Florida Agenda

By PHOEBE MOSES

The Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) has published its annual Network Responsibility Index, a measure of representation of LGBT characters and issues, and how they are presented in mass media platforms. The 2012 Index is a reflection of the shifting dynamic in television entertainment and issue programming, and how they reflect the modern LGBT—and American—landscape.

Among broadcast networks, The CW—a joint venture between CBS and Warner Bros—earned top place, while cable networks HBO, Showtime, TNT, and ABC Family were awarded “good” ratings. Two cable networks, TBS and History (formerly the History Channel), netted failing marks for their non-satisfactory representation of LGBT people and issues. A closer look at the GLAAD Index:

• With 29 percent of its primetime programming hours considered to be LGBT-inclusive, The CW continues as the top gay-friendly (from a content perspective) broadcast network, and takes preeminent place as most racially-diverse (62 percent of impressions made by LGBT persons/ characters of color”.

• A 4 percent improvement by ABC and a coeval 5 percent decline at Fox caused the networks to “make the switch” at second and third places in percentage of inclusive hours.

• Although NBC had a net gain in LGBT-inclusive hours of 4 percent, it wasn’t enough to get it out of the closet—or basement, if you prefer, of fourth place.

• CBS remains in last place for the fourth year in a row, with just 8 percent of its primetime programming considered to be LGBT-inclusive. Worse, the numbers represent a net DROP of 2 percent since last year, taking it down from a 2011 score of “Adequate” to this year’s rating of “Failing.”

• Among cable networks, Showtime (46 percent), ABC Family (34 percent), TNT (34 percent), and HBO (33 percent) received “Good” ratings.

• Although the youth cable brand scored an “Excellent” rating just two years ago, at 23 percent MTV dropped to “Adequate” this year, along with FX (34 percent), TLC (20 percent), and USA (17 percent).

• For the fourth year in a row, both TBS (5 percent) and History (3 percent) received an Index rating of “Failing.” Although the 2012 Index acknowledges that transgender people remain underrepresented, there was encouragement on the “T” front. “The appearance of Chaz Bono on ‘Dancing with the Stars’ was a groundbreaking step in transgender representation on television this year,” noted Herndon Graddick, President of GLAAD.

“His very candid appearance on the program taught many that transgender Americans deserve respect and acceptance.

By Phoebe Moses

ANDOVER, MASSACHUSETTS — The elite Phillips Academy (Founded: 1778) is the scene for one of the most interesting photography exhibitions in the country, highlighting on one of the more eccentric figures of Americana of the past century. “Making a Presence: F. Holland Day in Artistic Photography” runs through July 31 at the school’s Addison Gallery of American Art. The exhibit’s subject, Fred Holland Day (1864-1933), was a photographer and publisher, and the most influential American “pictorialist”— the international style and aesthetic movement that dominated photography during the later 19th and early 20th centuries, which believed that the medium should number among the fine arts.

Pictorialist photographers used what are now seen as rudimentary techniques to manipulate otherwise straightforward photographs, to “create” an image, rather than simply record it. Day was a wealthy Boston publisher, who apparently enjoyed playing dress-up and role-playing. He utilized props and costumes, and was something of a practitioner of a “Method School” style of photography, taking self-portraits that depicted him as Jesus Christ at the Crucifixion for an 1898 pictorial series. Day’s personality was many-layered.

In 1900, art critic Sadakichi Hartmann described him as “an extraordinary, extravagant personality,” and noted that, “To pose is a necessity to him, as it is only when he believes himself something out of the ordinary that he can accomplish good work.” That “necessity” was apparent in his numerous posings for both himself and other photographers. “Making a Presence” includes examples of Day acting out this need from the many stages of his life: As a 14-yearold boy, sporting a fake mustache in one early image, on through his masquerade as painter Rembrandt, for a 1901 portrait by friend Edward Steichen.

The photographer hit his stride at the end of the 19th and start of the 20th centuries. He was a firsthand witness to two separate cultural phenomena: the Aestheticism movement (best remembered through Oscar Wilde’s famous description of “art for art’s sake”), and photographic Pictorialism. In 1902, Day was able to show his devotion to both, at a show he held in Boston, titled “Portraits by a Few Leaders in the Newer Photographic Methods.”

