Florida Agenda

Officials Fly to Berlin ITB Convention This Week

By Phoebe Moses

Last year, members of Broward County’s LGBT business community formed the Greater Fort Lauderdale Gay & Lesbian Chamber of Commerce(GFLGLCC), with a three-fold mission: To promote business and economic opportunities for the LGBT and LGBT-friendly community. To be an advocate and resource for all member businesses that promote equality. And to promote tourism with a unified approach by working with all related organizations.

The Chamber, a 501c(6) non-profit organization, has an ambitious agenda to partner with local LGBT organizations to mutually promote the sunshine and fun of Greater Fort Lauderdale and Broward County, as well as partnering with those businesses who are looking to form a beachhead in the LGBT market. The organization’s president and CEO, Keith Blackburn, went to Berlin, Germany this month to attend the ITB convention, the world’s largest travel trade show, with an anticipated 170,000 attendees representing over 180 countries.

“This is an amazing opportunity to promote all that Greater Fort Lauderdale has to offer to a virtually captive audience,” reports Blackburn. “The ITB-Berlin event is the largest travel trade show on the planet, and we will have access to travel and tourism officials, travel agencies, cruise and tour operators, and it’s a real chance to showcase what we love about where we live,” added Blackburn, whose own business credentials include operating Fort Lauderdale’s successful Mary’s Resort and gay guest house.
Blackburn and the GFLGLCC are also promoting, both locally and abroad, the new Rainbow Hospitality Alliance (RHA). In 1997, the Rainbow Alliance (RA) was launched to build gay and gay-friendly tourism in Greater Fort Lauderdale. Because of legal issues, the RA was limited in its ability to expand its mission statement, and so the group was officially disbanded in 2011. This paved the way for the formation of the RHA, with a stated mission to build alliances and bridges that market the area as the premier LGBT travel destination. In aid of this, the group will launch the southfloridafun.com Website this month.

Blackburn notes that the GFLGLCC’s mission to Berlin has the support of the Greater Fort Lauderdale Convention and Visitors Bureau (CVB), as well as businesses with a stake in the effort’s overall success.

“This Berlin trip was made possible by our hotel sponsors,” Blackburn says. Those sponsors included the Atlantic Hotel, Cheston House, Elysium Resort, Inn Leather, La Casa Del Mar, and the Best Western Oakland Park Inn, in addition to his own Mary’s Resort. Long term, GFLGLCC has also partnered with the International Gay and Lesbian Travel Association (IGLTA), which sponsored last year’s international convention of travel professionals in Greater Fort Lauderdale, and the FunMaps media group.

“Their support enabled us to create a unique brochure, showcasing Greater Fort Lauderdale as a world-class LGBT tourist destination,” emphasized Blackburn.

For more information about GFLGLCC, visit gogayfortlauderdale.com.

By PHOEBE MOSES

NEW DELHI, INDIA  -In what was later described as a “comedy of errors” and “a farce,” a high ranking member of India’s Justice Ministry last month went on record before the nation’s highest court and asked it to permanently outlaw gay sex. Additional Solicitor General P.P. Malhotra, a senior attorney for the government, urged India’s Supreme Court to ban consensual same-sex relationships, just hours before the nation’s Home Ministry contradicted him and accepted a 2009 lower court ruling that decriminalizes homosexual intimacy.

The Press Trust of India reports that Malhotra said that “gay sex is highly immoral and against social order and there is high chance of spreading of diseases through such acts.” A statement from India’s Home Ministry overruled Malhotra’s actions, saying it had no intention of challenging the 2009 Delhi High Court decision that struck down a law that makes consensual sex between people of the same gender a crime punishable by up to 10 years in prison. Officials said Malhotra had been reading from an old statement delivered before the 2009 ruling. The Home Ministry said there had been a “miscommunication.” It added that the ministry “has not taken any position on homosexuality.”

