Equality Florida has launched a Twitterbomb of U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson, telling the Florida Democrat en masse that it's "Time to Evolve" on marriage equality.
Here's the live Twitter feed:
Tweets about "#TimeToEvolve"Florida Senate committee OKs 'Families First' bill which would create domestic partners registry
Email from Nadine Smith, executive director of Equality Florida:
Moments ago the Florida Senate Committee on Children, Families and Elder Affairs passed the “Families First” bill (SB 196).
By a margin of 5 to 4, the Senate committee voted to move closer to creating a statewide domestic partnership registry (DPR) that would provide essential legal protections for unmarried couples including hospital visitation, correctional facility visitation, end of life decision making and burial arrangements.
A majority of Floridians already live in a local community that has a domestic partnership registry. Places like Pinellas County, Volusia County, Orange County, Broward County, Miami-Dade County, Key West, Tampa, Orlando, Gainesville, Tavares, Clearwater and North Miami already have registries. The Families First bill would eliminate the patchwork of policies and allow people to have important legal protections for their family, no matter where they live.
The bill passed with support from both Democrats and Republicans and its success combined with the strong bipartisan sponsorship of the Florida Competitive Workforce Act signals a new day in Florida. The country is changing and so is Florida. This vote is a reflection of the change in public opinion favoring legal equality for all Florida couples. Our political leaders are finally listening to the pain inflicted on couples who are treated as legal strangers. And they are listening to the growing voice of business leaders who are calling for statewide protections that will help them attract and retain a diverse workforce.
Local Domestic Partnership Registries now protect roughly 50% of Florida's population. The protections are vital especially since the state has a constitutional amendment banning marriage equality.
Senator Sobel has championed this bill and told her fellow committee members "Today we made history." The bill now moves on to the next committee.
Thank you to the thousands of supporters all across the state who have called and emailed the committee urging their support and to the hundreds who have traveled to Tallahassee to testify and speak with your legislators
Onward,
Nadine Smith
Executive Director
'Koch,' the documentary about late Mayor Ed Koch of New York City, opens Friday in South Florida
Koch, the documentary about former New York City Mayor Ed Koch, opens Friday at O Cinema in Miami; Cinema Paradiso in Fort Lauderdale; Living Room Theaters and Regal Shadowood 16, both in Boca Raton; Regal Delray Beach, Movies of Delray, Mos Art in Lake Park.
Here's the national news release:
KOCH opened theaters in New York on February 1, 2013, Mayor Ed Koch passed away that same day. He will be dearly missed.
Former Mayor Ed Koch was the quintessential New Yorker. Ferocious, charismatic, and hilariously blunt, Koch, who died in February at the age of 88, ruled New York from 1978 to 1989—a down-and-dirty decade of grit, graffiti, near-bankruptcy and rampant crime. First-time filmmaker (and former Wall Street Journal reporter) Neil Barsky has crafted an intimate and revealing portrait of this intensely private man, his legacy as a political titan, and the town he helped transform. The tumult of his three terms included a fiercely competitive 1977 election; an infamous 1980 transit strike; the burgeoning AIDS epidemic; landmark housing renewal initiatives; and an irreparable municipal corruption scandal. Through candid interviews and rare archival footage, Koch thrillingly chronicles the personal and political toll of running the world’s most wondrous city in a time of upheaval and reinvention.
Kendall Coffey, Richard Milstein, Damian Pardo, Carla Silva speak about DOMA (with photos)
Click here to view photos from the town hall meeting. Photos by STEVE ROTHAUS / Miami Herald Staff.
News release from the ACLU of Florida:
The ACLU of Florida, in partnership with SAVE Dade and the Miami-Dade Gay & Lesbian Chamber of Commerce are hosting a town hall on the upcoming Supreme Court case, U.S. v. Windsor, in which the ACLU is challenging the so-called Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA). “DOMA Town Hall: How U.S. v. Windsor Impacts You” will feature a panel of legal experts and LGBT leaders explaining the case and its impact on South Florida.
U.S. v. Windsor is one of two cases having to do with the rights of same-sex couples to marry in which the United States Supreme Court will hear legal arguments next week. In the case, the ACLU is representing Edie Windsor, 83, who was forced to pay more than $363,000 in federal estate taxes after the death of her spouse Thea Spyer, because their marriage was not recognized under federal law, because DOMA prevents the federal government from recognizing the marriages of same-sex couples.
