A new report released by the National Center for Lesbian Rights documents what happens when children are left in the foster care system rather than being placed with qualified gay and lesbian parents. The report, The High Cost of Denying Permancy: An Analysis of the Economic Impact of Florida's Adoption Ban, looks at not just the monetary cost to taxpayers, but the cost paid by children who spend years in the foster care system.
Florida is currently working to meet Federal Requirements outlined in the Adoptions and Safe Families Act (AFSA). The report states almost 75% of foster youth eligible for adoption are still 'in the system' waiting to be adopted after two years. If the state fails to improve these numbers and meet AFSA requirements, Florida could lose approximately $220 million dollars in federal child welfare funding.

"Florida Adoption Ban Costs Taxpayers & Hurts Children"

The public backlash over gay marriage has receded since a controversial decision by the Massachusetts Supreme Court in 2003 to legalize those marriages stirred strong opposition, says a poll released Wednesday.
Gay marriage remains a divisive issue, with 51 percent opposing it, the poll by the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press found. But almost two-thirds, 63 percent, opposed gay marriage in February 2004.
"Most Americans still oppose gay marriage, but the levels of opposition are down and the number of strong opponents are down," said Andrew Kohut, director of the Pew Research Center. "This has some implications for the midterm elections if this trend is maintained. There are gay marriage ballot initiatives in numerous states."
Gay marriage got intense media coverage in 2004 after the Massachusetts court case, the decision by San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom to issue thousands of marriage licenses to gay couples and similar cases. But the intense focus on gay marriage has declined in the last year.
In 2004, opponents of gay marriage were able to pass ballot initiatives banning the practice in 11 states, from Georgia to Oregon. Those gay marriage initiatives also helped conservatives rally their voters to the polls.
The number of people who say they strongly oppose gay marriage has dropped from 42 percent in early 2004 to 28 percent now. Strong opposition has dropped sharply among senior citizens and Republicans.


People are now evenly split on allowing adoptions by gay couples and six in 10 now favor allowing gays to serve openly in the military.
Legal challenges of laws on gay marriage could result in more court decisions that stir public opinion, but this midterm election year is starting with far less public anxiety about one of the nation's most volatile social issues.
The telephone poll of 1,405 adults was conducted March 8-12 and has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.
ON THE NET
Pew Research Center: http://www.people-press.org/

MIAMI - The Miami-Dade chapter of the Gay, Lesbian & Straight Education Network, a national advocacy group for safe schools, recently expanded its charter to include public schools in Broward, Monroe and Palm Beach Counties in addition to Miami-Dade where it has worked for close to 15 years making schools safer for all students regardless of real or perceived sexual orientation or gender identity."The issue of school safety is important to educators throughout South Florida," said Robert Loupo, executive director of the newly renamed GLSEN South Florida. "A recent Harris survey showed that over 50 percent of students in Florida reported that they were verbally harassed in school the previous year. The same survey showed that students in schools with inclusive school board policies, like the ones we have established in Miami-Dade, report far fewer harassment problems at their schools (33 vs. 44 percent). "We need to share our successful training programs which teach respect for everyone with other school districts and schools in South Florida," Loupo said.To support the expansion GLSEN South Florida board president Bruce Presley has pledged a matching grant of $100,000. To date $35,000 in matching funds has been collected. "It's just the beginning," said Presley of the funding campaign. "This work is so important that I'm sure we will attract philanthropists from all four counties who are eager to help gay kids.""I think it's wonderful that GLSEN Miami is reaching out to include other South Florida counties," said Kevin Jennings, founder and executive director of GLSEN. "They have been strong advocates for making schools safer in Miami-Dade and I'm sure they will be successful in addressing anti-LGBT harassment in Broward, Monroe and Palm Beach schools."Loupo said his organization, which has trained more than 800 Miami-Dade educators in preventing bullying of sexual minorities in schools, has met with educators and school board officials in the three new counties and has been warmly welcomed. Programs will be launched in locations throughout South Florida in the next several months. GLSEN South Florida was first organized in 1991 as South Florida Educators Group and focused on connecting and empowering GLBT educators in Miami-Dade County. Having achieved significant changes in school board policy and union contract protections in 1993 and 1994, the board of directors voted to become a chapter of the national organization, GLSEN, Inc. in 1996. In 1999 the organization created its Safe Schools Project which provides professional training for teachers in kindergarten through grade 12 as well as a number of programs for students including youth empowerment and history conferences, recreational events and student panels."We are confident that we can leverage our successes in Miami to the surrounding South Florida school districts in collaboration with school district officials and others," said Loupo. "These institutional changes will translate into life-changing experiences for all students." More information is available online at glsensouthflorida.org.