Conservatives have asked the Supreme Court to overturn the lower court’s order, and high court judges are hearing opinions from both conservative groups and LGBT rights activists. The 2009 Delhi High Court ruling struck down a 148-year-old colonial-era law that described a same-sex relationship as an “unnatural offence.” A number of conservative political, social, and religious groups want the colonial-era law reinstated. Malhotra had conservatives in the courtroom wondering which side he was on when he insisted that India’s policies toward homosexuality should not imitate those of the industrialized world. “Our constitution is different and our moral and social values are also different from other countries, so we cannot follow them,” Malhotra said, adding gay sex warranted criminalization.

Within hours, the Home Ministry issued a statement contradicting Malhotra’s call for a ban on gay sex. “After the judgment of the Delhi High Court decriminalizing homosexuality was delivered, the matter was considered by the cabinet. The cabinet decided that the government may not appeal against the judgment to the Supreme Court,” it read.

During the past decade, a degree of acceptance for gays and lesbians has slowly emerged in certain parts of India, particularly in large urban areas. In the cities, bars feature regular gay nights, and a number of high-profile “Bollywood” films have dealt with LGBT themes. New Delhi, Mumbai, and Kolkata have also experienced large gay pride events in the past two years. In spite of this, there are many taboos associated with being gay throughout most of India, and many gays and lesbians remain in the closet to relatives, friends, and coworkers.

2228 Wilton Drive
Wilton Manors, FL 33305
954-563-2499
chicoptique.net

By PHOEBE MOSES

You couldn’t tell at first glance, but the staff at Chic Optique combines over 100 of experience in the eyewear business. It must be all that clean living, with an ownership philosophy that’s as simple as it is meritorious. “Always give back to our community,” says Karen Carroll, who, with partner Julie Slater, owns the landmark Chic Optique in the heart of Wilton Manors downtown area.

“We always wanted to live in the area,” recalls Carroll. Eyewear would play a part in the couple’s life from the get-go. When the couple met 15 years ago, Carroll had just relocated from New York and was looking for parttime work. An ad in a local gay rag led Carroll to apply at a local optician. That’s where she met Slater, a Florida native. They became friends and, later, partners.

The couple opened Chic Optique in the Shoppes of Wilton Manors in February 2003. “We wanted to work and live in Wilton Manors and be part of this great community where we feel at home,” Carroll remembers. Their business model included competitive pricing, having a large selection in stock, and translating that sense of “community” into their customer dealings. Carroll emphasizes how critical it is for customers to feel cared for. “We want to have people feel completely comfortable in our office and treat them like family, and back that with great service and care,” explains Carroll.

Part of that customer service model involves having the right staff. Eddie Fiorenza, who worked with Slater and Carroll in the late 1990s, came with them to Chic Optique nine years ago. “We couldn’t do it without our staff, the Chic Optique family,” says Carroll with feeling. “Eddie Fiorenza, Marcus Rowe: they give so much to our community every day.”

In that spirit of giving to the community, the women of Chic Optique have a commendable history of supporting service organizations and charities that contribute to the well-being of the local LGBT community.

A much abbreviated list of their service organizing beneficiaries includes Poverello Food Bank and Thrift Store, Broward House, Care Resource, the Smart Ride, and Tuesday’s Angels.

“We try to help any group when we can, and admire so many in our community for doing so much,” says Carroll with real appreciation. “Julie and I feel blessed we can be a part of that involvement in giving. It gives us a chance to make a difference in our own, small way in people’s lives.”

The partners say they would like to build upon that foundation of customer service and community service in the coming year. “We want to continue to have the best selection of eyewear for every budget. We want to improve our business and be innovators in our field by using the latest lenses and technology for the best vision and fit.”

The partners say they would like to build upon that foundation of customer service and community service in the coming year. “We want to continue to have the best selection of eyewear for every budget. We want to improve our business and be innovators in our field by using the latest lenses and technology for the best vision and fit.”

Chic Optique, in the Shoppes of
Wilton Manors, is located at 2228
Wilton Drive, Wilton Manors, FL
33305. -954-567-3937 or at
www.chicoptique.net.

By Phoebe Moses

LONDON, UK – The former ordained head of the Church of England called attempts to legalize same-sex marriage in the United Kingdom an effort to “undermine” the traditional family.

