advocacy for Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Elders (SAGE) announced this week that Miami resident Jerry Chasen has joined its Board of Directors. SAGE is the country’s oldest and largest organization dedicated to improving the lives of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender older adults. Chasen, a fixture in the Miami-Dade County philanthropic community, is the third Board member in SAGE’s history from outside of New York City, signaling SAGE’s evolving national presence as a leader in the LGBT and aging fields.

NEW YORK, NY – What was supposed to be a relaxing, enjoyable brunch at Sizzler turned into a horrifying ordeal of discrimination, violence and degradation targeting a lesbian because she did not conform to the stereotypes of how a woman should look.

According to a press release from Lambda Legal, the organization filed a discrimination lawsuit in Queens County Supreme Court against the Sizzler Restaurant in Forest Hills, Queens, on behalf of Liza Friedlander, who was violently attacked while trying to dine with friends at her favorite breakfast spot.

The press release said that on September 18, 2010, Liza Friedlander and two friends went to a Sizzler restaurant in Forest Hills, Queens, for the breakfast buffet. After paying, Friedlander served herself from the buffet.

As Friedlander was walking back toward her table to join her companions, a Sizzler manager aggressively approached her. Allegedly, in front of other restaurant patrons, the manager began yelling at Friedlander, accusing her of not paying for the breakfast buffet. He violently shoved Friedlander in the chest, causing her to fall backward, and kicked her in the legs while yelling for her to get out of the Sizzler and calling her a “fucking dyke”.

Lambda Legal said that the Sizzler dining room quickly devolved into a threatening scene when patrons began terrorizing Ms. Friedlander, with Sizzler patrons screaming at her, spewing homophobic and hate-filled epithets. A male diner began yelling at Friedlander, calling her a “he-she freak” and demanding that she leave the restaurant. Another man threatened to take Ms. Friedlander outside and sexually assault her, threatening that he would show her “what a dick is”. The man then threw objects at Friedlander. Finally, after police arrived, a battered Friedlander was taken by ambulance to a nearby hospital.

This case is the first test of the newly enacted bias crime law passed in August, 2010, to hold individuals accountable for anti-LGBT violence and intimidation.

BOCA RATON, FL – Boca Rap is a lesbian discussion group that meets from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. every Tuesday at the Intergenerational Volen Center (1515 West Palmetto Park Road in Boca Raton). The doors open at 6:30 p.m. for coffee and conversation.

The meeting begins at 7 p.m. Topics are decided upon by the group and programs, social events and speakers will be announced in advance. There is a $1 donation requested.

For further information, call Sandy Flack at (561) 488-8444. For directions to the Volen Center, call (561) 395-8920.

WEST POINT, NY – An openly lesbian cadet who left West Point saying she could not live a lie any longer was rejected for re-admission because of the lingering military ban on gays in the military.

She said she has decided to give up on her dream.
Katherine Miller, now attending Yale University, says she plans to graduate from Yale then join the military through officer candidate school.

She said that although she always wanted to serve alongside her comrades as an equal, she holds no resentment toward the military and looks forward to the day they deem it appropriate for her to put the uniform back on.

West Point issued a statement explaining that it couldn’t accept Miller because of the still-existing ban but hinting that re-entry wouldn’t be a problem for her in the future.

“While at the academy, Ms. Miller remained in good standing and had done exceptionally well academically, militarily and physically,” said Lt. Col. Sherri Reed, director of public affairs at West Point. “The choice to seek re-admission is available to her once the repeal process is completed.”

JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH?AFRICA – Noxolo Nogwaza, a 24-year-old member of the Ekurhuleni Pride Organising Com-mittee, a gay rights group, was stoned to death in Kwa Thema township outside Johannesburg on April 24, police said.

The murder of the South African lesbian activist who was stoned and stabbed to death is part of an “epidemic” of hate crimes against gays, Human Rights Watch said Tuesday.

Human Rights Watch said evidence indicated Nogwaza was targeted because she was a lesbian, saying the murder “appears to be the latest in an epidemic of brutal homophobic attacks”.

“Nogwaza’s death is the latest in a long series of sadistic crimes against lesbians, gay men, and transgender people in South Africa,” Dipika Nath, a researcher for the rights group, said in a statement.

Police spokesman Tshisikhawe Ndou said investigators do not currently consider the murder a hate crime.

“We do not have evidence to conclude that the crime was committed against her based on the fact of her sexual orientation.