For more information check the following sites: glsensouthflorida.org

The Broward County Women's History Coalition invites you to attend the 15th annual induction ceremony for the Broward County Women's Hall of Fame.



The event is being held Sunday, March 26th, at the Old Fort Lauderdale Village, Museum, and New River Inn, 219 SW 2nd Avenue, Fort Lauderdale, at 1:30 PM. In addition to the induction ceremony, Broward County Students will be awarded trophies and certificates for their award winning essays for Women's History Month. The theme this year is; Women Change Broward.

Inductees this year include realtors Myrtle T. "Andy" Anderson, (posthumously) and Lorraine Fletcher, National Alliance for Mental Illness President Evelyn Miller, and local, state, and national activist and advocate, Melissa Fojtik. Speaker at the event will be 2003 Women's Hall of Fame inductee, the Honorable State Senator, Nan S. Rich.
For those of you familiar with the Broward County Women's Hall of Fame, there will be several "surprise" announcements which will affect the women of Broward County into the foreseeable future. Women have been written out of history for many years. The surprises will assist in remedying this situation for Broward county's women.
The event is free and open to the public. Valet parking is available at The River House Restaurant. Turn SOUTH from SW 2nd Street onto SW 3rd Avenue. It is a very short stroll through the yard to the grounds of the Fort Lauderdale Historical Society grounds. Parking is also available at the County Garage at the intersection of SW 2nd Street and the railroad tracks.
There will be a reception and a "Special Surprise" following the ceremonies. Cost for the reception is $10.00 in advance or $15.00 at the door. Please make your reservation by e-mailing Patti Lynn at: patti7177@bellsouth.net reservations will be honored at the door at the pre-event price.
The Broward County Women's History Coalition thanks all of those who have worked so hard to bring this event to fruition. There are no words that would adequately express the appreciation that I have for Ruth McShane, the Fort Lauderdale Historical Society, Brooke Trace, the New River Inn staff, and Women's History Coalition treasurer, Carol Pasternak. If any one of those people were removed from the equation, this event would never have happened.


Patti Lynn
President, BCWHC

SunServe and Valuing Our Families Conference on WLRN (91.3 fm, www.wlrn.org. for webcast.)
Topical Currents, 1-2 pm, Monday, March 27.


Miami public radio station WLRN will feature Jennifer Chrisler, Ex. Dir.of Family Pride and Mark Adler, Ex. Dir. of SunServe, on their popular call in show, Topical Currents .The focus of incoming calls will likely be on grass roots, and legislative, initiatives to change the state’s discriminatory adoption law and the right wing movement that seeks to invalidate our relationships by amending the state constitution. The Conference is one of our state’s most valuable statements to the larger community that our families are as valuable as any in the fabric of American family life. When others see and hear about what we all have in common it lessens the stereotypes that fill the void when we are silent and invisible. Please encourage all your friends to tune in to this show on broadcast or webcast and call in about their experiences..

Jared (left) and Adam are nine years old. Their mother says she began
to notice a difference in Adam when he was only 18 months old. Adam's
behavior is an example of childhood gender nonconformity, say
scientists. Research shows that most children with extreme tendencies
toward gender nonconformity grow up to be gay. (CBS)


(CBS) There are few issues as hotly
contested — and as poorly understood — as the question of what makes a
person gay or straight. It's not only a political, social, and religious
question but also a scientific question, one that might someday have an actual,
provable answer.



The handful of scientists who work in this under-funded and politically charged
field will tell you: That answer is a long way off. But as Lesley Stahl
reports, their efforts are already yielding tantalizing clues. One focus of
their research is twins.

The bedrooms of 9-year-old twins Adam and Jared couldn't be more different.
Jared's room is decked out with camouflage, airplanes, and military toys, while
Adam's room sports a pastel canopy, stuffed animals, and white horses.



When Stahl came for a visit, Jared was eager to show her his G.I. Joe
collection. "I have ones that say like Marine and SWAT. And then that's
where I keep all the guns for 'em," he explained.



Adam was also proud to show off his toys. "This is one of my dolls. Bratz
baby," he said.



Adam wears pinkish-purple nail polish, adorned with stars and diamonds.



Asked if he went to school like that, Adam says, "Uh-huh. I just showed
them my nails, and they were like, 'Why did you do that?'"

Check
out Public Eye's coverage of the reaction to the story, which includes producer Shari
Finkelstein's response to critics, here
and here.

Adam's behavior is called childhood
gender nonconformity, meaning a child whose interests and behaviors are more
typical of the opposite sex. Research shows that kids with extreme gender
nonconformity usually grow up to be gay.



