Florida Agenda

By Cliff Dunn

Greater Fort Lauderdale lost a friend last week, as Jan D. Carpenter, respected business and community leader and loving partner of Dale Russell, passed away October 2. Carpenter, born January 17, 1949 in White Bear Lake, Minnesota (“Go Bears!”), attended Bemidji State University before accepting a management position with Target Corporation, a job that would take him to Denver for 25 years.

Carpenter spent time in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, before going to Houston as Senior Vice President for BankOne. While living in Space City that Carpenter met his future life and business partner, Dale Russell, who was at the time living in Dallas. “We were one of the original ‘AOL Couples,’” Russell recalls. The two would move to Savannah, Georgia, where Carpenter became a senior manager for Pitney Bowes. That company would eventually bring him to Florida, as Director of Offshore Operations.

“It was the greatest time in his life,” says Russell, who came to South Florida with Carpenter in 2003. “He travelled around the world 36 times.” He retired in 2009, although retirement for him meant going to work full time with Russell, in their Dale Russell Network (DRN) real estate firm.

The successful brand enable Carpenter and Russell (a past President of the Pride Center at Equality Park) to participate in the joys and challenges of the LGBT community of which they became such an integral part, including serving on the boards of several not for- profit and philanthropic groups.

“He was always there, no matter the cause to further the LGBT community,” remembered Carl Marzola, President of Atlantic Properties International, which serves as the broker for DRN. “He has done so much as an activist. He once said to me, Carl, I believe in Wilton Manors, because it’s a community where I—you, any gay person—can feel comfortable, safe, and not be judged. He helped make this place that reality.”

Christopher Dunham, President of Dunham Insurance Services, said that Carpenter was “a beautiful and loving man, and such an asset to our community.” Russell, his partner of 16 years— their anniversary is tomorrow, October 11—said that Carpenter “was full of life. He could walk into a room and just become its centerpiece. He had that forceful of a personality.”

To honor Carpenter’s philanthropic history, Russell has established the Jan Carpenter Fund, to benefit the Bears of South Florida (BOSFL), a charitable organization that disseminates funds to local service and non-profit groups. Russell says that friends of Carpenter’s and others who would like to remember him in the spirit of generosity should make a contribution to BOSFL, 1170 N Federal Hwy, Suite 401, Fort Lauderdale, FL 33304. BOSFL is a 501 (c)(3) , and donations are tax deductible.

A private memorial event in Carpenter’s honor will be held at the end of October at the Pride Center at Equality Park in Wilton Manors

By Alex Vaughn

Jamie Hubley 1996 – 2011

Jamie Hubley, a 15-year-old from Ottawa, Canada committed suicide on Saturday after writing openly about depression, bullying and self-harm on his blog. He has spent the past weeks writing heart-wrenching messages and posting disturbing images, all the while stating his treatment for depression was failing.

His blog, titled “You Can’t Break When You’re Already Broken,” is a sad memoir of the 10th grade student’s desperate pleas.
In a heartbreaking message posted prior to his death, he wrote: “I’m a casualty of love… I hit rock f****** bottom, fell through a crack, now I’m stuck.”

He had previously written: “I just want to feel special to someone.”

Stephanie Wheeler, a close friend of Hubley told the Ottawa Citizen: “From the outside, he looked like the happiest kid. He was always smiling and giving everybody hugs in the halls. I just remember him wanting a boyfriend so bad, he’d always ask me to find a boy for him. I think he wanted someone to love him for who he was.”

Hubley also posted his suicide note on his blog. He wrote of his love for musicians including Lady Gaga, Adele, Katy Perry and Christina Aguilera. The note also spoke of the pain from both bullying and depression.

“I’m tired of life, really. It’s so hard, I’m sorry, I can’t take it anymore,” his note read. “I don’t want my parents to think this is their fault, either. I love my mom and dad. It’s just too hard. I don’t want to wait three more years, this hurts too much.” The Kanata teenager also described how he hated being the only openly gay boy in his school.

His father Allan Hubley, a counselor for the Kanata South district of the city, wrote on his Twitter page after his son’s death: “Thank you to all the people sending us messages. Their love for Jamie will keep us going in our time of need.”

