Miami Beach Community Health Center says fired CEO Kathryn Abbate stole $7 million

BY CAROL MARBIN MILLER, CMARBIN@MIAMIHERALD.COM

Calling the actions of their former administrator an “outrageous betrayal of trust,” authorities with the Miami Beach Community Health Center are investigating what they call the theft of almost $7 million in taxpayer money by the center’s longtime chief executive.

Members of the health center’s board of directors fired Chief Executive Officer Kathryn Abbate, saying she diverted the nearly $7 million in money intended to provide healthcare for the needy to her personal use beginning in 2008.Abbate’s chief compliance officer, Diego Martinez, resigned when the board determined he cashed thousands of dollars in checks for Abbate.

Chief Financial Officer Stanley DeHart was fired and the clinic’s human resources director, Angie Aguila, resigned after board members concluded the two had “facilitated” Abbate’s embezzlement.

Board members discovered the enormous loss in May, after a routine audit required by federal funders turned up irregularities, said Mark Rabinowitz, an obstetrician and gynecologist who is the center’s chief medical officer. Abbate had written a check for $5,000 to herself, and cashed it, labeling the expenditure a “community development” expense, said Rabinowitz, who has been tapped by the board to reorganize the clinic in the scandal’s wake.

When asked by Rabinowitz to explain the check, Abbate had no answer, the doctor said, and the agency retained forensic auditors and healthcare lawyers to disentangle Abbate’s dealings.

“Everybody here believed she was a real do-gooder, me included,” said Rabinowitz. “This has been very hard to deal with.”

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More than gay marriage driving Chick-fil-A flap (with 'kiss-in' protest video)

BY BILL BARROW, ASSOCIATED PRESS

ATLANTA -- When President Barack Obama said same-sex couples should have the right to marry, it was national news for a few days before the presidential campaign and the country went back to business as usual.

Yet weeks after a fast-food executive doubled down on his opposition to gay marriage, debate rages on about equality, religious values and free speech. "Chick-fil-A Appreciation Day" on Wednesday, with supporters flooding the chain's franchises around the country, was countered with "kiss-ins" by same-sex couples at assorted locations Friday, long after Chick-fil-A president Dan Cathy's initial comments to a religious publication touched off the clash.

That's an unusual amount of staying power for what initially looked like just another skirmish over a hot-button question.

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U.S. to weigh gay relationships in deportation cases, says Homeland Security

BY LISA LEFF AND AMY TAXIN, ASSOCIATED PRESS

SAN FRANCISCO -- Amid pressure from Democratic lawmakers, Homeland Security officials reiterated Friday that a foreigner's longstanding same-sex relationship with a U.S. citizen could help stave off the threat of deportation.

Binational gay couples are eligible for consideration under a federal program designed to focus resources away from low-priority deportation cases and let officials spend more time tracking down convicted criminals, said Marsha Catron, a spokeswoman for the Department of Homeland Security.

However, the Obama administration will not automatically shelve deportation cases or process green card applications involving foreign citizens married to same-sex American partners.

Catron said her agency will continue to comply with a 1996 law that prohibits the government from recognizing same-sex relationships, even as Homeland Security takes these relationships into consideration when evaluating possible deportation.

The Obama administration last year said it considers the 1996 law unconstitutional and would no longer defend it in court.

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Community updates following 2012 International AIDS Conference to be held in South Florida

The Black Treatment Advocates Network of South Florida in association with the Miami-Dade Health Department will present community updates beginning Aug. 6 following the 2012 International AIDS Conference.

Here are details:

South Florida Flyers

Equality Florida: Chick-fil-A has donated more than $5 million to groups that 'dehumanize LGBT people'

Posted Friday on Equality Florida's Facebook page:

News release from Nadine Smith, executive director of Equality Florida:

“The firestorm currently engulfing Chick-Fil-A has been years in the making and reaches far beyond the recent incendiary remarks of its President, Dan Cathy. Chick-Fil-A has donated at least $5 million dollars to organizations whose primary focus is to dehumanize LGBT people and to pass laws that treat us as second-class citizens. Among Chick-Fil-A’s benefactors is Exodus International, infamous advocates for discredited and harmful "ex-gay" reparative therapy. The American Family Association and the Family Research Council also receive Chick-Fil-A dollars and are both Southern Poverty Law Center designated hate groups with close ties to those calling for the execution of gay people in Africa.