Danielle, Adam and Jared's mom, says she began to notice this difference in Adam
when he was about 18 months old and began asking for a Barbie doll. Jared,
meanwhile, was asking for fire trucks.



Not that much has changed. Jared’s favorite game now is Battlefield 2, Special
Forces. As for Adam, he says, "It's called Neopets: The Darkest
Faerie."



Asked how he would describe himself to a stranger, Jared says, "I'm a kid
who likes G.I. Joes and games and TV."



"I would say like a girl," Adam replied to the same question. When
asked why he thinks that is, Adam shrugged.



"To me, cases like that really scream out, 'Hey, it's not out there. It's
in here.' There's no indication that this mother is prone to raise very feminine
boys because his twin is not that way," says Michael Bailey, a psychology
professor at Northwestern University and a leading researcher in the field of
sexual orientation.



Bailey says he doesn't think nurture is a plausible explanation.



Psychologists used to believe homosexuality was caused by nurture — namely
overbearing mothers and distant fathers — but that theory has been disproved.
Today, scientists are looking at genes, environment, brain structure and
hormones. There is one area of consensus: that homosexuality involves more than
just sexual behavior; it’s physiological.

Read
More….

Forget the leakers, let's crack down on the gays
Security clearances were very much in the news last year as Democrats tried, unsuccessfully, to get Karl Rove's revoked after it became clear that he had leaked Valerie Plame's identity to several reporters. But there was another security clearance story out there that didn't get so much attention: While the rest of us were worried about leaks from the White House, the White House was apparently worrying about the security risk posed by . . . homosexuals.
As the Associated Press reports, George W. Bush signed off in December on language changes in the rules for security clearances that sure seem aimed at making it easier for the government to deny clearances to gay men and lesbians. The old rules said that sexual orientation "may not be used as a basis for or a disqualifying factor in determining a person's eligibility for a security clearance." Under the new rules, a security clearance cannot be denied "solely" on the basis of sexual orientation.
A spokesman for the National Security Council tells the AP that the language change "was not intended to alter the way sexual orientation is treated." But if that's the case, why was the language changed? If the White House has an answer for that question, it's not in the AP report.
Gay advocacy groups apparently discovered the language change in a document distributed on Dec. 29, without any public fanfare, by National Security Advisor Stephen Hadley. So far as we know, Hadley isn't gay -- he's married with two kids -- but maybe he shouldn't have a security clearance anyway; it has been suggested that Hadley was the administration official who leaked Valerie Plame's identity to Bob Woodward and Robert Novak.
-- Tim Grieve

Amazing Racer Chip Arndt Elected President of Democratic LGBT Caucus

From gaywired.com

- The Democratic Lesbian & Gay Caucus of Miami-Dade County (DLGC) has elected Chip Arndt, of Miami Beach, as president. The Caucus is chartered under the auspices of the Florida Democratic Party (FDP). Its mission is to promote lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) issues within the Party, to educate voters on LGBT issues, and to assist the Party in electing Democrats to local, state, and national offices.
DLGC is one of 11 chapters of the Florida GLBT Democratic Caucus, the statewide umbrella organization under the FDP representing the GLBT community. The Miami-Dade Caucus is one of the largest in Florida, representing over 485,000 potential LGBT voters, and has historically played a major role in electing local and state LGBT-friendly Democratic candidates.
"Going into the critical 2006-midterms, I'm eager to work with Caucus members to invigorate LGBT voters to elect candidates supportive of issues vital to our lives." Arndt said.
Arndt, a graduate of Yale University and Harvard Business School, and former Wall Street investment banker with Morgan Stanley, is the Executive Vice President for Business Development of Merchant Advantage, a Miami-based eCommerce software company. He is internationally known for winning CBS Television's The Amazing Race. Competing as an openly gay man, his positive image inspired many others to come out, while demonstrating the diversity of the gay community to the Emmy-winning reality program's millions of viewers.
Arndt's passion for civic and political advocacy began at Yale. He was chairman and founder of the Annual Harvard Business, Law, and Kennedy School of Government Debate, and president of both the Leadership and Ethics Forum and the business school's Gay and Lesbian Student Association. He interned for Philadelphia Mayor (now Governor) Ed Rendell, and was involved in the political campaigns of U.S. Senators Joe Lieberman and Chris Dodd and former Governor Lowell Weicker in his home state of Connecticut. He sponsored a successful fundraiser for Presidential candidate John Kerry, and worked extensively to get out the 2004 LGBT vote. More recently, he has raised funds for gay New York Attorney General candidate Sean Patrick Maloney.
Express Gay News named Arndt "Best Local Male Hero" for using "his fame and good fortune to help others" in response to his tireless round of charity events for the LGBT community. He has hosted fundraisers for the Point Foundation, the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network, the National Lesbian & Gay Journalists Association, and the Matthew Shepard Foundation, for whom he is a strategic advisor. He has been spokesperson for New York's Braking the Cycle and Miami's SMART AIDS rides, as well as participating in events sponsored by the Human Rights Campaign and the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network. An Ivy League golf champion, with experience on the professional golf circuit, he conducted a golf clinic at a recent tourney benefiting the National Gay & Lesbian Task Force.
As the former Public Relations & Marketing Manager for Care Resource, South Florida's oldest and largest HIV/AIDS services organization, he produced AIDS Walk Miami, added Dining Out for Life to their list of major fundraisers, and spearheaded the 21st annual White Party. Under his leadership, attendees' abuse of crystal meth at the famous week-long event was actively discouraged for the first time.
Arndt added, "Together with our progressive allies from other constituencies, we will continue to advance and strengthen the civil liberties of everyone in this great state, where no one should be a second-class citizen, and where each of us is guaranteed social justice and equal opportunity."
Other officers elected include: Joan Schaeffer, Vice President; Chris Gates, Treasurer; and Thomas McDaniels, Secretary.

