Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s hallowed "I Have a Dream Speech" is an iconic moment in the history of civil rights. But this historic moment would probably have never happened if it weren't for a man standing in King's shadow, Mr. Bayard Rustin.

Bayard Rustin was a man with a number of seemingly incompatible labels: black, gay, Quaker... identifications that served to earn him as many detractors as admirers. Although he had numerous passions and pursuits, his most transformative act, one that certainly changed the course of American history, was to counsel MLK on the use of non-violent resistance. Rustin also helped to engineer the March on Washington and frame the Montgomery bus boycott. With such lofty achievements, why isn't Rustin considered an icon of both Civil Rights and humanity?

A bill that would add homelessness to the list of hate crime enhancements in the State of Florida passed unopposed in both House and Senate subcommittees.

With Florida leading the nation in the number of attacks on the homeless, Broward Sheriff Al Lamberti created the Hate Crimes Anti-Bias Task Force in October 2008 to address the problem.

Lamberti also saw the need for legislative changes and solicited the help of State Representative Ari Porth (D) and Senator Jeremy Ring (D). As a result, HB 11 sponsored by Porth and SB 506 sponsored by Ring were created and both bills passed unanimously this week in the House Committee on Public Safety and Domestic Security Policy and the Senate Committee on Criminal Justice.

"I found these unprovoked attacks against our homeless population disturbing, and while I wanted to know why, I also knew that action was needed," Sheriff Lamberti said. "Discrimination against any member of our society can't be tolerated."

Following the brutal beatings of the homeless in Fort Lauderdale that made national news, last year Maryland passed similar legislation that expanded its hate-crime law to add stiffer penalties for attacks on the homeless – the first state in the nation to do so. Sheriff Lamberti hopes Florida will follow Maryland's lead.

While in Tallahassee this week, BSO Commander Richard Wierzbicki testified before the subcommittees about the severity of the homeless situation in Broward and the state. "This is only the first hurdle, but once this bill becomes law it will go a long way toward protecting the homeless," said Commander Wierzbicki, member of the task force.

The task force hopes to partner this year with the Broward County School District to start a tolerance and diversity program.

BY STEVE ROTHAUS, srothaus@MiamiHerald.com

Denise King, a working mom turned gay-rights crusader after the Fort Lauderdale shooting death of her 17-year-old son, Simmie Williams Jr., died New Year's Eve of a heart attack.

King, 40, never knew who killed Simmie on Feb. 22, 2008, in a scrappy lot off Sistrunk Boulevard.

Fort Lauderdale Police say he got into an argument with two men wearing dark clothing. Witnesses heard gunshots, and the men ran away. The case remains unsolved.

King's aunt, Rosemae Barnes of Fort Lauderdale, said Simmie's death haunted his mother.

"She always was a happy person," Barnes said Monday. "But after what happened to her son, Denise was grieving. They never found the person who killed him. That bothered her a lot. She tried not to show it because of her other kids. She tried to keep herself happy and her mind on her job."

King was born in Fort Lauderdale and graduated from Northeast High School. She studied nursing and worked in several area hospitals and nursing homes. Recently, she worked nights at a Fort Lauderdale Burger King and took nursing classes during the day, Barnes said.

A Miami Dolphins fan, King enjoyed listening to Michael Jackson music and the blues, and watching Days of Our Lives and westerns on television.

In private, she often broke down crying, her aunt said.

"It was a lot of pressure on her. She missed him," Barnes said. "Every time she spoke about him, she cried. She'd break down and cry. I'd tell her everything would be all right, just be strong and put her trust in God."

About a month ago, King complained of chest pains.

"On Christmas Eve, she went to her Aunt Rose's house and talked about the pain of not knowing what happened," said Michael Emanuel Rajner, a Broward gay activist who befriended King after Simmie's death.

Rajner said King's "smile was infectious."

"Her heart was overflowing with love. She had a memorable hug," he said. "No anger in her body. Just love – and pain."