George Lord Carey, the Archbishop of Canterbury, told the Daily Mail that “The ideal is for children to be raised by a mother and father who are married,” and said that marriage equality is merely a “power grab” by a secular government to control an institution it does not own.

“The honorable estate of matrimony precedes both the state and the church, and neither of these institutions have the right to redefine it in such a fundamental way,” Carey said.

“I do not believe the British public wants any of this,” he added, saying that the “move to legalize same-sex marriage is undemocratic.” Carey told the British newspaper that a new group, the Coalition for Marriage, had been formed to oppose the government’s plans to change the nation’s marriage laws.

Carey’s comments were met with strong opposition from Britain’s gay rights groups. “Coalition members are entitled to believe that same-sex marriages are wrong, but they are not entitled to demand that their opposition to such marriages should be imposed on the rest of society and enforced by law,” said British LGBT rights advocate Peter Tatchell. “The coalition is out of touch with public opinion. Most British people now support marriage equality.”

In fact, all three of Britain’s major political parties—Conservative, Labor, and Liberal– support same-sex marriage. Speaking last year at the Conservative Party’s national convention, Prime Minister David Cameron was clear about his stand on the issue: “To anyone who has reservations, I say this: yes, it’s about equality, but it’s also about something else: commitment. Conservatives believe in the ties that bind us; that society is stronger when we make vows to each other and support each other. So I don’t support gay marriage in spite of being a Conservative. I support gay marriage because I am a Conservative.”

By Phoebe Moses

Last week, members of parliament (MPs) crossed party lines in support of a sweeping national suicide prevention bill, passing legislation by a vote of 285 to 3 in the House of Commons on Feb. 15.

“At the heart of this bill is a clear call for national leadership, a coordination of the great efforts of many community groups across Canada, suicide prevention groups already doing all they can to bring hope,” Conservative Party MP Harold Albrecht, the bill’s sponsor, told the House of Commons.

The measure will “create a framework for suicide prevention,” Joe Comartin, an MP from the opposition National Democratic Party, said during debate on the bill. “It would recognize suicide as both a mental health and a public health issue.”

“Suicide deaths and attempts cost the Canadian economy over $14.7 billion annually,” Liberal Party MP Hedy Fry told members. “If we are not moved by the human problem here, we should know that the $14.7 billion could go to other parts of health care to help all kinds of problems, including via measures for prevention, promotion, and setting up of community clinics, et cetera.”

A physician, Fry detailed the startling statistics: “The national rate of suicide in Canada is 15 out of 100,000 people,” she noted. “Now, in 2012, it is 73% higher than it was in the 1950s. For every suicide, there are 100 failed attempts.”

“The rate of suicide is higher among men. We know that 23 out of every 100,000 men will attempt suicide as opposed to 6 out of 100,000 women, although women are three to four times more likely to attempt as opposed to actually complete suicide,” she said. “It is the second leading cause of death among Canadian youth aged 10 to 24. In fact, the suicide rate for Canadian youth is the third highest in the industrialized world.”

Fry also pointed out that certain population groups have a higher incidence of suicide. “Those in the armed forces have a three times higher rate of suicide than the general population; gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender persons have a seven times higher rate of suicide than heterosexual youth,” Fry reported.

“We all know someone whose sense of hope was overcome by emotional pain and despair and consequently ended his or her life by suicide,” offered the bill’s Conservative sponsor, Albrecht. “The big problem is that suicide does not end the pain. It simply transfers it to family and community.”

“We as a Parliament can and must do more to protect this sacred gift of human life,” he added.

By PHOEBE MOSES

WILTON MANORS, FL – Gay athletes who excel at tennis are not a new phenomenon. The ranks of LGBT tennis professionals and amateurs includes household names like Martina Navratilova and Billie Jean King, as well as Renee Richards, the first and only male-to-female transsexual ever to play the US Open, and herself no stranger to South Florida tennis courts.

This weekend, dozens of LGBT tennis players will descend upon Greater Fort Lauderdale for the Seventh Annual Clay Court Classic, presented by the South Florida Tennis Club (SFTC).  The event runs from Feb. 17-20 at The Tennis Club of Fort Lauderdale, 600 Tennis Club Drive, in the Lazy Lakes area just south of Oakland Park Blvd.