Gay Democratic activist Eric Stern is stepping down as executive director of the National Stonewall Democrats effective April 1 after having served in the post for 13 months, the group announced March 13. Stern cited health-related reasons for his decision to leave the group, which describes itself as the national voice for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender Democrats.


Eric Stern is leaving as executive director of the National Stonewall Democrats after only 13 months, but says recent friction with the DNC is not the reason.
Stern began his tenure as head of NSD in February 2005 after serving as director of the Democratic National Committee’s Gay & Lesbian Outreach Desk. During his tenure with the DNC, Stern was credited with helping to coordinate Democratic Party outreach to gay voters in the 2004 presidential election. Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry captured more than 70 percent of the gay vote, according exit polls conducted by a consortium of television news networks."As a cancer survivor, my health has always been of paramount importance to me," Stern said in a statement. "While I have not had any health-related complications, the last five years of constant campaign-related work have taken their toll on me and I need to take a break from politics before I completely burn out and risk damage to my health and well-being."NSD Deputy Director Jo Wyrick will serve as interim executive director until the group's board completes a search for Stern's permanent replacement, said John Marble, the group's communications director.Stern is the second executive director in a row to resign from NSD after serving for a short period. Dave Noble left NSD to take a job with the National Gay & Lesbian Task Force after serving just two years as executive director.The statement announcing Stern's resignation said fundraising under his leadership "dramatically increased," and the organization expanded its programs and outreach from Washington to "local organizing efforts."Stern said his departure was not related to recent disagreements that some gay Democrats have had with DNC chair Howard Dean. Dean last year abolished the DNC outreach desks, including the GLBT outreach desk, saying he wanted to reorganize the DNC to incorporate minority outreach efforts throughout all of the DNC's programs and offices. Dean insisted overall outreach to gay voters would be expanded under a new organizationwide, integrated system.While Stern did not directly criticize Dean’s decision to eliminate the outreach desks, he released a statement criticizing the DNC for not providing enough support staff for gay outreach efforts associated with the 2006 elections."Our relationship with the DNC has only grown stronger," Stern said. "While we were sort of critical to what we saw as a lack of staff infrastructure, we are in the process of getting ready to announce a couple of projects that we will be coordinating with the DNC."

Dictatorship is the danger

A Reagan-appointed supreme court justice voices her fears over attacks on US democracy

Jonathan Raban
Monday March 13, 2006
The Guardian

Linking the words "America" and "dictatorship" is a daily staple of leftwing blogs, which thrive on the idea that Bush administration policies since 9/11 are taking the country ever closer to totalitarian rule. Liberal fears that democracy is endangered by Republicans in Congress are so widespread, so endemic to the jittery political climate in the US, that they hardly bear repeating. It'll surprise no one to learn that another voice was added to the chorus last Thursday, warning that recent attacks on the American judiciary were putting the democratic fabric in jeopardy and were the first steps down the treacherous path to dictatorship.

What is surprising - more than that, electrifying - is that the voice belonged to Sandra Day O'Connor, who retired a few weeks ago from the supreme court. O'Connor is a Republican and a Reagan nominee. Regarded as the "swing vote" on the court, she swung the presidential election to George Bush in 2000.