It is just purely murder and rape that we are investigating at this stage,” he told AFP.

Human Rights Watch said Nogwaza was stabbed repeatedly with glass shards and left in an alley, her face and head disfigured by stoning. A beer bottle, a large rock and used condoms were found on and near her body, it said.

Police have not made any arrests for the murder.

Activists say lesbian women are often victims of “corrective rape” – forced sex with a man to “cure” their sexuality.
A 2008 study found that 86 per cent of black lesbians in South Africa’s Western Cape Province live in fear of sexual assault in a country that sees an estimated 500,000 rapes a year.

Studies by the government-funded Medical Research Council in 2009 and 2010 found that one in four South African men admitted to committing rape, and one in three in north-central Gauteng Province, where Nogwaza and former midfielder for the national women’s side Eudy Simelane were attacked.

Violence against lesbians is a pervasive problem in South Africa, whose progressive laws on gay rights coexist uneasily with a strong undercurrent of homophobia.

Nogwaza’s body was found in the same township where Simelane was gang-raped and murdered in 2008.

Human Rights Watch said Nogwaza’s murder was “eerily reminiscent” of 29-year-old Simelane’s, for which two men were convicted in 2009.

“Both were ‘out’ as lesbians in the community, both were tortured and sexually assaulted before being killed and the bodies of both were dumped in public places,” it said.

Photo Courtesy, Bruininsider.blogspot.com

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Former Belmont University Soccer Coach Lisa Howe wanted to share some great news with her team. Her partner had become pregnant with a baby, and for the first time in her life, Howe discussed her being a lesbian with the team. Now she is out of a job.

After her sexuality disclosure, Howe was asked to resign, according to some of the Belmont’s soccer players.

Senior Erica Carter said Howe told her, and that officials had given her the choice to resign or be terminated

“She said, ‘I just want you to know that I lost my job today,’” said Carter. “And I could hear in her voice that she was choked up and there were tears in her voice. Basically … I felt shocked.”

Carter said Howe told her that Belmont officials asked her to resign because of her family situation.

“She basically explained that … because of her morals and values and her decision, it conflicted with Belmont’s morals and values and she could no longer be an employee at Belmont University,” said Carter.

The University and Howe, “both agree that Coach Howe did not ‘resign’ from her employment. Neither was she dismissed. Rather, there was a mutual agreement that it would be in the best interests of both Coach Howe and the university for her to conclude her employment as coach,” said a statement from the Belmont Athletics Department. Howe also issued a statement through the university.

“I was hired to do a job and am extremely proud of what we have accomplished, for it reflects the dedication and hard work of terrific players and the parents who support them in their sports endeavors,” Howe said. “I do want to express my deep gratitude to the players, their families, the alumnae and faculty members who have come forward to express their concern over my leaving.”

In Tennessee it is legal to fire an employee for being gay, because the state does not have an employment nondiscrimination act that includes LGBT citizens.

By LEE LYNCH

I do get cranky sometimes when the doorbell rings. It’s a learned response to solicitors. Got religion? I have my own beliefs thank-you-very-much. Buy chocolate bars? I’d love to, but the budget’s too tight. Vote for WHO? Are you out of your freakin’ tree? And yes, you can come in our yard to retrieve your wiffle ball, frisbee, SpongeBob kite, little brother and pet snake. Once a year, Halloween makes me a complete curmudgeon.

My sweetheart is a nice person. She likes to support the local elementary school’s baseball team. She’ll buy those chocolate bars and give them away at work. She gives neighbor kids blanket permission to retrieve their wiffle balls, frisbees, SpongeBob kites, little brothers and pet snakes. She enjoys giving out candy to excited, costumed munchkins.

And she’s right. It’s good to be pleasant to the neighbors. Good for them, good for the neighborhood, good for the soul. It’s especially important for us because we want to be the nice lesbian neighbors. I can sign every online petition for ENDA, DADT, and NO ON NOMA that comes my way, but if I scowl at little kids congregating in our driveway or turn off the lights and don’t answer the door at Halloween, I’m not only condemning myself to everlasting grinchhood, I’m teaching non-gays, who outnumber us in our development hundreds to two, that lesbians are unhappy grouches too different to be trusted or tolerated.

So I’m getting with the program, though in so many ways I don’t know how. Take the tomboy across the street. Just because she acts like a daredevil on her bicycle, rides a skateboard with élan, has her own basketball hoop in her driveway and walks like a seasoned butch, doesn’t mean she’s going to breeze into holy dykedom at puberty. She’s only about a half a step away from puberty now. Any day she’s going to wake up and see her future living across the street from her.