The exhibition consisted of 54 photographs, which had been taken by 21 photographers, all concentrating on a single subject: Day himself. “Making a Presence” displays all 54 on a single wall. Day’s love for Symbolism, and for the Arts and Crafts movement, were equaled by his devotion to Pictorialism, which captured in many ways the very essence of how Day exhibited himself: Formal, romantic, stylized, and self-conscious.

That he used the camera—the ultimate hardware for chronicling reality—to capture fantasy was part of his vision. But his flirtations with the absurd are married to an innocence—almost a sweetness—that avoids the worst of campiness, and manages to convey true artistic sensibility. Not everyone at the time was impressed. The contemporary “Photographic News” considered Day’s work that “of a diseased imagination,” and believed that the Pictorialism movement was “fostered by the ravings of a few lunatics,” who proved themselves to be both “unacademic” and “eccentric.”

Day became famous for his photographic portraiture of nude male subjects, and his work shows especial attention to African-American males. The homoeroticism in his work is crystal clear, and people can draw their own conclusions from his association with such contemporary figures as socialist philosopher, Fabian Society founding member, and early gay rights activist Edward Carpenter. Day’s assistance was likewise invaluable in helping another artist achieve lasting fame and cultural pride-of-place: Khalil Gibran, whom Day photographed in 1898, and who would become the third best-selling poet of all time (behind Shakespeare and Lao-Tzu).

Nearly 80 years after his death, Day has been largely forgotten. This was partly because he was eclipsed by his rival, photographer Alfred Stieglitz. The art world’s shift towards early Modernism also took its toll, as pictorial and symbolist photographic style went out of fashion. Too, the fact that 2,000 of his prints and negatives were lost in a 1904 fire didn’t help the legacy of this charming, and in some ways naïve, boy-man of a lost artistic form. “Making a Presence” runs through July 31.

By Phoebe Moses

Life coach Paul Angelo, MHA, MBA, says that gay men need to look at their self-esteem from the unique perspective of their lifestyle. In doing so, he offers the possibility of falling in love to the accompaniment of a 25-pound weight loss. (Is there a downside to this?) Angelo, who began to offer life coaching services professionally in 2009, has identified an orientation-specific condition he refers to as Gay Low Self-Esteem (GLSE). It isn’t something that you will find listed, though, in the American Psychiatric Association’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM).

“GLSE is not found in the DSM, nor is it a clinical diagnosis,” Angelo emphasizes. “Because of the preponderance of ‘straight’ psychology and therapy, gay life-related issues are poorly understood, and measured only in the context of HIV and AIDS.”

Angelo says that when men are in a challenging environment, they grow faster and develop more creative problem-solving skills. Their confidence and sense of accomplishment increase, which he says simultaneously lifts their self-esteem, and brings them a feeling of satisfaction and well-being. These are potent weapons to have in one’s arsenal, especially in a world where the game is stacked against the “gay.”

“GLSE is different because it is ingrained into the gay culture and the identity of a gay man today,” Angelo notes. “Today it is almost impossible to be gay and have high self esteem without extensive coaching or therapy. So GLSE is the reason why HIV incidence will continue to rise uncontrollably. A person with low self esteem will not follow safe sex instructions. It’s like asking a man on crutches to run a marathon.”

Angelo says overcoming low self-esteem is connected with the qualities possessed by champion athletes and those who are successful in the field of romance. He has developed a 12- week high-performance program to enhance self-esteem and encourage better health, based upon the principles of accountability, motivation, and coaching, designed to bring out the “killer instinct” in gay men who have confidence or self-esteem issues. “Losing weight can be a boring task but when you combine it with the fun aspect of dating and starting a relationship, exercise and proper nutrition can become fun and engaging,” Angelo says.

Angelo worked in the fitness industry for over 25 years, starting out as a personal trainer, and moving into hospital healthcare administration. He trained with the American College Of Sports Medicine, and studied healthcare administration as part of his Master’s program. He says that health advice and marketing methods can collide, and often serve the business instead of the consumer, resulting in the consumer hurting himself, or becoming convinced of the existence of a magic pill. Angelo’s gay matchmaking and life coaching teaches gay men over 40 how to lose weight, because he says it is easier to find the right match when one looks and feels better.