When Simmie was found dead, he was dressed as a woman in an area known for cross-dressing prostitutes. No one knew whether he identified as transgender.

"Simmie's friends asked me if I was going to dress him as a woman for the funeral. I said no. I gave birth to a boy, and my baby would be buried as a boy," King told The Miami Herald in 2008. "I don't know ... what he did or didn't do across town. What I know is that he was gay and didn't deserve to be gunned down because of who he was."

Police say they're at a standstill in the investigation, which isn't classified as a gay hate crime.

"This is a case we've worked exhaustedly. We've gone to the media several times. We've had several walks. We've asked for help several times and we're basically where we were at [two years ago]," Fort Lauderdale police spokesman Sgt. Frank Sousa said Monday. "We still encourage anyone who knows anything to come forward."

Simmie's slaying became a "collision of race and class and sexuality and gender," said Nadine Smith, executive director of Equality Florida, the state's leading gay-rights group. "Denise said on more than one occasion, she lost a child and gained a community."

Broward gay activist Waymon Hudson said King was surprised at "how touched everyone in the community was at Simmie's death."

"She was very open-minded at Simmie being gay or gender nonconformist," Hudson said. ``She was a quiet woman. But she was everywhere after Simmie's death. Whenever she talked about any issue, it always went back to Simmie. If she spoke about school bullying, it was because Simmie had to leave school because he was bullied."

When Florida voters approved a statewide constitutional amendment banning gay marriage in November 2008, it "was a direct slap at her and her children," Hudson said.

In 2008, South Florida's gay community raised nearly $4,000 to assist with Simmie's funeral expenses. Now money is being raised for his mother's burial.

A fund has been established at the Gay and Lesbian Community Center/Pride Center, P.O. Box 70518, Fort Lauderdale, FL 33307-0518. Checks should be made payable to "GLCC," with ``Denise King funeral'' in the memo field.

A viewing for King will be 5 to 9 p.m. Friday at McWhite's Funeral Home, 3501 W. Broward Blvd. A service will be held 11:30 a.m. Saturday at the funeral home. Afterward, King will be buried at Sunset Memorial Gardens in Fort Lauderdale, next to her son.

King is survived by her children, Brittany, 21; Terrell, 17; Tavaris, 16; and Davaughn, 12; mother Maudie Lee of Georgia; and Brittany's son, Jamar Jr., 3.

Brittany is due to give birth to a baby boy on Feb. 22 -- the second anniversary of Simmie's death.

"She said I was bringing back Simmie," Brittany said Monday. "She always wanted to know who his killer was, and then she would be at ease."

Henry Woods, a stalwart in Florida Keys academia and politics, died at 10 a.m. Sunday

He slipped into a coma on Christmas Eve. Woods, 58, was a 10-year Key West resident and taken via helicopter to Miami after suffering a severe aneurysm.

Woods, an adjunct political science professor at Florida Keys Community College, ran for Monroe County elections supervisor against incumbent Harry Sawyer in 2008. He'd been very active in the Democratic Party, and is a past president of the Lambda Democrats in Key West.

He also ran Woods Consulting, which takes on public relations, grant writing and other responsibilities for local groups such as AIDS Help, the Waterfront Playhouse and the Mel Fisher Maritime Museum.

Woods was a native of Arkansas and graduated with a bachelor's in political science from the University of Arkansas in 1973 and obtained a master's degree from American University in Washington, D.C., in 1998.

By Stephen Gaskill

The GLBT community has achieved a few notable milestones lately. Anise Parker has just been elected mayor of Houston, the nation's fourth largest city. Parker has been the city's controller and never hid her sexual orientation during any of her seven consecutive successful campaigns in that city. Closer to home, St. Petersburg voters elected Steve Kornell as that city's first openly-gay Councilmember last month. And in Broward, the county's first openly-gay Commissioner, Ken Keechl, was selected by his colleagues to serve as County Mayor for the next year.

