Wednesday, April 11, 2007

CALL TO ACTION: Hate Crimes Vigils Held ALL OVER Florida on Saturday April 14th in Memory of Ryan Keith Skipper, Dead at 25 of GLBT Hate Crime

URGENT!!! CALL TO ACTION -- COMMENTARY

Please join us Saturday April 14th for a Statewide Hate Crimes Vigil to draw attention to the epidemic of anti-gay hate crimes in Florida. The vigil is in response to the death of Ryan Keith Skipper, a 25-year-old Polk County man stabbed to death March 15. His body was dumped alongside a road.

According to witnesses, the killers drove around in Ryan’s blood-soaked car, bragging to friends about the murder. William Brown Jr., 20, and Joseph Bearden, 21, have been charged with first-degree murder and are being held in the Polk County Jail. Authorities have labeled Ryan's murder a hate crime.

A dozen local communities from Miami to Pensacola will be participating in the event and times and locations are listed below. If you would like to organize one in your community or if you are willing to volunteer at one of the vigils, its not too late. Please contact Russell Patterson: Russell@eqfl.org or vial phone at 813-849-3919.



[The photograph is of Ryan Keith Skipper from his myspace profile]

The vigils also come at a time that Congress is considering passage of a Federal Hate Crimes Bill. The bill was introduced in the Senate on April 12th.

The Vigils will be held Saturday April 14 at the following locations throughout Florida and Washington, DC:

Winter Haven
1:00 PM
Central Park
Central Ave at 4th and 5th Streets, Winter Haven
Russell Patterson, 813-849-3919, russ@eqfl.org

Daytona Beach (CHANGED LOCATION)
7:00 PM
Home Metropolitan Church, Back Parking Lot
500 South Ridgewood Ave., Daytona Beach, FL 32118
David Perreault, 386-453-3089, david.perreault@earthlink.net

Tampa
7:00 PM
USF Dream Pool
MLK Jr. Memorial Fountain by the Student Union
Tamara Wasserman 941-626-2164, wasserman2001@yahoo.com

Jacksonville
1:00 PM
UU Church of Jacksonville
7405 Arlington Expressway, Jacksonville, FL
32211uujax@bellsouth.net, churchoffice@uujax.org (904) 725-8133

Clearwater
7:00 PM
On the shores of Peace Pond, Unity Church of Clearwater
2465 Nursery Road (on the south side of Nursery, between Belcher and US 19)
Leddy Hammock, Minister, Unity Church of Clearwater, (727) 531-0992
leddy@unityofclearwater.org

Pensacola
1:00 PM
Holy Cross Metropolitan Community Church
3130 W Fairfield Dr, Pensacola, 32505
Rev Sandy O’Steen, revsandy@holycrossmcc.com (850) 469-9090 www.holycrossmcc.com

West Palm Beach Area & Downtown Lake Worth
6:30 PM
Gather at Town Hall
Dixie and Lake AveThree block vigil walk to park in center of Down Town
Allan Hendricks, 561.541.3700, eqflpbc@yahoo.com

Fort Lauderdale
1:00 PM
Gay and Lesbian Community Center1717 N. Andrews Avenue, Fort Lauderdale
Rev. Frank Faine, frank@sunshinecathedral.org

New Port Richey
10:00 AM
Orange ParkAcross from 6533 Circle Blvd.
Bob Brewer, boxerbob@webtv.net, 727-849-9351

Tallahassee
10:00 AM
Front steps of the old State Capitol Building
Jim Van Riper Alain Raymond, alain@eqfl.org , 904-807-5928

Ocala
8:00 PM
Downtown Square, Ocala
Robert W. Poth III, homes@robpoth.com, 352-697-2522

Key West
7:00 PM
Steps of the Old Custom HouseBase of White Head Street, Key West
Sponsored by GLCC of Key West and NOW
John Andola, jandola@hotmail.com, 305-849-0379

Miami
1:00 PM
Pridelines Youth Services, 180 NE 19th St, Miami
At the corner of NE 19th St and 2nd Ave
Tobias Packer, tobias@eqfl.org, 305-924-6237

Washington, DC
6:30 PM
Dupont Circle Park
Lara Martin, mailto:lsm4u1982@hotmail.com

For more and all information related to these events, please see:
http://www.eqfl.org/




Posted by Freedom Democrats at 11:08 AM | | Comments

Speaker Pelosi Earns Respect From Leading Political Activist

OPINION

By David Mixner
http://www.davidmixner.com/


When Speaker Pelosi first took office, I was concerned that she would attempt to seek consensus among her members to the point of sacrificing an opportunity to be a great Speaker. I was totally wrong.

Speaker Nancy Pelosi has won my deep admiration and respect with her skillful leadership, dedication to the separation of powers mandated by the Constitution, and keeping her word about working to end the war in Iraq. The Speaker understands power and is not afraid to use it to make good on the promises that she made to voters and her supporters. The first female Speaker, she is not intimidated at all by the President or his posse and is working to restore the House of Representatives to its rightful place as a separate entity from the Executive Branch.

She has already established an amazing record since taking office in January.

One of her first acts as Speaker was to initiate reform and put ethics on the front burner. While there is still much work to be done, she kept her promise to start cleaning up the House, which had become a place of scandal and good old boy pork projects. There have been some missteps but she has refused to be dragged down by the Republican mob looking only to discredit her and prevent Congress from refocusing on its proper role as a check to the power of the Executive.

Most impressive has been her powerful leadership against the War in Iraq….(please click here to read more commentary from David Mixner)

For all information related to this story please see:
http://www.davidmixner.com/

Posted by Freedom Democrats at 9:33 AM | | Comments

Saturday, April 07, 2007

Court Ruling Upholds GSA Group in Okeechobee. FL. High School

COMMENTARY

From ACLU LGBT Project and EQualityGiving

"I just had to write and tell you about a decision we got this morning. This is a really great ruling, rejecting the latest scheme to keep LGBT high school kids closeted and scared.

A group of kids at Okeechobee High School in Florida asked for permission to set up a Gay/Straight Alliance (GSA) as an official school club. In their application, they said the purpose of the club was to "promote tolerance and equality among students, regardless of sexual orientation and/or gender identities…." The students complied with all of the schools rules for official clubs.

First the school sat on the application. Then, when pressed, the principal denied it. The GSA, she said, was a "sex-based" club.

Allowing it to meet would conflict with school discipline and with Florida’s "abstinence-only" policy.

This morning, a federal judge issued a preliminary injunction, ordering the school to grant the club official school club status, and to let it meet at school.

The ruling is important because, following the advice of anti-gay legal groups, schools all over the country have begun to argue that GSAs are inherently inconsistent with "abstinence-only" policies. The judge here dismissed that, saying there is no reason to assume that the existence of a club devoted to equality for LGBT people would obstruct courses on abstinence. The judge also said there is no reason to think that promoting tolerance will involve obscene materials.

It’s a pretty thorough rejection of the "inherent inconsistency" view, and it comes from a pretty conservative federal judge.

There is one other sweet moment in the decision. To explain the law on the federal Equal Access Act and GSAs, the judge cites five cases.

The first was brought by the ACLU in Minnesota, the second by the ACLU in Georgia, the third by the ACLU in Kentucky, the fourth by Lambda Legal in California, the fifth by Lambda and the ACLU in Utah.

It's nice to be able to see so vividly the impact the work is having.

Rob Rosenwald of the ACLU in Florida stood up in court for the kids in this case.

Thanks for helping to make this case and the others possible."

Matt Coles
ACLU LGBT Project

Posted by Freedom Democrats at 10:39 AM | | Comments

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