His 12-week intensive high-performance gay group coaching program teaches gay men over 40 how to turn short term results into a mindset for a long-term healthy and happy life.

“High quality gay men are out there available for relationships, but they will not settle for the average Joe,” Angelo adds. “And while the looks matter, it is also crucial to know how to make your partner feel good, and how to build intimacy with a new date.”

For more information, visit paulangelo.com.

BY PHOEBE MOSES

BERLIN, FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF GERMANY – On Monday, German police officials announced the arrest of the fugitive Luka Rocco Magnotta, who had fled from Canada on May 26, after committing the grisly murder of his boyfriend— an incident that he videotaped, and which he followed with the cannibalism and sexual mutilation of the bound and naked man, a graduate student from Concordia University in Montreal. The gruesome crime precipitated what police call the largest manhunt in Montreal’s history.

Six days after Interpol issued a “Red Notice” alert for the fugitive, Magnotta surrendered to Berlin police with a simple utterance of, “You got me.” Magnotta—a former gay porn star, whose real name is Eric Clinton Newman—became the subject of the international manhunt after a video circulated online showing a man—identified by investigators as Magnotta—stabbing another man with an ice pick, and then dismembering him, while the soundtrack from the movie “American Psycho” plays in the background. In the video, Magnotta reveals that he has slashed the other man’s throat, and then proceeds to dismember the body, and perform sexual acts upon it.

Magnotta was dubbed the “Butcher of Montreal,” “the Chameleon,” and “Canadian Psycho,” after it was discovered that he had carved up the victim, 33 year old Lin Jun, a student whom Montreal police say had been “in a relationship” with Magnotta.XXX The 29-year-old former porn star was sought by Canadian authorities for first-degree murder, defiling a corpse, and using Canada’s postal system to deliver “obscene, indecent, immoral, or scurrilous” material.

Canadian police say the murder happened on May 24 or 25. Four days later, on May 29, authorities told shocked reporters that a severed human foot had been sent to the headquarters of the ruling Conservative Party. (For this action, Magnotta is likely to be charged with threatening the life of Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper.) The grisly details continued when Ottawa postal officials reported intercepting a hand in the mail that was addressed to the opposition Liberal Party, and police discovered a mutilated human torso, which was later identified as belonging to the victim, Lin.

French investigators—who the daily Le Figaro described as “terrified” of Magnotta—described him as a “profoundly disturbed man” and “habitual liar,” and used the accused killer’s cellphone signal to trace him to a hotel in a Paris suburb. Although Magnotta was not on the premises, on Saturday, Paris police found adult magazines, in addition to airsickness bags issued by Air Canada, the commercial carrier that Magnotta used to affect his escape from Montreal to Paris, disguised—as surveillance tapes from Montreal-Trudeau International Airport show—in a dark wig and Mickey Mouse T-shirt.

Canadian authorities are also attempting to learn if Magnotta has killed in the past. Montreal police cite an online video depicting a man who resembles Magnotta committing torture against cats. Police say that animal rights activists have been looking for almost two years for a man who killed cats, and then posted the videos of it online. Montreal Police Commander Ian Lafreniere said of Magnotta, “This is the kind of guy that’s looking for attention. He likes to glorify himself with the Web. The Web will glorify him, and the Web is also going to bring him back to justice, because there are a lot of pictures of him out there, and it will help lead him to us.”

As it happened, Berlin police arrested Magnotta at an Internet café after French authorities were tipped off by a client of Magnotta’s, who had recognized the fugitive and alerted officials. As the Montreal police commander, Lafreniere, predicted, it was “the Web” that proved his undoing, as he was reading about himself online, and looking at his image on the computer, which enabled the witness to recognize him.

According to a former lover of Magnotta’s, he will do “anything to be famous.” Nina Arsenault, a transgender woman, said that the accused murderer would boast to her of his killing fantasies. Arsenault told police that Magnotta was a “f****d up kid,” and said he spoke regularly about killing both animals and people, including members of his own family. She told police that he once said to her, “I’m afraid when you look in my eyes, that you’ll see there’s nothing inside of me.