Small steps, to be sure, but important ones nonetheless. Visibility on every level is key as we attempt to overcome entrenched opposition to our full equality. Having openly gay and lesbian elected officials ensures a voice in policy and spending decisions that ultimately govern the way government works.

And these local victories can achieve what we're unable to – yet, anyway – at the national level. The list of GLBT legislative goals in Washington is long, and very few are being met. The legislative process is always one of give and take, often a frustrating game of hurry up and wait. Unfortunately, we've been waiting way too long for action at the federal level while localities move forward with equality initiatives showing what can be done.

Beyond the biggest items stacking up on the GLBT equality scorecard – repealing Don't Ask Don't Tell (DADT) and the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) -- a wide range of issues are in the wings, from major legislative efforts like passing the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) to stroke-of-the-pen initiatives the White House could perform tomorrow, like issuing an executive order to prohibit discrimination on the basis of gender identity or expression in the federal civilian workforce or banning federal contractors from discriminating on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity.

Here in Florida, jockeying is already beginning on initiatives to be debated in the 2010 legislative session. Perhaps one of the most important bills for Florida's sizable GLBT community is the Florida Competitive Workforce Act, which would add sexual orientation and gender identity and expression to the state civil rights bill that bans discrimination in housing, employment and public accommodations. Sponsored by Rep. Kelly Skidmore (D-Boca Raton), House Bill 391 is in effect a Florida version of ENDA. A Senate version will be introduced by Sen. Dan Gelber (D-Miami Beach), who is running for Attorney General.

Florida's GLBT and equality organizations are backing the bill, including Organizations United Together (OUT) Advocacy Network, Florida GLBT Democratic Caucus, ACLU of Florida, the Anti-Defamation League, Palm Beach Human Rights Council, SAVE Dade, and Equality Florida, as well as other GLBT and allied organizations throughout the state.

A growing number of municipalities in Florida have added sexual orientation and/or gender identity and expression to their local civil rights ordinances, although there is no statewide protection.

"Even as cities and companies across our state adopt policies banning anti-gay and gender identity-based discrimination, Florida law fails to provide statewide protection to LGBT Floridians against workplace discrimination," Mallory Wells, Public Policy Director for Equality Florida, said in a statement upon the introduction of HB 391. "No one should lose their job because of who they are."

Just this month, the Transgender Legal Defense and Education Fund (TLDEF) filed a complaint with the Florida Commission on Human Relations after an Orlando McDonald's refused to hire a transgender woman, 17-year old Zikerria Bellamy. A manager at the store left Bellamy a voicemail stating, "We do not hire faggots."

The manager was fired, and a spokeswoman for the restaurant told the Orlando Sentinel that the employee had "acted outside the scope of his authority and was not responsible." The spokeswoman added that McDonald's "has a zero tolerance policy prohibiting discrimination or harassment in the restaurant."

The manager's actions were reprehensible, yet legal in Florida. GLBT Floridians need to know that they can be sacked for who they are, regardless of their actions. Skidmore's bill faces an uphill ride in Florida's Republican-controlled legislature. But with more than one million GLBT Floridians, as estimated by the Florida GLBT Democratic Caucus, it's incumbent upon our own community to encourage support for Skidmore's bill. There should be strength in numbers, and it's our own fault if we don't use those numbers to our benefit.

Today, GLBT Floridians can be fired for who they are. It's time Florida's elected representatives in Tallahassee know they'll be fired by the voters in the next election for their inaction on issues that impact our residents.

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Make the Florida Competitive Workforce Act a reality. Join one of these statewide organizations to make your voice heard:

Florida GLBT Democratic Caucus www.floridaGLBTdemocrats.org

Organizations United Together (OUT) www.outfl.org

Equality Florida www.eqfl.org

ACLU of Florida www.aclufl.org

Anti-Defamation League http://regions.adl.org/florida/