The Clay Court Classic is a singles and doubles tournament that is open to all skill levels, including split divisions, held under the aegis of the Gay & Lesbian Tennis Association (GLTA), a national organization formed in 1991 which has grown into an international body overseeing groups in 58 member-cities, and 70 annual tournaments held on  five continents.

The South Florida Tennis Club is a nonprofit organization which was formed with a mission to develop and coordinate tennis activities for South Florida’s LGBT community. The group hosts two yearly tournaments: The Clay Court Classic, a singles and doubles tournament held each President’s Day Weekend, and The Spring Fling, a doubles-only tournament held in early May. The local organization also works to promote tennis as an inclusive sport like swimming rather than a snobby country club activity like golf. The expansion of gay tennis across Europe and the sport’s inclusion in recent Gay Games have made their job easier.

In addition to hosting the tournaments—and LGBT tennis enthusiasts from across the globe–the Club supports local charities and service organizations through charitable giving and fundraising via its tournaments. The Classic’s tournament charity is SunServe, a nonprofit social service agency that provides quality, compassionate, and progressive care for youths, minorities, seniors, families, and those with life-challenging physical or emotional conditions. Anti-bullying campaigns and service to those in financial need are also part of SunServe’s indispensable work.

By PHOEBE MOSES

MIAMI, FL  – The “It Gets Better” video project, the brainchild of author and journalist Dan Savage, along with other anti-bullying campaigns, are providing inspiration for the Youth
Pride Band of South Florida, an honors band comprised of high school  students who have joined together to promote tolerance and understanding through music. The band is a project of the South Florida Pride Wind  Ensemble (SFPWE).

The Youth Pride Band consists of gay, lesbian, bisexual, and questioning students, as well as straight allies from various South Florida high schools. Three student band members will each receive $1,000 college scholarships.

Although there are more than twenty adult gay bands across North America, the Youth Pride Band of South Florida is the first of its kind, says SFPWE president Alain Ortiz.

“With so many teen suicides and assaults occurring in the past year or two, we felt it important to do what we could to address bullying and provide a positive experience for young musicians,” Ortiz explained. “For many of us, band was a place where we could escape the teasing and really fit in.”

The Youth Pride Band’s 27 student members, ages 15 to 18, will make their concert debut in the Amaturo Theater at the Broward Center for the Performing Arts on Sunday, Feb. 12th at 7 p.m.

Internationally-acclaimed composer and conductor David Shaffer of Miami University of Ohio will conduct a program of traditional band works, in addition to his own compositions.
Natalie Mullen, 17, is a clarinetist from McArthur High School in Hollywood. “It’s really important for me to support my friends,” she says. An openly-gay friend at her school broke both his legs after trying to commit suicide by jumping from a second story building. Another admitted on Facebook that he cut himself. “The bullying really affects their self-esteem,” Mullen emphasized.

Christina Dunbar, 18, is president of the Gay Straight Alliance (GSA) at Pembroke Pines Charter High School, one of Broward County’s largest GSAs. The flutist, who is bisexual, says she has experienced firsthand the challenges of coming-out as a teen, as well as the homophobia of classmates, which is often masked as playful hazing and good-natured teasing. “This is a side of the gay community that I hadn’t seen,” she says about the SFPWE. “It’s amazing how supportive everybody has been.”

Says Shaffer, who has conducted bands across North America and was himself the victim of teen-aged bullying: “This is a fantastic opportunity to get kids involved in a weekend making good music and bringing young people together.” The conductor was recently commissioned by the Toronto (Canada) Board of Education to compose a piece that specifically addresses bullying. “It’s important. I definitely relate back to when I was in junior high school.”

The Pride Youth Band also provides some students with an opportunity to perform that they can’t get at school. Gay saxophonist Julio Marcone, 17, attends Fort Lauderdale High School, which recently eliminated its band program due to budget cuts. A scheduling mistake landed him in band in middle school, so he learned to read music, took up the trumpet and later switched to tenor saxophone. “It’s been an experience,” he says of the first rehearsal. “I heard about the band from a friend and I’m so glad I have the chance to play again.”