BY PHOEBE MOSES

BERLIN, FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF GERMANY – On Monday, German police officials announced the arrest of the fugitive Luka Rocco Magnotta, who had fled from Canada on May 26, after committing the grisly murder of his boyfriend— an incident that he videotaped, and which he followed with the cannibalism and sexual mutilation of the bound and naked man, a graduate student from Concordia University in Montreal.

The gruesome crime precipitated what police call the largest manhunt in Montreal’s history. Six days after Interpol issued a “Red Notice” alert for the fugitive, Magnotta surrendered to Berlin police with a simple utterance of, “You got me.” Magnotta—a former gay porn star, whose real name is Eric Clinton Newman—became the subject of the international manhunt after a video circulated online showing a man—identified by investigators as Magnotta—stabbing another man with an ice pick, and then dismembering him, while the soundtrack from the movie “American Psycho” plays in the background. In the video, Magnotta reveals that he has slashed the other man’s throat, and then proceeds to dismember the body, and perform sexual acts upon it.

Magnotta was dubbed the “Butcher of Montreal,” “the Chameleon,” and “Canadian Psycho,” after it was discovered that he had carved up the victim, 33 year old Lin Jun, a student whom Montreal police say had been “in a relationship” with Magnotta. The 29-year-old former porn star was sought by Canadian authorities for first-degree murder, defiling a corpse, and using Canada’s postal system to deliver “obscene, indecent, immoral, or scurrilous” material.

Canadian police say the murder happened on May 24 or 25. Four days later, on May 29, authorities told shocked reporters that a severed human foot had been sent to the headquarters of the ruling Conservative Party. (For this action, Magnotta is likely to be charged with threatening the life of Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper.) The grisly details continued when Ottawa postal officials reported intercepting a hand in the mail that was addressed to the opposition Liberal Party, and police discovered a mutilated human torso, which was later identified as belonging to the victim, Lin. French investigators—who the daily Le Figaro described as “terrified” of Magnotta—described him as a “profoundly disturbed man” and “habitual liar,” and used the accused killer’s cellphone signal to trace him to a hotel in a Paris suburb.

Although Magnotta was not on the premises, on Saturday, Paris police found adult magazines, in addition to airsickness bags issued by Air Canada, the commercial carrier that Magnotta used to affect his escape from Montreal to Paris, disguised—as surveillance tapes from Montreal-Trudeau International Airport show—in a dark wig and Mickey Mouse T-shirt. Canadian authorities are also attempting to learn if Magnotta has killed in the past. Montreal police cite an online video depicting a man who resembles Magnotta committing torture against cats. Police say that animal rights activists have been looking for almost two years for a man who killed cats, and then posted the videos of it online.

Montreal Police Commander Ian Lafreniere said of Magnotta, “This is the kind of guy that’s looking for attention. He likes to glorify himself with the Web. The Web will glorify him, and the Web is also going to bring him back to justice, because there are a lot of pictures of him out there, and it will help lead him to us.” As it happened, Berlin police arrested Magnotta at an Internet café after French authorities were tipped off by a client of Magnotta’s, who had recognized the fugitive and alerted officials. As the Montreal police commander, Lafreniere, predicted, it was “the Web” that proved his undoing, as he was reading about himself online, and looking at his image on the computer, which enabled the witness to recognize him. According to a former lover of Magnotta’s, he will do “anything to be famous.”

Nina Arsenault, a transgender woman, said that the accused murderer would boast to her of his killing fantasies. Arsenault told police that Magnotta was a “f****d up kid,” and said he spoke regularly about killing both animals and people, including members of his own family. She told police that he once said to her, “I’m afraid when you look in my eyes, that you’ll see there’s nothing inside of me.”

By Phoebe Moses

A new study, published this month in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, reports that homophobia can result—at least partially—from suppressing same-sex attraction.

The study analyzed six separate experiments conducted by researchers on approximately 800 university students in the U.S. and Germany, and provides empirical evidence that some homophobic individuals are in actuality manifesting externally the repressed sexual attraction they are experiencing for members of the same sex.