Windsor and Spyer met in the 1960s and lived together for more than four decades in New York City. In 1977, Spyer was diagnosed with progressive multiple sclerosis and Windsor helped her through her long battle with that disease, which eventually resulted in Spyer’s paralysis. The couple was finally legally married in 2007. If Windsor had married a man instead of a woman, no estate tax would have been owed.
“Tonight’s event is a great opportunity for the South Florida LGBT community to learn about the impact this landmark case will have on their lives,” stated Daniel Tilley, LGBT Policy Strategist for the ACLU of Florida. “The so-called Defense of Marriage Act has done nothing to protect marriage and instead has only done it harm. DOMA has been hurtful and unfair to committed couples like Edie and Thea from day one, and folks across the country have begun to see the real harm and utter irrationality of this discriminatory law. A majority of the public understands this harm and therefore opposes DOMA – now the ACLU is prepared to explain to the Supreme Court why the time has come to put an end to this harm once and for all.”
CJ Ortuno, Executive Director of SAVE Dade agreed, stating: “Marriage is the way in which government, society, and its people recognize and honor committed relationships. When I introduce my wife, people understand who this person is and what she means to me in relation to my being. Asking anyone to even consider less is truly un-American. DOMA is un-American.”
The town hall meeting is an opportunity for members of the South Florida community to get an inside look at this landmark case for LGBT equality, and to get their questions answered about how the possible overturning of DOMA will impact their lives.
DOMA Town Hall: How U.S. v Windsor Impacts You
Wednesday, March 20, 2013
7:00 pm to 8:30 pmMiami Beach Botanical Garden
2000 Convention Center Dr. Miami Beach, FL
Panelists:
- Daniel Tilley, LGBT Policy Strategist, ACLU of Florida
- Kendall Coffey, former U.S. Attorney and legal media commentator
- Richard Milstein, family law attorney
- Damian Pardo, founder of SAVE Dade and Financial Wealth Manager at Morgan Stanley
- Carla Silva, Executive Director of the Alliance for GLBTQ Youth
Video | State Rep. David Richardson seeks protection for gay foster children: 'I AM that child'
Posted to YouTube by Equality Florida:
Don't miss the last 2 minutes. A highlight for our Equality Florida Lobby team came on Tuesday on the House floor when Representative David Richardson asked for an amendment that would protect gay youth in foster care. Our team sat in the gallery as Richardson and Representative Joe Saunders told powerful personal stories as out gay men. They were joined by straight allies who spoke with eloquence and passion about the need for equality. Even those Republicans who rose to oppose the amendment took care to be respectful of the issue being raise. It is a new day in Tallahassee and while we have much more work ahead, the light at the end of the tunnel gets brighter and brighter.
GetGayFunded back in business after resuming its relationship with Amazon Payments
In mid-February, the South Florida-based LGBT crowd-funding website GetGayFunded.com was effectively shut down when Amazon Payments stopped processing donations.
Among the projects seeking donations: "Sponsor a Winter Party Volunteer" and "Help Bury My Mom in Peace."
On Feb. 21, CEO Adam Kotkin released a YouTube video, above, explaining his side of the story.
On Thursday, Kotkin announced that Amazon Payments resumed its relationship with GetGayFunded and released the following statement:
Dear Friends,
GetGayFunded's relationship with Amazon Payments has been reinstated effective immediately. The last few weeks have been extremely difficult on us but, the final result is that GetGayFunded.com is back online. To those of you that have funded projects, Amazon has agreed to release those funds to the projects as well as to continue to allow us to launch new projects. If you or any individual/organization that you know needs to raise funds for a project that is important to the LGBT community we are here to help you reach your funding goals.
Many of you have received emails from Amazon stating that your pledge had failed. Amazon re-processed all pledges as part of our reinstatement thus, your pledge should have been appropriately credited to the project that you supported. If you have any questions regarding your pledge please contact us at info@getgayfunded.com.
For further information on Amazon's decision to reinstate Get Gay Funded's credit card processing account please read the press release below.
Thank you again for supporting GetGayFunded.com as we look forward to supporting the LGBT community.