The Youth Pride Band will open the Broward Center concert, followed by a performance by the SFPWE. Under the leadership of artistic director Dan Bassett, the organization has become a leader in the gay band movement.

“Not only are we providing an educational experience for these talented young people,” notes Bassett, “they are getting the opportunity to work with successful role models and perform with one of the leading conductors in the country. It’s going to be a fantastic concert and the start of a program that will touch many young musicians.”

Tickets are $10 at the Broward Center Box Office, BrowardCenter.org. For more information, go to PrideWindEnsemble.org.

By Phoebe Moses

FORT LAUDERDALE, FL – Republican presidential hopeful Rick Santorum, campaigning on Sunday, Jan. 22 in Broward County, received the endorsement of former Fort Lauderdale Mayor Jim Naugle.

During a campaign stop in Coral Springs, the former six-term mayor introduced Santorum, saying that conservatives “really only have one choice.”

Naugle’s remarks and endorsement came a day after Santorum, a former U.S. Senator from Pennsylvania, placed third in the South Carolina GOP presidential primary. Santorum finished behind fellow GOP contenders Newt Gingrich and Mitt Romney.

Naugle, who was Fort Lauderdale’s longest-serving mayor, said of Santorum: “When you look at the candidate we’re here to support today, his unwavering support for the unborn, his unwavering support for the Second Amendment. He’s the only candidate left standing that has a position  on repealing ‘Obamacare’ that makes  any sense.”

Although a life-long Democrat, Naugle endorsed numerous Republican candidates during his eighteen years as mayor. He also earned the criticism of LGBT rights activists for controversial positions he took as the city’s chief executive.

In 2007, Naugle said that the city needed to purchase single-occupancy public toilets in Fort Lauderdale’s Holiday Park in order to “reduce homosexual sex in bathrooms.” The mayor first claimed that his orders to city police to arrest gay men accused of having sex in the park’s restrooms was intended to protect the city’s children, but he later said his purpose was to reduce the risk of HIV transmission. Fort Lauderdale Police reported four incidents of male sex acts in public restrooms during the period between November 2005 and November 2007.

Naugle said at the time: “We don’t have men and women having sex together in bathrooms–at least we don’t have reports of that. It’s men having sex with men, and I feel it’s necessary for an elected official to tell it like it is. I don’t subscribe to political correctness.”

In 2007, Naugle opposed the Stonewall Library & Archives, citing pornographic materials among the library’s collections. Stonewall Executive Director Jack Rutland countered that the three titles the mayor found objectionable were contained among the library’s non-circulating archive of 7000 titles, which were maintained for historical and research purposes only. In spite of Naugle’s fierce opposition, Fort Lauderdale city commissioners approved the library’s occupation of a city-owned building. That summer, the Broward Tourism Development Council expelled Naugle because of his positions concerning LGBT rights.

Naugle’s support for the Boy Scouts of America’s ban on gay troop leaders prompted the nine members of the Broward County Commission to unanimously sign a letter that called the county “safe, unbiased and gay friendly.”

After his public battles over gay rights, Naugle explained his choice of verbiage to describe LGBT issues: “I use the word homosexual. Most of them aren’t gay; they’re unhappy.”

Photo: Former City Commissioner Anthony Niedwicki and his partner Waymon at a  “Flush Naugle” Campaign Event in 2008.

By Phoebe Moses

WINDSOR, ONTARIO – Canadian courts are debating the legal niceties of the nation’s marriage laws as a divorce case involving a Florida woman and her partner from England, who were married in 2005 in Toronto, threatens the very legal basis for Canada’s same-sex marriage statutes.

The women sought a Canadian marriage because same-sex unions weren’t legal in either of their countries of origin. Now seeking a divorce, the case threatens to upend the lives of more than 5,000 LGBT people who moved to Canada because of the freedom to marry.