According to the study’s lead author, Dr. Netta Weinstein, a psychology professor at the University of Essex (U.K.): “Individuals who identify as straight but in psychological tests show a strong attraction to the same sex may be threatened by gays and lesbians because homosexuals remind them of similar tendencies within themselves.”

This hypothesis—that same-sex attraction, repressed by shame, fear, or other negative responses, manifests outwardly as homophobia— was acknowledged by one of the people cited in the research as examples of the theory: Ted Haggard, the evangelist whose pulpit blazed with the righteous fire of a brimstone-filled future for gay men (until a gay sex scandal involving a male hustler resulted in his resigning in disgrace) said in his apology during the scandal, “I think I was partially so vehement because of my own war [with same-sex attraction].”

Freud referred to this as a “reaction formation.” “In many cases these are people who are at war with themselves and they are turning this internal conflict outward,” said Dr. Richard Ryan, professor of psychology and psychiatry at the University of Rochester, and the study’s co-author.

Previous research conducted in 1996 by University of Georgia Department of Psychology found that hostility to gays is associated with homosexual arousal: this arousal was either unknown to or denied by the homophobic person who was experiencing it. The current study supports this, adding that those subjects who reported being heterosexual, but who experienced homosexual attraction under study conditions, were more likely to be homophobic.

Besides Haggard, the new study also offered other recent examples of religious and political conservatives who have made a career of opposition to LGBT rights—only to be outed in the most public and (often for their families) shameful of circumstances. Among those cited: former U.S. Sen. Larry Craig of Idaho, an opponent of including sexual identity in federal hate crimes statutes who was arrested for lewd behavior in a Minneapolis men’s room after he approached an undercover police officer for sexual favors; and Glenn Murphy Jr., a rising star in the GOP and former National Chair of the Young Republicans and opponent of marriage equality, who pleaded guilty in 2007 following accusations that he had performed oral sex on a sleeping 22-year-old man.

“We laugh at or make fun of such blatant hypocrisy, but in a real way, these people may often themselves be victims of repression and experience exaggerated feelings of threat,” added Ryan. “Homophobia is not a laughing matter. It can sometimes have tragic consequences,” citing the 1998 murder of Matthew Shepard and the 2008 shooting death of 15 year old Lawrence King.

In the study published this month, participants were asked to rate their sexual orientation on a scale from one to 10, from gay to straight. A computer-administered test assessed their ‘implicit’ and ‘explicit’ sexual orientations, including how they reacted to words (“gay,” “homosexual”) and images of a sexual nature during a split-second timed task.

Pictures of gay and straight couples were displayed for tracking participant reactions, and they were likewise asked to agree or disagree with phrases that described their relationships with their parents, such as “I felt free to be who I am,” or “I felt controlled and pressured in certain ways.”

The level of tolerance in their homes was measured with responses to such statements as “My dad avoids gay men whenever possible,” and “It would be upsetting for my mom to find out she was alone with a lesbian.” The study suggests that at least some of those with intense feelings of hostility to gay people were likely themselves to have been the victims of oppression and intolerance.

Displaying the word “me” or “other” for the briefest of intervals onscreen before each word or image was flashed, the authors say that the participants subliminally processed the word through “semantic association.” (When the word “me” precedes a word or image that reflects the viewer’s actual sexual orientation, these images are mentally sorted into the correct category faster than when “me” precedes those words or images that do not accurately reflect sexual orientation.) The study authors say this methodology is similar to tests that are used to measure other traits, like a subconscious racial bias.

The researchers identified those study participants who, in spite of a “straight” self-identification, displayed same-sex attraction (that is, they associated “me” with gay-related words and pictures faster than they associated “me” with straight-related words and pictures). The authors said that more than 20 percent of such self-described “straight” individuals showed this discrepancy.

Like the aforementioned Haggard, Craig, and Murphy, the study reported that other individuals who reflect this “discrepancy” are at a far greater likelihood of supporting policies and laws that are hostile to LGBT individuals. In short, a significant number of those who express homophobic and hostile attitudes towards gays are likely to manifest some measure of same-gender attraction.

The authors note that participants who had supportive parents and who grew up in a tolerant environment were more likely to accept their own implicit sexual identity, while the opposite holds true for those reared in controlling, intolerant homes.

