4th annual Miami Beach Gay Pride bachelor auction Tuesday night at MOVA lounge off Lincoln Road

From MOVA lounge:

The 4th Annual Miami Beach Gay Pride Bachelor Auction!

TONIGHT | 9 p.m. | at MOVA

Bid on South Florida's hottest bachelors and the gorgeous men of Swinging Richards!

All in support of Miami Beach Gay Pride 2012!

Hosted by GRINDR | Emceed by Thomas Barker

$7 Grindr Cocktails All Night Long - Anyway you like it!

Broward Sheriff's Capt. Rick Wierzbicki wins ADL Excellence in Law Enforcement Award

Broward Sheriff's Capt. Rick Wierzbicki has won the Anti-Defamation League Doris and Murray Felton Excellence in Law Enforcement Award.

From the Florida ADL award letter to Wierzbicki:

Your extraordinary efforts in combatting hate crimes and bullying in Broward County exemplifies an ongoing commitment to make your community a better place to live and work. The committee was extremely impressed with your credentials for this award, including your appointment to oversee BSO’s first Hate Crimes/Anti-Bias Task Force, your acceptance of the Community Alliance Award by the Dolphin Democrats of Broward County, and your work with the Anti-Defamation League and the Southern Poverty Law Center to screen the film Bullied in several Broward County venues to raise awareness of the scourge of anti-Gay bullying in the school system.

We concur with Sheriff Al Lamberti, who nominated you for this honor, on your unwavering dedication and involvement with various initiatives. It is clear from his nomination narrative that your efforts are highly respected and appreciated amongst both your colleagues and the community at-large. This underscores the importance of how each person can make a significant difference in fostering better community relations through authentic and timely actions.

Wierzbicki will receive his award April 3 during the Florida ADL’s regional board meeting at the Westin Hotel in Fort Lauderdale.

Here is the complete letter:

Gallery | Miami-Dade Gay & Lesbian Chamber of Commerce Guys Dine Out at Crave in Coral Gables

Bob Balsam, Steve Adkins, George Neary and Steve Haas at the Miami-Dade Gay & Lesbian Chamber of Commerce's monthly Guys Dine Out, this month at Crave in Coral Gables' Village of Merrick Park.

Click the photo to view a gallery. Photos by STEVE ROTHAUS / Miami Herald Staff.

E! News video | Miss Universe in Canada ousts trans contestant Jenna Talackova

Jenna Talackova, a trans woman, has been disqualified from the Canadian Miss Universe pageant.

Click here to read People.com's take.

HRC: Anti-gay marriage group tried to 'drive a wedge' between blacks, gays; 'interrupt process' of Latino assimilation

News release from Human Rights Campaign, HRC:

• Full list of now unsealed documents: http://www.hrc.org/nomexposed/entry/must-read 

Solmonese: NOM’s brutal honesty on "gays and blacks" is game-changer

WASHINGTON - Last night the Human Rights Campaign obtained a series of documents marked “confidential” that outlined the National Organization for Marriage’s multi-year plan to stop marriage equality in the United States.  In one of the documents titled “NOM Deposition Exhibit 25: National Organization for Marriage Board Update 2008-2009” these passages appear:

• The strategic goal…is to drive a wedge between gays and blacks—two key Democratic constituencies. Find, equip, energize and connect African American spokespeople for marriage; develop a media campaign around their objections to gay marriage as a civil right; provoke the gay marriage base into responding by denouncing these spokesmen and women as bigots…
• The Latino vote in America is a key swing vote, and will be so even more so in the future, both because of demographic growth and inherent uncertainty: Will the process of assimilation to the dominant Anglo culture lead Hispanics to abandon traditional family values? We must interrupt this process of assimilation by making support for marriage a key badge of Latino identity - a symbol of resistance to inappropriate assimilation.

“Nothing beats hearing from the horse’s mouth exactly how callous and extremist this group really is,” said HRC President Joe Solmonese. “Such brutal honesty is a game changer, and this time NOM can’t spin and twist its way out of creating an imagined rift between LGBT people and African Americans or Hispanics.”

The documents detail NOM’s goals, including “2010 Priority: Roll Back Gay Marriage in New Hampshire, Iowa, and D.C.” and “keeping gay marriage controversial in Massachusetts, Vermont, and Connecticut.”  Marriage equality has in fact not been rolled back in either of these states or D.C.

In NOM Deposition Exhibit 12, the group notes that it plans to spend $100,000 on a “study of what schools are teaching in gay marriage/civil union regimes.”

"These documents confirm my worst beliefs about NOM's cynical politicking,” said Jeremy Hooper, editor and publisher of Good As You and NOM Exposed partner. “It's hard to find joy in such divisive political games, but I'm certainly glad we know NOM's hurtful plans now before more folks are hurt.”

The Human Rights Campaign is America’s largest civil rights organization working to achieve lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender equality. By inspiring and engaging all Americans, HRC strives to end discrimination against LGBT citizens and realize a nation that achieves fundamental fairness and equality for all.