Equally surprising is that O'Connor's speech to an audience of lawyers at Georgetown University was attended by just one reporter, the diligent legal correspondent for National Public Radio, Nina Totenberg. No transcript or recording of the speech has been made available, so we have only Totenberg's notes to go on. But - assuming they are accurate - the notes are political dynamite.

O'Connor's voice was "dripping with sarcasm", according to Totenberg, as she "took aim at former House GOP [Republican] leader Tom DeLay. She didn't name him, but she quoted his attacks on the courts at a meeting of the conservative Christian group Justice Sunday last year when DeLay took out after the courts for rulings on abortions, prayer and the Terri Schiavo case.

"It gets worse, she said, noting that death threats against judges are increasing. It doesn't help, she said, when a high-profile senator suggests there may be a connection between violence against judges and decisions that the senator disagrees with."

Then she spoke the D-word. "I, said O'Connor, am against judicial reforms driven by nakedly partisan reasoning. Pointing to the experiences of developing countries and former communist countries where interference with an independent judiciary has allowed dictatorship to flourish, O'Connor said we must be ever-vigilant against those who would strong-arm the judiciary into adopting their preferred policies. It takes a lot of degeneration before a country falls into dictatorship, she said, but we should avoid these ends by avoiding these beginnings."

Delivered by someone who was, until recently, one of the nine guardians of the US constitution, these are spine-chilling opinions, and you might have thought they'd have been all over the papers the next day. Not so. I happened to catch Totenberg's NPR report last Friday, and have been following up references to it. A cable TV talkshow and a handful of blogs have mentioned Totenberg's piece: otherwise there's been a disquieting silence, as if the former justice had laid an unsavoury egg and had best be politely ignored.

Why did O'Connor choose such a closed forum to air her thoughts? Why was Totenberg the only reporter present? The possibility that America is sliding toward dictatorship or an unprecedented form of corporate oligarchy ought to be a matter of world concern. And if O'Connor believes what she is reported to have said, surely she owes it to the world to make public the prepared text of her remarks, which so far have the dubious character of the scores of unverifiable leaks that have passed for news in the compulsively secretive world of the Bush administration. It's unsurprising that, say, Colin Powell chooses to leak rather than speak out, but when a supreme court justice prefers to whisper her fears to a coterie audience, it's hard to avoid the inference that the whisper itself speaks volumes about the imperilled democracy it purports to describe.

Death threats to judges figured importantly in O'Connor's speech, with good reason. Last year, an Illinois federal judge found her husband and mother murdered, and a Georgia state judge was shot dead in his courtroom. Within days, Senator John Cornyn of Texas mused: "I wonder whether there may be some connection between the perception in some quarters, on some occasions, where judges are making political decisions yet are unaccountable to the public, that it builds up and builds up and builds up to the point where some people engage in violence." DeLay, speaking of the judges who had ruled that Schiavo be allowed to die, said: "The time will come for the men responsible for this to answer for their behaviour."

These are peculiar times, and when Republican politicians appear to endorse the killing of judges who make rulings of which they disapprove, it's maybe understandable that a distinguished judge like Sandra Day O'Connor, expressing views calculated to enrage Republican politicians, might sensibly look to a small podium with a weak sound system for fear of being heard too clearly by the likes of Cornyn and DeLay.

· Jonathan Raban's latest book is My Holy War: dispatches from the home front. Nina Totenberg's report is at: http://tinyurl.com/lt5ls

Pridefest grows, and big biz follows it
The 29th annual Pridefest attracted thousands and big-time corporate sponsorship but maintained its traditional meaning.