By Phoebe Moses

WASHINGTON, DC – Less than a week after being appointed to serve as the foreign policy face of Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign, openly gay spokesman Richard Grenell is under fire for hundreds of online comments he had posted which reflected less than flattering personal opinions of women in politics from both sides of the political aisle.

Although he jibed on Twitter that Secretary of State “Hillary [Clinton] is starting to look liek [sic] Madeline Albright,” a reference to the first female secretary of state, who served under Bill Clinton, he likewise quipped that Republican candidate New Gingrich’s third wife, Callista “stands there like she is wife #1,” and wondered if her hair snaps on.”

Grenell also attacked Michelle Obama, who has waged a national campaign against childhood obesity, claiming that the First Lady was “sweating on the East Room carpet” after a workout, and called MSNBC host Rachel Maddow a “dead ringer for teen idol Justin Bieber. Grenell, a former Bush aide, apologized last Friday for the posts, and said that he would remove the offensive comments.

“My tweets were written to be tonguein- cheek and humorous but I can now see how they can also be hurtful,” Grenell told Politico. “I didn’t mean them that way and will remove them from Twitter. I apologize for any hurt they caused.” Approximately 800 tweets were removed from Grenell’s accounts over the weekend.

MSNBC’s Maddow speculated on Friday’s broadcast about the long-term impact on the Romney campaign, and if the presumptive GOP nominee and his advisors “understand that a long string of really nasty, sexist tweets about Callista Gingrich’s appearance might be alienating to people who might otherwise consider voting for Mr. Romney.”

Democrats have had their own perilous week, with David Parker, the chairman of North Carolina’s Democratic Party announcing last week that he will not seek re-election after a week of pressure from party elders—including the state’s outgoing governor—to resign after allegations of male-on-male sexual harassment surfaced last week in the state party’s Raleigh headquarters. Those allegations concern former state party executive director Jay Parmley, who himself resigned last week after it was disclosed that a complaint had been filed with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission against him by Adriadn Ortega, a former party employee who alleged he was fired from his job after Parmley sexually harassed him, despite assurances from party officials that he would not be punished for coming forward with a complaint.

Parker, the state chair, had resisted a week’s worth of cajoling from Democratic leaders to resign because his leadership of the party had become a distraction so close to the May primary and the election of a successor to Gov. Bev Perdue. “The party must move quickly to select a new chair and a new executive director,” she said. “It’s time to resume our focus on the core mission of the Democratic Party: strengthening our schools, creating jobs, and ensuring more opportunity for all North Carolinians,” said Perdue after Parker’s announcement.

In his EEOC complain, Ortega said that he was sexually harassed between early September and late November. He claims that he spoke to the party’s administrative director about the harassment in September, and that after speaking with another party official he was told that there would be no retaliation for his actions. Although Ortega says he was subjected to no further harassment, he was fired from his job in November.

Parker said that an investigation into Ortega’s claims found several of his allegations to be either false or open to interpretation, noting that they weren’t included in Ortega’s EEOC complaint. All that was left were allegations of Parmley touching Ortega’s leg while the latter slept during a road trip and of the executive director giving Ortega inappropriate shoulder massages. “We’re down to a whack on the leg to wake him up,” said Parker, “and unwanted shoulder rubs that don’t amount to a hostile environment.”

Democratic National Committee Executive Director Patrick Gaspard said that Parker’s decision was “in the best interest of the party,” as the scandal’s backlash threatened to hurt preparations for the Democratic National Convention, which will be held in September in Charlotte. Strategists for both parties also note that the Tar Heel State will be a battleground in November’s presidential election, and that President Barack Obama won the state in 2008 with just a 0.3 percent margin of victory.

By Phoebe Moses

The Florida Gay Rodeo Association’s (FGRA) Sunshine Stampede returns this weekend—Saturday, April 21 and Sunday, April 22—to the Bergeron Rodeo Grounds in Davie. The event will feature close to 100 contestants from throughout North America, competing in 13 rodeo events.

In addition to the contestants, organizers anticipate roughly 5,000 spectators to attend the weekend rodeo and its collateral events, FGRA’s largest yearly fundraising opportunity in this, its seventh annual effort. As measured by attendance, the Sunshine Stampede has grown to become one of the largest gay rodeos in the nation.