Hubley also told CBC News that his son was constantly bullied throughout elementary school and into high school.

He said the bullying began when Jamie was in Grade 7 and teens tried to stuff batteries down his throat on the school bus because he was a figure skater.

“[Jamie] was the kind of boy that loved everybody,” said Hubley, “He couldn’t understand why everyone would be so cruel to him about something as simple as skating. He just wanted someone to love him. That’s all. And what’s wrong with that? Why do people have to be cruel to our children when all they want to do is be loved?” said Hubley, speaking on the phone with the CBC’s Ashley Burke.

In high school, the relentless bullying was targeted to the fact that Jamie was openly gay.

The Ottawa-Carleton District School Board released a statement on Tuesday sending its condolences to the Hubley family. The statement also addressed the subject of bullying. “I couldn’t agree more about the importance of dealing with these issues. These are complex issues that we have to deal with as a community”, said Jennifer Adams, the board’s director of education.

The case of Jamie Hubley has highlighted the growing awareness of teen depression in Ottawa. He is part of a rash of teen suicides in the Ottawa Valley in 2010 that has forced the communities to design better strategies to address the issue, including identifying signs of depression earlier and removing the stigma surrounding mental health issues.

Jamie Hubley struggled with depression for a long time, his father said, but no matter how much his parents tried to help, the teen could not escape his sadness.

“I lost a beautiful, beautiful child that was going to make the world a better place. I’ve been involved in a lot of things in my community … but I couldn’t fix my own boy and that’s tearing me apart,” Allan Hubley said.

A Facebook page has been set up in Jamie’s honor, and his fellow students are planning a memorial performance at his school A.Y. Jackson Secondary.

Jamie Hubley’s tragic death comes as “Heroes” star Zachary Quinto revealed on his blog this past weekend that he was gay. His revelation was inspired by the suicide of another schoolboy, Jamey Rodemeyer, 14, who ended his life in September after being severely bullied because he was homosexual.

The actor wrote: “In light of Jamey’s death, it became clear to me in an inst

ant that living a gay life without publicly acknowledging it is simply not enough to make any significant contribution to the immense work that lies ahead on the road to complete equality. Gay kids need to stop killing themselves because they are made to feel worthless by cruel and relentless bullying.”

The Daily Mail reported, “Suicide is the second-leading cause of death for Canadians between the ages of ten and 24 and disproportionately affects gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender youth.”

MUNICH, GERMANY – Next year there will be a new memorial to gay holocaust victims of Nazi Germany in the city of Munich.

Munich was the site of the beginning of Nazi persecutions against homosexuals in 1934. The memorial will be part of a new pedestrian development in the center of Munich outside of what was the Scwharzfischer, a famous gay bar in the ‘30s. On October 20, 1934, the Nazis conducted a major raid at the bar beginning the persecution against homosexuals.

Task Force, MCC and Harvard pay their respects

By ALEX VAUGHN

Photo: ‘Lost voice of the community, Rev. Peter J. Gomes Courtesy, http://epistleofjim.blogspot.com

The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force mourns the death of the Rev. Peter J. Gomes, an openly gay Harvard minister, theologian and author, who died on Monday at the age of 68 due to complications from a stroke. Tributes poured in from many who believed he was an Accidental Gay Activist. Gomes was born in Boston and raised in Plymouth. He received a bachelor’s degree from Bates College in Lewiston, Maine, and a divinity degree from Harvard. In 1979, Time magazine called him “one of the seven most distinguished preachers in America,” and in 1998 he was named Clergy of the Year by the organization Religion in American Life. Gomes described himself as a cultural conservative but stunned the Harvard community in 1991 when he said he was gay in response to harassment against gays on campus.

Rev. Rebecca Voelkel, Faith Work Director, National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, paid tribute saying,

“In many Christian circles, when a person of faith passes, the pastor will speak of them by quoting Jesus, ‘well done, thou good and faithful servant.’ Sometimes this phrase is over used. But today, truer words were never spoken. Rev. Peter Gomes epitomized one who lived his life seeking to be a good and faithful servant — of the God he loved. “For those of us who are religious and affirm the dignity of all persons, including lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people, Rev. Gomes was a light and a model. His passionate sermons, his incomparable work with the Scriptures and his visible love of God and God’s creation will be greatly missed.”