BY ASHLEY FANTZmailto:FANTZafantz@MiamiHerald.com



Call them signs of the times: Washington Mutual, American Express, and Enterprise sponsorship banners greeted long lines at Pridefest in Fort Lauderdale over the weekend.
The two-day 29th annual festival celebrating everything gay attracted some 30,000 people who perused nearly 350 booths that hawked political candidates, information on the latest HIV treatments, gay-friendly churches, racks of teeny rainbow-colored boy shorts, and a cruise line promoting on-board commitment ceremonies.
Not far from the Starbucks booth, 49-year-old C. Cooley and his partner of a decade, 45-year-old Tom Dickie, sipped Bacardi and cranberry spritzers with their friends Greg Gallo and Peter Pekkala, who have been together for 26 years and recently bought a condo in Broward.
Cooley and Dickie, who live in a Michigan suburb, met at their job on an assembly line at General Motors in Detroit. ''Where we're from, you'd never see anything like this. The gay community [there] is disorganized,'' said Dickie, shirtless and wearing pink sparkly sunglasses and a rainbow-colored peace-sign necklace.
''This is so positive,'' he said. ``It feels like a real community.''
Despite large obstacles, such the state's ban on gay adoption, South Florida -- and Broward in particular -- has cultivated a national image as a gay refuge. The Fort Lauderdale Police Department runs ads targeting a gay and lesbian audience and try to hire gay officers.
GAY BOOMTOWN
A local chapter of the national gun rights group, the Pink Pistols, formed this year in Wilton Manors, which was dubbed a ''gay boomtown'' by The New York Times. The Greater Fort Lauderdale Convention & Visitors Bureau offers a Rainbow Guide, a long list of gay-friendly businesses.
Is Pridefest, which began 29 years ago as a mostly political rally, necessary anymore?
'Yes, because we need our time, a space to interact when we can say, `This is ours,' '' said Rick Wolfe, who lives in Miami Beach.
BIGGER EACH YEAR
Mark Ketcham, 45, of Fort Lauderdale, recalled the much smaller Pridefest he first attended 11 years ago. Businesses have gone where the market is, and the gay community in South Florida is better for it, he said.
''There are Mercedes and Cadillacs and Beemers in the parking lot,'' he said. ``You can't run a company that discriminates against gays.''
Organizer Sonia Mitchell remembers Pridefest seven years ago when the event catered mostly to gays. ''It's more a family thing now,'' she said. ``There are straight people, kids, every kind of person having a good time.''
Jodi Sherman, 48, laughed and plunked down $15 for a camouflage T-shirt that read ''Redneckbear'' -- a slang term for a beefy gay man. The purchase was her way of supporting her daughter's fiancé who is serving in Iraq.
BEST FRIENDS
The Weston mother of three, who is straight, said her best friends, Mark Rode, 33, and his boyfriend Tim Kingston, 43, asked her to join them.
''I would do anything for these guys,'' she said. ``I just love them. You know, I raised my kids not to be prejudiced and it really upsets me to think that they wouldn't have the same rights as me.''
The three met 12 years ago when Rode and Kingston moved to Sherman's Sunrise neighborhood. 'We didn't want to live in a gay community. The gay community couldn't believe it. They were like, `You're going to live on the outside?' '' recalled Rode. ``Everyone [in the Sunrise neighborhood] was accepting of us.''
But he and his partner of 17 years still experience subtle bigotry. ''It's not as accepting as it should be. We're not registered as domestic partners,'' he said. ``They don't give us civil unions.''
For those reasons, Pridefest will always have its place.

It's a show of love at Pride Fest

By Elizabeth Baier
South Florida Sun-Sentinel Fort Lauderdale

They came decked out in rainbow-colored beads, butterfly wings and cowboy hats.From square-dancing groups and political advocacy organizations, to local vendors and drag queens with fabulousness sprinkled all over, hundreds of revelers filled Holiday Park in Fort Lauderdale on Saturday to celebrate the 29th annual Pridefest.The event celebrates the diversity of South Florida's gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community.Partiers mingled and laughed their way around three large tents, which featured dozens of informational booths by groups like American Veterans for Equal Rights, Equality Florida and the Dolphin Democrats."I think it's awesome," said Plantation resident Alex Seligsohn, 17, who celebrated Pridefest for the first time with four friends. "It's great to feel as part of a community."Some festivalgoers walked around in nothing but shorts and colorful pride flags. Corey Robertson, or "Mizz Cori," entertained onlookers with his 3-foot-high blond wig, shimmering eye shadow, red fishnet stockings and white heeled boots."It's all about showing love, showing support for the gay community," said Robertson, 27, a graphic design student at Florida Atlantic University. "It's just so damn fun."Among the nonstop entertainment, amusement rides, food and drinks highlighting Pridefest, advocacy and spiritual groups also encouraged hundreds of revelers to become active in the community's political and religious arena."We want to share the good news that God loves everyone, gay or straight," said Deanna Jaworski, a senior pastor at the Church of the Holy SpiritSong. "I come away from these events feeling blessed because I'm helping people realize God loves them."Inside War Memorial Auditorium, people talked about gay cruises, signed up for newsletters and watched gay and lesbian couples dance tango and salsa on the stage.Outside, Marcella Cratch and Tasja Wilkinson of Newark, N.J., stood on a grassy patch near the food vendors.They hugged and waved two pride flags high in the air.Cratch celebrated her 38th birthday and first pride event Saturday."It's OK to be gay! It's good to be gay!" shouted Cratch to no one in particular. "I've never experienced anything like this. It's wonderful."Pridefest continues today at Holiday Park and War Memorial Auditorium, 800 N. Federal Highway, from noon to 8 p.m.Parking is $5, and admission is $8 for adults and $5 for students with ID.
For additional information,
visit www.pridesouthflorida.org.
Elizabeth Baier can be reached at ebaier@sun-sentinel.com or 954-356-4637.
Copyright © 2006, South Florida Sun-Sentinel

War Room

Katherine Harris: I've got Joementum

As we were writing Wednesday's item about rumors that Katherine Harris was on the verge of withdrawing from the Senate race in Florida, we should have focused back on a recent piece about Harris in the New Republic. Poll numbers be damned, Michael Crowley wrote, Harris will pretty much never go away: "She is a woman with unfinished business, determined to undo her popular image as a vapid, makeup-glazed henchwoman -- and perhaps even to fulfill a kind of divine calling."