While she comes to terms with her own sexuality, will she feel the need to make trouble for us: call us names? Out us to young mischief-makers? Vandalize our home? Or, will she come to our door seeking a way into the gay world? What if she flings herself out of her closet and brings attention to us? It won’t be an easy journey for her as she has a passel of ragtail non-gay relatives. The men drive diesel pickups with oversized tires. The women drive mini vans with church stickers.

There’s also a tattle-tale girly little sister and lots of cousins: hard-staring little kids, very unlike the tomboy, who always averts her eyes.

I keep my distance. The last thing I want is to be the nice lesbian neighbor she decides to hang around. Or for her to swoon at my sweetheart’s feet. I know what I was like when I first came out, crushed out on a teacher, too excited to hide who I was, longing for entry to the gay life, yet too shy and too scared and too outlawed to knock on any doors.

That was a long time ago. These days, any tomboy can look us up on the internet. At the same time, the ancient taboos have not disappeared. She may ignore her instincts, go to her prom with a guy and add her kids to the passel of relatives. Or she may ring our doorbell. What will she need to know? What can I give her? If she shows up on our doorstep, what’s the right thing for a nice lesbian neighbor to do? Invite the kid in for a cup of tea and honest talk? Jolly her along with smirks and winks?

We keep our lawn green and neat, plant flowers, trim the shrubs and pick up after our dog. Our public displays of affection are minor, and only one neighbor knows we’re married. We have no piles of loud dykes at parties. We smile and say hello, go to the community picnics and admire the kids’ accomplishments. We’re the perfect neighbors except we’re – you know – lesbians.

Maybe this is the best message we can send our tomboy neighbor, that she can expect to live happily ever after any way and anywhere she wants. That we are neither seducers nor threats. But, oh, what if she needs more than that? What if we can save her life?

 What if I don’t answer the door?

(Photo: Lisbeth Salander (Noomi Rapace) from “The Girl Who Played With Fire.”  Courtesy of Music Box Films  http://www.musicboxfilms.com/the-girl-who-played-with-fire )

film review by Warren Day

This well-executed movie is based on the second book of what is known as the Millennium Trilogy, a Swedish mystery series that’s been a world-wide phenomenon, selling over 40 million copies.

“The Girl Who Played With Fire” became the first translated novel to hit number one on the New York Times best seller list in 25 years. The film version of the first book, “The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo,” was also wildly successful, winning many awards, and is now available on DVD/Blu-ray.

Preadolescent girls and admirers of Taylor Lautner’s chest have The Twilight Saga, children of all ages have Harry Potter, and now grown-up adults can be thankful we have the reality-grounded but equally compelling Millennium series.

The third and last film, “The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest,” will be released this October in the USA.

As Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler did with the detective novel, Stieg Larsson, author of these three books, uses mysteries to cast light into the dark corners of society. His revelations about the underbelly of Swedish society has a particular bite since it’s a country that prides itself on its pristine image. That social commentary along with unusual but well-defined characters elevated Larsson’s taut mysteries from the thousands that come out every year.

And just as the first film borrowed a little from the second book to explain why Lisbeth Salander is the way she is, I wish the second film had subtracted from the first some of the reasons Mikael Blomkvist (and the audience) found her to be such a fascinating creature. Roger Egbert called Lisbeth (played superbly by Noomi Rapace) “as compelling as any movie character in recent memory,” but that isn’t so evident if you’ve haven’t seen the first film.

Lisbeth is not your typical movie protagonist – a bi-sexual, “biker chick” with computer skills and an I.Q. to shame Bill Gates, who’s been victimized at almost every turn, but who refuses to act the victim, but instead takes as much charge of her life as any Alpha male ever did.

At the end of the first book/movie she leaves Blomkvist, the crusading journalist from Millennium magazine, after she helps him solve a 22 year old mystery, hacks into the bank accounts of a really bad crook and leaves for a warmer climate. What draws her back to Stockholm is a triple murder where her fingerprints are on the gun. Some mysterious man with different aliases and a shadowy background seems to be behind it, but who is he and why does he want to frame Lisbeth and involve Blomkvist in such a deadly game?

Do yourself a favor, rent or buy the DVD of “The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo,” go to a theater to see “The Girl Who Played With Fire,” and discover again what it’s like to see an adult movie series made by adults for adults.

