County could be 1st in the area to extend rights to unmarried couples
A proposal in Volusia County to create what could be Central Florida's first domestic-partnership registry survived its first debate Thursday, with some leaders wary about the program's costs and purpose.
Volusia County Council members didn't stop the proposal outright but thoroughly debated the logistics of running such a program. The registry would set up a means for unmarried couples to have guaranteed visitation rights at local hospitals and the jail.
They requested more information before they decide whether to adopt the proposal.
Councilman Josh Wagner proposed the registry after hearing about situations in which someone was denied a visit with their significant other at a local hospital. The registry would be open to same-sex or heterosexual couples and would be modeled after similar registries in south Florida.
Eight cities and counties, including Broward and Miami-Dade, already have the registries, in which people can certify and document their relationship, making visitation easier. Past case law has determined that a domestic partnership is a contractual relationship but is not marriage.
"The problem is there are different procedures for different hospitals, and this unifies the policies themselves, which will make them consistent," Wagner said. "The situations that this could address, like being with someone on their deathbed, are times that you can't get back."
At Thursday's meeting, several speakers backed the idea. Larry Glinzman of Ormond Beach described several problems during an attempt to visit his partner of 27 years when he was hospitalized for weeks.
Gay-rights advocates back the registries, especially in communities with constitutional prohibitions on same-sex marriage or civil unions. A bill to set up a statewide registry in Florida died in the Legislature earlier this year.
"Domestic-partnership registries can provide as many rights as a city or county can provide," said Sarah Warbelow, state legislative director with the D.C.-based Human Rights Campaign. "Most Americans are not OK with the situation of someone not being able to visit a partner who is dying in the hospital."
Wagner found research showing that where such registries exist in Florida, more than half of the couples signed up are heterosexual but aren't married for financial or other reasons.
He also argued that having such a registry could lure new businesses to Volusia County. He cited statistics that 83 of the Fortune 100 companies offer benefits for domestic partners and that having such a registry could be an incentive for those companies.
Council Vice Chairman Joie Alexander worried that the registry would be a burden to staff.
Wagner said the program would charge registrants fees so that it could pay for itself.
Orlando Sentinel
Volusia considers domestic-partner registry
Jonathan Escobar Won't Be Wearing Wigs Again in Atlanta. But He Will on Tyra!
Jonathan Escobar, who withdrew from an Atlanta high school after being told by administrators he needed to come to school not wearing women's clothing, is returning to Miami to graduate and plans to enter beauty school. Sure, the Georgia Safe Schools Coalition was willing to go to bat for him, but then Jonathan began uploading videos to YouTube, and the Internet commenters began calling him a fakeseeking whore! Snap!
So while Jonathan is heading back to live with his parents in Miami, the Georgia Safe Schools Coalition will still meet with school administrators. But even they were anxious after the YouTube clips. SoVo:
Escobar faced negative reactions from commentators at the Marietta Daily Journal, Neal Boortz and other sources who called Escobar’s actions fame seeking. Escobar also posted a YouTube video where he made sexual comments about another student. The YouTube video has since been deleted.
“I think if we would have gone in there and made it all about Jonathan and then there was this YouTube video of him, then that would have made things more difficult,” [Georgia Safe Schools Coalition's Maru Gonzalez] said today.
Escobar posted several videos on YouTube, including one posted on Oct. 18, where Escobar says he “doesn’t have a contract with Disney” and therefore doesn’t have always be polite. At one point Escobar appears to receive a text message and tells the camera, “That was your boyfriend, he said he wants to suck my asshole,” and, “Hopefully you aren’t so stupid as most of you appear to be.”
Escobar said on the YouTube video most of his behavior was sarcastic, and that it shouldn’t be taken seriously because he is a sweet person. He also posted videos about his trip to New York to appear on “The Tyra Banks Show.” That segment has not yet been promoted on the show’s website.
Now let's be sure: Nobody goes on Tyra to get famous. They go so Tyra will give 'em a hug and make them feel good about themselves!
Guess who's headlining the Christian Family Coalition's Miami gala next month? It's Crist, oooh, it's Crist Florida's openly heterosexual Gov. Charli
Guess who's headlining the Christian Family Coalition's Miami gala next month? It's Crist, oooh, it's Crist
Florida's openly heterosexual Gov. Charlie Crist will be the big draw for the CFC's big ticket fundraiser ($60-$1200 to attend) as he works to shore up conservative support for his U.S. Senate run. Of course, CFC is the same group that supported a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage and lobbied against Miami-Dade's domestic partnership registry.
But Crist needs all the help he can get, even if it means moving away from his self-professed "moderate" stance on social issues: Opponent Marco Rubio has cut Crist's lead in half for the Republican nomination.
Queerty
DOSSIER: Richard Hatch Freed From Jail … Immigration Reform for the Gays?
ON OUR GAYDAR — News, notes, clicks, and quips from around the web.
• Richard Hatch released from jail after serving a 51-month tax evasion sentence. Now he's got three years of supervised release and can't leave Rhode Island without an official OK.