It turns out that Crowley was right -- at least for now. Harris, trailing in the polls and besieged by questions about illegal campaign contributions, called the Associated Press Wednesday afternoon to say that she's not going anywhere. "I am out there. We are running hard. We think we have great momentum," Harris said. "We've had some negative hits but we've had an overwhelming response from grass roots and leadership around the state that are saying 'Go for it,' and that's what we're doing."

-- Tim Grieve

We Can Have 2,500 calls by Monday mid-day
What Happens to an 'Open-Minded' Legislator

From St.Pete The Buzz

The Miami-based Christian Family Coalition is trying to put pressure on Rep. Bill Galvano, a Bradenton Republican, for saying he would consider holding a hearing on a bill that would allow gays to adopt children in some circumstances.Florida is one of three states with a sweeping ban on gay adoptions, and the coalition has been lobbying legislators in support of the status quo. The group's e-mail says in part: "The American Civil Liberties union and 'Equality' Florida (a homosexual group) are trying to repeal Florida's ban on homosexual adoptions!" As of mid-afternoon Friday, Galvano's district office reported receiving about 25 calls, mostly from Miami-Dade and Broward counties.The e-mail blast follows a Tuesday article in the Tallahassee Democrat in which Galvano, chairman of the House Future of Florida's Families Committee, said he would consider holding a hearing on the bill. "I remain open-minded," Galvano told the newspaper, but he added that a recent decision by a Senate committee to postpone a vote lessens its chances of passage.The bill would allow gays to adopt foster children already in their care. You can find the bill (HB 123) here. Its sponsor is the same lawmaker who recently switched from the Democrat to Republican party, Rep. Sheri McInvale of Orlando.
******************************************************************************
Call First Then Have All Your Friends Neighbor's And Relatives Call
Contact Info:
Capitol Office:
214 House Office Building
402 South Monroe Street
Tallahassee, FL 32399-1300
Phone: (850) 488-4086
District Office:
Suite 7151023 Manatee Avenue
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A national gay and lesbian group is accusing several religious organizations of causing homosexual teens long-term harm by offering parents what they call bogus therapies to keep children from becoming gay.In a report released Thursday in Miami Beach, the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force Policy Institute questioned whether the therapies are ethical or effective and said state and federal authorities should provide greater oversight when these programs are aimed at youth.The report said some Christian-based gay prevention and treatment groups have used the First Amendment protection of religion to avoid sanctions by state health officials regarding counselors who offer therapy without a license.Task Force Executive Director Matt Foreman said officials need to ensure that those offering such therapies are licensed - as opposed to simply being clergy - and that clients and their parents should be informed about the programs' long-term success rates.The report maintains that increasingly those attending seminars on homosexuality prevention and treatment are parents who have gay or lesbian children.Foreman called the programs frightening, adding that they play into stereotypes, cautioning parents to worry if their sons are "too feminine" and often blame parents for their children's sexual orientation."Many of these programs are crossing the line as to what is approved under freedom of expression," Foreman said during an interview with reporters. "This deserves attention. It deserves to be regulated."Foreman said he'd like to see more long-term studies on the success of the treatment.
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Youth in the Crosshairs: The Third Wave of Ex-Gay Activism — Task Force Policy Institute report reveals ex-gay movement’s new tactic of targeting youth
"This report exposes the extent to which these zealots will go, including reformulating their ex-gay snake oil at the expense of vulnerable children and young adults." — Matt Foreman, executive director, National Gay and Lesbian Task Force
MIAMI, March 2—A report released today by the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force Policy Institute reveals the ex-gay movement's new tactic of targeting lesbian, gay and bisexual youth for "conversion-therapy" and "preventive" measures. The report, Youth in the Crosshairs: The Third Wave of Ex-Gay Activism, reveals how groups such as Exodus International and Focus on the Family promote widely discredited theories on the root of homosexuality and now recommend "prevention" and conversion therapy treatments despite the growing body of research that shows these treatments to be ineffective and even harmful for many participants.
"It is morally repugnant and downright dangerous the way these extremists demonize young people and prey on the fears of parents through their so-called ex-gay programs," said Matt Foreman, executive director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force. "This report exposes the extent to which these zealots will go, including reformulating their ex-gay snake oil at the expense of vulnerable children and young adults."