At the heart of the controversy is the couple’s application for divorce, which the government says cannot be granted because the couple wasn’t married to begin with. An attorney with Canada’s Department of Justice, Sean Gaudet, said in a documented response to their application: “Neither party had the legal capacity to marry a person of the same sex under the laws of their respective domicile – Florida and the United Kingdom. As a result, their marriage is not legally valid under Canadian law.”

In addition to his argument that since the women are not legally married in Florida or England, their marriage is not valid in Canada, either, Gaudet added that under the nation’s federal marriage laws, a married couple must reside in Canada for at least one year in order to qualify for a divorce.

During the past six years, thousands of couples from the U.S. and other countries have emigrated to Canada because of the nation’s marriage equality laws. That began with the 2004 court ruling that legalized same-sex marriage in Canada on the grounds that it was discriminatory to deny same-sex couples the right to marry. Canadian lawmakers passed legislation recognition its legality the following year.

In 2006, Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s Conservative Party attempted to roll back same-sex marriage through a parliamentary measure to “restore the traditional definition of marriage,” but it was defeated by lawmakers. On Jan. 12, Harper said that his administration will not revisit same-sex marriage. “We have no intention of further reopening this issue,” the 51-year-old prime minister said.

Canadian Justice Minister Rob Nicholson echoed Harper’s words, saying, “I want to be very clear that the government has no intention of reopening the debate on the definition of marriage.” In a possible effort to sound a conciliatory note, Nicholson added that he will consider “options to clarify the law so that such marriages performed in Canada can be undone in Canada.”

When the Superior Court decides the case next month, it has several options, including denying an application to waive the residency requirement for divorce, which would leave the women unable to remarry, or the Department of Justice’s argument could spell the end of Canadian weddings for foreign gay couples unable to legally marry in their home countries.

PHOTO:   EnergeticCity.ca

By Phoebe Moses

MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA – Australian tennis legend Margaret Court said this week that while she supports gay rights, her religious views prevent her from supporting same-sex marriage.

In an interview with Reuters on January 11, Court, a 24-times grand slam singles champion and a pastor at Victory Life Centre Church in Perth, Australia, said “I actually love homosexual people.

I do not have anything against them.”

But her views on same-sex marriage can be found “in the scriptures,” she said, adding that “the bible will always be the TV guide to my life. I believe marriage is something between a man and a woman.”

“To dismantle this sole definition of marriage and try to legitimize what God calls abominable sexual practices that include sodomy, reveals our ignorance as to the ills that come when society is forced to accept law that violates their very own God-given nature of what is right and what is wrong,” Court told an interviewer.

The 69-year-old Court has long been on-record as opposing same-sex marriage. Her views came under attack recently by retired women’s tennis champions Martina Navratilova and Billie Jean King after an interview in which she restated her opposition, referring to same-sex marriage as “unhealthy” and “unnatural.”

Court said she has told Navratilova previously that she was unlikely to change her opinion on same-sex unions. “I said ‘Martina, God loves you but a wrong does not make a right,’” she recalled, adding that she told the Czech-American tennis star, “Don’t try to change me’.” Both Navratilova and King are gay.

Australian LGBT rights activists are calling for those attending this year’s Australian Open first grand slam event, which starts on January 16, to carry “rainbow flags” with them to Margaret Court Arena, Melbourne Park named show-court named after the tennis champ. A “Rainbow Flags over Margaret Court Arena” page on Facebook is calling on people to come out in large numbers. “Our Mission: To support the gay community by inundating MCA with rainbow flags during the Australian Open,” it says.

Tournament director Craig Tiley distanced his organization and himself from the hot-button elements of the issue, saying: “Margaret Court has won more grand slam titles than any other player and has been honored for her achievements in tennis. She is a legend of the sport. We respect that her playing career is second to none. But her personal views are her own and are not shared by Tennis Australia.”

Court told Reuters that she will attend the Australian Open, although she is “sad” that activists protesters might seek to use the tennis as a venue for expressing their views.

She was sad her religious views were being used as fuel for a planned protest at next week’s Australian Open, but said she remained staunchly opposed to same-sex marriage.

Martina Navratilova (above) Has Taken Issue with the Expressed Beliefs of Margaret Court