• NYC mayoral candidate Bill Thompson would like to explain his "yes" answer to whether Obama is doing enough for gay rights.
• Meanwhile, Michael Bloomberg recants on just how much influence he has over New York's Republican State Senators. He is, however, bringing additional attention to the brutal gay bashing of Jack Price.
• Kerry Fletcher, a gay former soldier, scored a £186,895.52 settlement from Britain's Ministry of Defense over accusations she endured sexual harassment after rebuffing advances from male comrades and superiors. So how come that amount was just reduced?
• Gay A Boy's Own Story scribe Ed White, whose new NYC-y memoir City Boy just dropped: "I believe in promiscuity. But you know people are a lot more complicated than they appear to be. I mean, right now I'm in a relationship where I am faithful because my partner wants me to be, and I respect him enough — and it lowers the level of anxiety in our relationship. He's also extraordinarily hot. In the past, when gays were very flamboyant as drag queens or as leather queens or whatever, that just amused people. And most of the people that come and watch the gay Halloween parade, where all those excesses are on display, those are straight families, and they think it's funny. But what people don't think is so funny is when two middle-aged lawyers who are married to each other move in next door to you and your wife and they have adopted a Korean girl and they want to send her to school with your children and they want to socialize with you and share a drink over the backyard fence. That creeps people out, especially Christians. So, I don't think gay marriage is a conservative issue. I think it's a radical issue."
• Will Illinois' Democratic U.S. Rep. Luis Gutierrez include the gays in his immigration reform bill?
• British man Ian Baynham dead because he stood up to a girl screaming homophobic slurs?
• John Mayer did go to a gay bar. He did not kiss a dude.
Queerty
Why Doesn't Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade Want Glee?
We thought the cast of Fox's buzzworthy Glee would be in high demand. The (A-)gays were all over them in Washington D.C. over the weekend. So how come Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade doesn't want them?
Originally set to perform during the NBC telecast, Glee was just bumped from the parade when the network reportedly asked parade organizers to rescind the offer.
How come? Quite simply, Glee is on the competing network Fox, and NBC doesn't want to promote a competing show. Nevermind, Glee creator Ryan Murphy is taking it in stride: "I completely understand NBC’s position, and look forward to seeing a Jay Leno float." Professional!
Estimated 50,000 show up for Orlando gay-pride parade
At Sunday's Come Out With Pride event in Orlando, Stuart Milk echoed the remarks of President Barack Obama that a new era was under way for the gay community.
The day before, in an address to the nation's largest gay-advocacy group in Washington, D.C., Obama spoke of the day when "we as a nation finally recognize relationships between two men or two women are just as real and admirable as relationships between a man and a woman."
He promised to revoke the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy in the armed forces, sign the Matthew Shepard anti-hate-crimes bill and work for repeal of the Defense of Marriage Act, which prohibits the federal government from recognizing same-sex unions.
"That's a leader who understands us," said Milk, the nephew of slain gay-rights activist Harvey Milk. "This is a president who is committed to change."
An estimated 50,000 or more spectators lined the parade route around Lake Eola Park for the event, which coincided with National Coming Out Day.
Not all the viewers were enjoying the spectacle.
Lorrie Row, a middle-aged woman from Leesburg, stood on the corner of Washington Street and Rosalind Avenue in Orlando watching the parade of gay pride pass by. She had a blank look on her face and a sign that read "Repent or be cast into the lake of fire."
It was her first Come Out With Pride event and she was not amused by the free-to-be-me celebration of equal rights and outlandish attire — all those feathered boas, bikini briefs and rainbow Mohawks.
"I'm thinking about Jesus looking down on them and weeping for them," she said. "I'm here to share the message if they don't repent, they will burn in hell. The Bible says homosexuals won't enter the kingdom."
Behind her, a man held up a banner enumerating all the others who face damnation. Homosexuals were tenth on a list that included fornicators, drunkards, rock-n-rollers, pot smokers, liars, Darwinists, Wiccans and immodest women.
She was one of perhaps a half-dozen silent protesters. They stood largely ignored, but a reminder nonetheless of the legions of people who condemn, hate, abuse or discriminate against gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgender people.
In the amphitheater across the street, the event's organizers and politicians proclaimed all in attendance heroes for living their lives in accordance to their beliefs. Coming out, being seen and — in some cases — flaunting it is an act of courage, a show of strength.
"Being out and being proud is being a superhero as far as I'm concerned," said Orlando City Commissioner Patty Sheehan. "The people of the rainbow deserve their place in the sun."
Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer praised his city as one that encourages diversity and practices inclusion.
"Being open about your life choices allows you to live your life the way you want to," Dyer said.
"Sometimes that's not the easy way, but it's the right way."
On an afternoon when the gay community in Orlando was the size of a small city, it was possible to believe that someday, in any American city, gay couples might walk down the street without fear of taunts and violence.
Trish Duncan, facing the stage, her back to where the protesters once stood, hoped so. On this one day, at least, she could feel what it means to be equal and unabashed.
"You can come out like this and be yourself," she said. "We're all here, we're comfortable and we have pride."
Orlando Sentinel