Rated R for some graphic violence and explicit lesbian sex scene. Opens at area theaters July 9.

Other Films Opening This Week

“La Mission”  -  Benjamin Bratt plays a former inmate and recovering alcoholic trying to survive in the hard-nail life of the Mission District of San Francisco anyway he can when he discovers his son is gay.  Directed and written by Peter Bratt, Benjamin’s brother. Opens July 9

“Grease Sing-A-Long” – They’ve added lyrics as subtitles and the audience will be encouraged to join in and to wear an appropriate costume. Plays July 8 – 10 and 15-17 at Gateway.

“Despicable Me” -  State-of-the-art 3D computer animation combined with the old-fashioned humor of Warner Bros. Looney-Tunes (but with a modern edge), this movie promises to be one of the funniest and biggest hits of the summer. It may not be the best season for some genres, but animation, such as the wonderful “Toy Story 3,” is h aving

a great year. Opens widely July 9.

“A Single Man” – What many consider the best gay film of 2009 is now available on DVD and Blu-ray.  Colin Firth stars in an Oscar nominated performance.

By John Sklba

In a culture that has allowed men to run society into a state of catastrophic ruin with no real consequences, the fear of lesbians in society doesn’t shock me. It makes for a safe outlet in the “blame anyone but ourselves” game played by the alpha males in control. Lesbians have been given credit for everything from tornadoes, 9-11, canceling prom, and the decline of marriage. Seems you lasses have been quiet a busy bunch.

While some of those charges are quite extravagant in their claims, there might be an iota of truth in them. When more logical reasoning like terrorist, nature, and bigotry appear magically, as if outta thin air, that iota about two women being in love as a reason for some of these problems just seems to disappear in the thinking of most rational folk’s minds. Of course this is America, where freedom allows for rational thinking to be ignored and stupidity to get a pulpit to reach and influence millions.

Case in point, the claim that Ellen Degeneres and her “lesbian activism”  is to blame for “American Idol’s” ratings decline. Certainly a bizarre claim if there ever was one, but at least there is some thought process involved with the notion. Conservative minded folks could be inclined in switching to another channel because Ms. Degeneres espouses alternative lifestyles.

Gary McCullough, the director of Christian Newswire, explains:

“While renewal talks continue with FOX, excuses for the show’s decline have been widespread.  This season’s new judge, Ellen DeGeneres, is the recipient of a good deal of the blame for the rating drop, but not for the glaringly obvious reason: Miss DeGeneres is a lesbian activist.” – Gary McCullough www.earnedmedia.org/ccn0524.htm. 6/24/10.

Hold on one second, research needs to be conducted. Okay thirty seconds using Google and my work is done. When Ellen outed herself on her old TV show it drew some forty two million viewers, a higher number then any average viewing number for any season of “American Idol” in its eight years of broadcast. Guess “lesbian activism” was uber popular back in ’97 or something.

I’m hard pressed to swallow a pill suggesting “lesbian activism”, whatever that actually is, is really to blame for the ratings decline in a show that has been on air for nine seasons. As someone who has watched maybe five minutes of “American Idol”, but knows a thing or two about being a pubescent male, it’s easier for me to think a harder in your face styled lesbian anything might get people who generally aren’t inclined to watch musical shows to tune in. Certainly your more average male viewers might start watching.

Should “American Idol” stoop to such lowbrow tactics; no of course not; the show should be about the performers, but after you’ve shattered multiple television records where else is there to go but down in ratings. Was Ellen brought in to push some gay agenda as McCullough also suggested in the same article; the truth may never fully come out, but I seriously doubt her sexuality was a driving force in her getting the gig when she popped ratings when guesting on other shows and people tend to respond well to her positive attitude. Besides, Ellen being gay is old news and it adds nothing of value to the show.

If Ellen being gay in 2010 would be so controversial that it could cost viewers, I can’t imagine any producer worth one’s salt would give her a position on the show, let alone one so prominent. Of course because its 2010 gays being on TV shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone. Obviously McCullough missed some of the previous seasons of “American Idol” with Clay Aiken and Adam Lambert or any one of numerous television shows that happened over the last few decades that must have been also been promoting that gay agenda.

Now assuming McCullough isn’t really gay, would someone who’s actually gay tell me what this gay agenda is and how does being on TV promote it exactly? I’m not changing the channel if all it’s about is tolerance and acceptance.