Notably absent from this year’s rodeo and its customary side events and parties will be Scandals Saloon, a traditional partner of the Sunshine Stampede. With only weeks to go before the International Gay Rodeo Association (IGRA)-sanctioned event, Scandals—a country-western Levis and leather bar located on NE 6 Ave, at the gateway to Wilton Manors—pulled out as a sponsor. Scandals’ proprietors, partners Ken Kelley and Lloyd Pagels, also own The Stable in Oakland Park. Both have had traditionally large afterevents associated with the Sunshine Stampede.

According to an individual close to the event who only spoke with the Agenda on the condition of anonymity, one of the things that contributed to Scandals’ decision was concern over the organizers’ decision to shuttle guests from the host Hilton Fort Lauderdale Airport Hotel to nighttime venues along Wilton Drive. Both Scandals and its sister bar The Stable are located some distance away and were not on the shuttle’s scheduled route.

Kelley told the Agenda, “Scandals Saloon became an official corporate sponsor of FGRA and the Sunshine Stampede Rodeo in 2006. Unfortunately, Scandals and the FGRA could not come to terms on the sponsorship contract this year.” He insisted that his decision was strictly a matter of business. “This is not in any fashion a negative reflection on either organization,” said Kelley. With respect to FGRA’s plan to affiliate with other bars and venues, Kelley was mostly philosophical.

“While I strongly disagree with some of the FGRA’s decisions in this respect— [along with] excluding Scandals from any planned events or parties—our plans for the weekend have not changed.” The official Saturday evening Hoedown, normally scheduled at Scandals, has been moved to Boom, 2232 Wilton Dr., Wilton Manors beginning at 9 p.m.

As an alternative to the Stampede’s “official” events, Kelley says Scandals will be throwing “the biggest rodeo party in town,” including a “1,500 square feet ‘ranch’, [and] BMI recording artist Melissa Fuller (performing Friday night at 9 p.m.), as well as band No Angel (performing Saturday night at 9 p.m.).” Scandals Saloon is located at 3073 NE 6th Ave., Wilton Manors.

The Sunshine Stampede continues a tradition that began in 1976, with the first recorded gay rodeo held in Reno, Nevada, an event held to raise money for muscular dystrophy. Nine years later, the International Gay Rodeo Association was founded. With 28 gay rodeo associations across the U.S. and Canada, there are approximately 30 gay rodeos held each year, and an invitational IGRA Finals Rodeo.

“Our sincerest wish is that this will be another successful year for the FGRA and hope everyone will come out and enjoy an amazing weekend,” Scandals’ Kelley said

20 LGBT Rights Groups Condem “Injustice” of Trayvon Martin Shootin

BY PHOEBE MOSES

SANFORD – On Monday, a coalition of 20 national gay rights organizations called for the “injustice” of the Trayvon Martin killing to be corrected. The groups, which included the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) and the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD), released a statement in the form of an “open letter,” in which they condemned the shooting of Trayvon Martin, the African American youth who was shot last month as he walked home with a snack in his hand. The killing of Martin, 17, has sparked national outrage over Florida’s “Stand Your Ground” law.

Under the law, which was passed by the Republican legislature and signed by Gov. Jeb Bush in 2005, the shooting was ruled justifiable. The law gives the benefit of the doubt to people who fire their guns in public places in self-defense.

Many experts say that Florida’s legal standard exceeds the traditional principles of self-defense in one’s home. Florida was the first state to pass such a law, after heavy lobbying from the National Rifle Association (NRA). Today, at least 20 other states have similar legislation.

 The LGBT groups wrote:

An Open Letter: Standing Alongside Trayvon Martin’s Family and Friends

“The tragic killing of Trayvon Martin is a national call to action. Our hearts go out to Trayvon’s family and friends for the loss they have experienced. We stand in solidarity with them as they demand answers and justice. We represent organizations with diverse lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender constituencies.”