In a Statement by Rea Carey, Executive Director, National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, she said, “In the passing of Rev. Peter Gomes, the world has lost a mind, a voice, an advocate, an artist of words rarely seen in this day and age. Rev. Gomes spoke eloquently and frequently in support of marriage equality in Massachusetts during that state’s fierce struggle to protect the right of same-sex couples to marry.”

She continued, “He came out as a gay man when it was scandalous for clergy of his position and caliber, of any caliber, to do so. And yet, he did so with a clarity and grace that provided theological shelter for many a young person struggling with their sexuality. At the time, he said, ‘I am a Christian who happens as well to be gay.

… Those realities, which are irreconcilable to some, are reconciled in me by a loving God.’

Metropolitan Community Churches said in a statement, ‘The LGBT faith community, and all people of faith lost a powerful friend, ally and a voice for justice, in Rev. Peter Gomes, the gifted Pusey Minister of Memorial Church, the non-denominational center of Christian life at Harvard University.

Rev. Gomes was a popular teacher, mentor and sought after preacher, whose best seller, The Good Book; Reading the Bible with Mind and Heart, took on fundamentalism, and examined topics like slavery, anti-Semitism and homosexuality. His humor, accessibility in his writing, endeared him even to those who disagreed with him. Dr. Gomes came out in 1991 at Harvard, and devoted the last two decades of his life to countering the Biblical misunderstandings that undergird homophobia. He reached audiences that many of us are not able to reach, with poise and confidence.

Dr. Gomes scholarship, leadership, and support for students will be greatly missed at Harvard, in Cambridge. Marvin Bagwell, a lay leader in MCC and Harvard graduate offers this personal tribute:

“He was such a contradiction in terms, a black Baptist preacher from a prominent almost Boston Brahmin family. Instead of fire and brimstone, Peter preached about love and justice. His sermons were works of art, enchanting, jewel like in their clarity and always inspiring and uplifting. I was in denial about my sexual identity. I certainly did not know about “gaydar” at that time, but I was oddly drawn to Peter. I suspected but could not speak the words about him or about myself. In the early 1990′s Peter came out. His announcement made the national newspapers. I was out by then, but his announcement shook me out of my subway seat and made me immensely and tearfully proud. I immediately dashed off a letter to tell him he and his sermons had saved my life. Harvard was not an easy place to be black and gay. Peter called himself a conservative Christian. For the betterment of us all and for himself, he outgrew the conservative part. God bless Peter Gomes.”

WILTON MANORS – There will be a memorial service to celebrate the life of radio talk show host Neil Rogers on Friday, Jan. 7 at the Center for Spiritual Living, 1550 NE 26th Street, Wilton Manors. Afterwards, guests are invited to gather for cocktails at the Manor Entertainment Complex, 2345 Wilton Drive, also in Wilton Manors. In lieu of flowers, you are requested to make a donation, in Neil’ s honor, to Abandoned Pet Re

scue. Rogers, who was 68, passed away Dec. 24 after suffering a recent heart attack and stroke.

A memorial service will be held for Wilton Manors realtor, Joe Ryan, 58, on Sunday, October 17 from 3 to 5 p.m. at 1317 Middle River Drive in Fort Lauderdale.

Ryan has been a realtor in the Wilton Manors/Fort Lauderdale area for over 20 years after having been a realtor in Michigan for 10 years. Ryan was first diagnosed with colon cancer seven years ago. The cancer had spread throughout his body and affected his kidneys and he died on September 24, 2010. “The community has been amazing and I thank them for the support they gave me,” said Ryan in an interview a few days prior to his passing. Ryan left his real estate office to Michael Davino and Greg Piper and the business will be renamed Davino and Associates at the recommendation of their attorney. “They are both extremely qualified,” said Ryan. “They will take over and they will do an excellent job. They will keep on the same track that I have as far as reputation. The reputation we’ve had is a big plus and we’ve worked very hard to keep the reputation going.” The office will remain at it’s current location at 2031 Wilton Drive in Wilton Manors. – BK