The fuel that continues to feed this fire is the knowledge that a portion of every dollar spent at Chick-Fil-A winds up supporting the discriminatory work of these anti-gay groups. While some will protest at Chick-Fil-A establishments today, most will not. They have simply chosen to spend their money elsewhere, resulting is a devastating 40% decline in the health of company’s brand since this controversy arose, according the industry experts.(1)

The franchise operators I’ve spoken with were unaware of how the profits they generate are being used and they lament being tarnished with corporate’s anti-gay image. They understand that a one-day bump in sales is nothing compared to the long-term damage being done. We encourage conscientious consumers to express their disappointment by contacting Chick-Fil-A corporate at (866) 232-2040 or visiting http://www.chick-fil-a.com/Connect/Contact-Us-CARES .”

(1) http://research.yougov.com/news/2012/07/27/chck-fil-takes-perception-dive-fast-food-eaters/

South Florida LGBT activists Friday plan 'Same Sex Kiss Day' protest at Pompano Beach Chick-fil-A

Gay activists around the nation are planning "kiss-in" protests today at Chick-fil-A restaurants, including Pompano Beach in South Florida.

From Associated Press:

The gatherings come two days after hundreds of thousands of customers, many of them conservative Christians, recognized "Chick-fil-A Appreciation Day" at more than 1,600 locations.

The company said in a statement the turnout Wednesday made for "an unprecedented day," although it says it doesn't release exact sales numbers.

"The Chick-fil-A culture and 66-year-old service tradition in our restaurants is to treat every person with honor, dignity and respect - regardless of their belief, race, creed, sexual orientation or gender," the statement said.

Chick-fil-A president Dan Cathy stirred the controversy when he told a religious publication last month that the company was "guilty as charged" for backing "the biblical definition of a family."

On Thursday, South Florida LGBT activists announced their plans:

Pro-equality activists will gather on Friday, August 3rd, 2012 at 7pm in front of the Chick Fil A at 2250 North Federal Highway (eastside of Federal Highway just south of East Copans Road), Pompano Beach, FL 33062 to exercise freedom of speech and participate in the National Same Sex Kiss Day.

Ronni Dowd and Michael Emanuel Rajner, Wilton Manors residents, are organizing the Broward County event for the National Same Sex Kiss Day.  It is an opportunity to honor our support for love, equality, and the real definition of family.  Events will occur in many parts throughout the country.  This event was not created as a response to Mike Huckabee’s appreciation day.  National Same Sex Kiss Day was launched on July 19, several days before Huckabee’s plans for this past Wednesday’s action.

“I’m outraged by the blatant display of hate. This is not about freedom of speech.  Dan Cathy has every right to say and think what he wants, just as I have every right to not spend at Chick Fil A and contribute to the company’s hateful agenda”, said Ronni Dowd, a 47 year old lesbian living in a committed relationship and a member of Women in Network (WIN).  “Who we love should be irrelevant as far as what our rights are.  I have issue with the fact that someone, an American, would financially contribute to causes that promote the execution of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people around the globe.  What is the difference between pulling the trigger and paying the trigger man?  Murder is murder and in the Bible, it is a sin!”

“Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender youth make up 40% of our nation’s homeless youth population.  Sadly, the primary reason these youth are forced to a life on the streets stems from intolerant families who reject them from the home”, said Michael Emanuel Rajner, a 41 year old social worker and community activist focusing on LGBT and HIV/AIDS issues.  “The last time I opened up the wrapper of a Chick Fil A sandwich, I realized their profits continue to fuel the genocide of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people around the world, and their vision is not far from a time when gays were among the millions of innocent human lives who perished in the holocaust.”

Broward County is home to an extremely diverse community of people and its Human Rights Ordinance provides protection against discrimination in employment, housing and public accommodation on the basis of race, color, sex, religion, national origin, disability, age, marital status, political affiliation, sexual orientation, pregnancy and gender expression/identity.
Organizers invite anyone interested in fairness and human rights to participate in this Friday’s National Same Sex Kiss Day in Broward County.  Feel free to bring a kissing partner of your choice or someone who you would like to hold hands with and stand in solidarity against hate.

According to Equality Florida:

"The company has donated nearly $5 million over the past 9 years to homophobic organizations like the Family Research Council and Exodus International, and their donations are getting larger and larger. In 2010 alone, Chick-fil-A donated over $1.9 million to anti-gay causes, more than any other year for which public records are available."- http://eqfl.org/node/1901

According to the Human Rights Campaign:
• Nearly $500,000 to the Fellowship of Christian Athletes – a group that has publicly denounced the “impure lifestyle” of LGBT people
• Nearly $13,000 to Focus on the Family – identified as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center
• $1.1 million to the Marriage & Family Foundation
• Thousands to groups like the Family Research Council, the Pennsylvania Family Institute, and the
Georgia Family Council – all of which loudly advocate against equality for LGBT people
- http://www.hrc.org/files/assets/resources/ChickFilA_Factsheet.pdf