He added, "These programs and conferences are often established in states that are fertile ground for right-wing organizing efforts, notably in states that are considering anti-same-sex marriage ballot measures. It is no wonder that their organizers are viewed as politically motivated."
Florida is among the states facing the threat of an anti-same-sex marriage constitutional amendment on the ballot in the next two years. It is also home to Exodus International, one of the nation's largest ex-gay organizations, and will be the site of Focus on the Family's ex-gay conference, Love Won Out, in Fort Lauderdale on May 6. The report was released today at a press conference in Miami in conjunction with the Winter Party Festival. Among the speakers at the press conference was Florida resident Justin Flippen, a survivor of an ex-gay program.
"Jesus tells us the truth is what sets us free," said Flippen. "The truth that we are made in God's image, male and female, gay and straight, must be given bold testimony, particularly when affronted by the falsehood of misguided theology. So-called Christian reparative therapy is repugnant to the intended purpose of God's creation. The psychological damage such misguided therapy inflicts upon others shamefully thwarts untold numbers of Christians from fully sharing in the community of faith we call the church."
In an effort to demonize and block lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people from attaining basic rights, extremist groups have long promoted the notion that homosexuality is a disorder that can be cured through psychotherapy and/or religion. Over the past few years, however, the ex-gay movement has taken a new approach — targeting lesbian, gay and bisexual youth with both "preventive" measures and conversion. The report places this "third wave" of ex-gay activism in the historical context of the first and second waves of ex-gay activism, starting in 1973.
A key finding of the report shows that, in this third wave of ex-gay activism, ex-gay programs and their evangelical Christian right allies are focusing less on "curing" adults of homosexuality and more on preventing its development by targeting parents, children and adolescents. Whether through ex-gay teen programs or traveling ex-gay conferences like Focus on the Family's Love Won Out ex-gay programs are recommending that parents commit their children to treatment of "prehomosexuality" even if it is against their children's wishes. Heterosexual youth are also being recruited in schools and churches to spread the message that homosexuality is a treatable mental illness.
"One of the most disturbing accounts in this report is a case involving a 5-year-old boy who was subjected to conversion therapy to address 'prehomosexuality.' The case involves a psychologist who claims that his theories and treatments are scientific," said study co-author Jason Cianciotto, the Policy Institute's research director. "To the contrary, conversion therapy is opposed by nearly every medical and mental health professional association, including the American Academy of Pediatrics."
He added, "Studies cited by ex-gay leaders to support their claims suffer from fatal methodological flaws, and are contradicted by respected, peer-reviewed academic research. Tragically, ex-gay and evangelical Christian right leaders are using bogus theories and discredited research to frighten parents into doing something more likely to harm than help their children."
Among other key report findings:
Not only does ex-gay therapy not work; there is a growing body of research documenting the harm it causes and the ethical violations it embodies, especially when applied to children against their will.
Ex-gay programs and conversion therapy practitioners could be shut down and even held liable for the harm they cause to clients based on malpractice, consumer fraud, false advertising, or under contract or child abuse and neglect laws, particularly for minors forced to attend an ex-gay program.
For decades, anti-gay leaders have portrayed homosexuality as a malign choice to support their "special rights" argument. However, that message is contradicted by theories posited by ex-gay leaders and evangelical Christian right leaders, who claim that "pre-homosexuality" develops as the result of dysfunctional relationships between parents and children, as well as child sexual abuse. These claims are based on flawed research, most of which would not withstand the scrutiny required to be published in respected, peer-reviewed academic journals.
A study of 202 former conversion therapy clients published in 2002 reported that 176 participants experienced significant harm, including depression, social isolation, low self-esteem, internalized homophobia and even attempted suicide. The study also found ethical concerns and violations, including the use of false and prejudicial information disguised as science to convince clients that they needed treatment.
Perhaps because of the growing number of ex-gay leaders who have publicly "fallen off the wagon," ex-gay programs have confusing and conflicting definitions of what it means to "change" as the result of their programs. For example, Exodus International claims that "change is possible," but John Smid, director of Love In Action, has said, "There is no cure for homosexuality." Ex-gay leaders also cite wildly varying and conflicting numbers of people who have "changed" as the result of their programs, ranging from "hundreds" to "hundreds of thousands."
A copy of the full report can be obtained at www.theTaskForce.org.