“Many in our community have been targets of bigotry and bias. We have a great deal of experience grappling with the role bias plays in violent crimes against our communities. We well know the stories of young people targeted for violence just because of who they are: Rashawn Brazell, Lawrence King, Ali Forney, Deoni Jones, Brandon White, Matthew Shepard, Angie Zapata, Sean Kennedy and countless others.

“Trayvon’s killing is a wakeup call to the enduring cancer of racism and racial profiling. The pain his family continues to endure transcends communities and unites us all. Every person, regardless of race, religion, sexual orientation or gender identity, must be able to walk the streets without fear for their safety. Trayvon’s killing is tragic and the stark reality that racial bias played a role in his death has alarmed our nation. Questions must be asked. Answers must be sought. And justice must be served.” “We join our voices to the chorus of so many others to demand that local and federal authorities find those answers. We stand in solidarity with Trayvon’s family and friends as they seek justice for his killing. In the timeless words of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”

Signatories: CenterLink: The Community of LGBT Centers, Family Equality Council, Freedom to Marry, GLAAD, Human Rights Campaign, Immigration Equality, International Federation of Black Prides, LGBT Progress at the Center for American Progress, Lambda Legal, National Black Justice Coalition, National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR), National Coalition for LGBT Health, National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, National Stonewall Democrats, Out & Equal Workplace Advocates, Pride at Work, Services and Advocacy for GLBT Elders (SAGE), Servicemembers Legal Defense Network (SLDN), The Trevor Project, UNID@S.

By PHOEBE MOSES

WILTON MANORS – In the annals of performance-based giving, Atlantic Properties International realty agents David Daso and Robert Wilfong are rewriting the playbook.

The duo, who share lives and office space in Wilton Manors, have kicked off a unique campaign to give back to the community, and they are encouraging their clients and investors to do their parts in “putting their money” where the need is greatest.

Beginning during this month’s Pridefest weekend, Daso and Wilfong have begun to contribute 25 percent of their listing commission to a local charity of their client’s choice—or of the realtors’ if their investor doesn’t evince a preference.

The caring-and-sharing couple’s generosity is contagious, as they have ensnared Atlantic Properties’ CEO and broker, Carl Marzola, in their giving-web, with the same percentage of the brokerage owner’s commission blowing up that charitable kitty into some very comfortable proportions.

“I want to do everything I can to encourage my team associates to make this community very much a part of themselves,” notes Marzola, whose Atlantic Properties.

DAVID DASO (LEFT), AND ROBERT GILFONG (RIGHT)

International Business Café is located directly across Wilton Drive from the Wilton Manors City Hall.

“We all know what the economic challenges this community has faced in the past few years,” says Marzola.

“That’s why it is so vital to see business people like Bob and Dave helping to build the foundations that make for a strong future for us all. Broward House and Poverello are just two of the many great organizations that we are proud to support and help in a tangible way.”

As noted by Marzola, the first contribution from the commission earned by Wilfong and Daso will benefit local service organization Broward House. That group was selected by the pair’s client/seller, Jim Blasi.

“Another listing is pending and, upon closing, the designated charity is Poverello,” explains Daso, who, along with Wilfong, has been a real estate professional for six years, a job they started six years after moving here. “We just wanted to give something back to our community,” Daso adds, matter-of-factly.

In addition to their charitable efforts, Wilfong and Daso have just finished shooting an episode of HGTV’s “House Hunters.” Their segment will air on the cable network in about three months.

“Our clients Marcel Lebrun and Carl Daniels asked if we wanted to do it,” recalls Daso, “and of course we said yes! We filmed three days in January–one day for each property- -and last weekend filmed the ‘Three Months Later’ part of it.”

Daso says that he and Wilfong took advantage of the “lent” spotlight to focus it on the place they love to call home.

“We were lucky to have some say as to where” the location shooting occurred, “so we made it all about Wilton Manors and Fort Lauderdale,” Daso shares. “Not only did they film at the beach, but they also featured the Alibi, Naked Grape Wine Bar, Rosie’s, and Wilton Drive in general.”

Daso says that he and Wilfong have been fortunate in the friends and business relationships they have forged in the past 12 years.

They would like to see that goodwill banked and used for the good of themselves and the entire region.

“We hope to promote our area as an affordable and highly desirable area to buy and sell real estate,” Daso adds.