Fondly,
Adam Kotkin
CEO
OUTlet Conference for Young Women on Saturday, April 13, at Pride Center in Wilton Manors
From Aventura Commissioner Enbar Cohen:
Question: "How do you plug over 90 lesbian, bisexual, transgender, and questioning (LBTQ) identified young women, nine workshops, a social mixer, and a live performance into one incredibly fun day of networking and educational development?" If you live in South Florida, you'd attend the OUTlet Conference for Young Women!
From empowering workshops to providing a way to network and have fun, the OUTlet Conference for Young Women fills the need for cultural and educational events while allowing LBTQ youth from across the tri-county area to meet, network, and plug in!
You’ll have a chance to join in on workshops like Drum Circle, Spoken Word, Resume Building, Creating a Movement, and an interactive workshop and performance by DragItOut!
Come join us and have a chance to win 2 tickets to any Orlando Theme Park!
Breakfast and Lunch will be provided.
We look forward to seeing you on April 13th!
Florida Lt. Gov. Jennifer Carroll resigns
Florida Lt. Gov. Jennifer Carroll -- who last year apologized after saying that "black women that look like me" aren't lesbians -- has resigned amid, Gov. Rick Scott's office says.
From The Miami Herald's Tallahassee bureau:
Tuesday she was interviewed by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, which is assisting in a national probe of Allied Veterans of the World, a Florida-based nonprofit that operates a chain of internet cafes.
Carroll once owned a public relations firm that represented Allied Veterans, and she did work for the company at the same time she served in the Florida House.
Florida Family Policy Council: Gays, lesbians use 'dangerous' domestic partnerships as 'legal weapons'
The conservative Florida Family Policy Council on Tuesday released "An Open Letter to the Florida Senate Children & Families Committee Regarding Domestic Partnerships," addressed to the Senate Children & Families Committee and its chairwoman, Sen. Eleanor Sobel, D-Hollywood:
Dear Madam Chairman and members of the committee:
We sympathize with and regret the fact that some Floridians have experienced great personal distress and legal difficulties as a result of not having proper estate planning. Failing to obtain a valid Durable Power of Attorney (DPOA) can produce very unfortunate circumstances to persons of all types. These legal documents are regularly available and drafted by thousands of law firms and lawyers across Florida. The cost of a typical DPOA is modest and in some cases is not much more than the fee to apply for a domestic partnership.
In summary, domestic partnerships are unnecessary, bad public policy, and are dangerous for a number of reasons that may not be immediately obvious.
1) They mislead the couples entering them into believing they have proper estate planning.
When it comes time to apply for Social Security, Medicaid or Medicare for an incapacitated partner, a couple will quickly learn that a domestic partnership is wholly inadequate and does not contain the necessary authority to make application on behalf of another individual. Personal and real property and other intangible assets will not automatically pass to the holder of most domestic partnerships.
2) Domestic Partnerships are not merely unnecessary, but are affirmatively dangerous because they are used as legal weapons by gay rights activists to advance same-sex marriages.
Historically activist courts, at the urging of gay rights activists, have used domestic partnerships as a legal precedent for overriding traditional marriage laws and legalizing same-sex marriages. In state after state where domestic partnerships were created, they were later used by courts or state legislative bodies to strike down valid marriage laws and legalize same-sex marriages. The creation of a domestic partnership is an affirmative legal threat to state Defense of Marriage Acts (DOMA) and to state constitutional amendment provisions which define marriage and prohibit same-sex marriages.
The below exhibit The History of Domestic Partnerships Leading to Legalization of Same Sex Marriages documents and catalogues the consistent pattern and strategy of gay rights activists in states across America to use domestic partnerships as a legal weapon to force the adoption of same-sex marriages.
Homosexual marriages deny children the right to either a mother or a father and are therefore not in the best interest of children. Same-sex marriage laws also force all other statutes in a state to become gender-neutral and impacts children’s educational curriculum and textbooks where homosexuality is promoted as natural and morally acceptable alternative to heterosexual marriage. Finally, in a plethora of cases, gay marriage laws have been proven to become a threat to the individual religious liberties and free speech rights of those who have a traditional view of marriage.
For this and many other reasons, we strongly urge this committee to vote No to the creation of any domestic partnership or civil union scheme in Florida.
Sincerely,
John Stemberger
Florida Family Policy Council
