Mitt Romney

But R. Clarke Cooper, executive director of the national Log Cabin Republicans, while also congratulating Romney, cautioned him against engaging in “anti-gay pandering or divisive social politics.”

Cooper told the Blade his comment was a reference to statements Romney has made in news media interviews over the past several months in which he appeared to be appealing to conservative voters hostile to gay rights.

Officials with Log Cabin’s chapters in the Miami, Fort Lauderdale and Tampa areas said support for Romney was strong among LGBT Republicans in the state. Romney won by a lopsided margin in a Jan. 28 straw poll of Log Cabin members at an informal gay Republican caucus in Miami.

“I’m pleased that Romney won,” said Andy Eddy, board member of Log Cabin Republicans of Broward County, which includes the city of Fort Lauderdale and the nearby gay enclave Wilton Manors.

“Many of our members support him and believe he has the best chance of beating Obama,” he said.

With 100 percent of the election precincts counted, Romney captured 46 percent of the vote. His closest rival, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich received 32 percent, former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum received 13 percent, and Texas Congressman Ron Paul received 7 percent.

In Florida’s winner take all primary, Romney captured 50 delegates, giving him a boost going into a series of upcoming primaries and caucuses leading up to Super Tuesday on March 6, when 10 states hold primaries.

“This big win for Gov. Romney makes it all but certain that he will emerge as the nominee of the Republican Party,” said Jimmy LaSalvia, executive director of the gay conservative group GOProud.

The registry, which takes effect Jan. 12, will extend vital legal protections to gay and lesbian families.

The Orlando City Council voted unanimously Dec. 12 to enact the domestic partnership registry, as the city became the first in Central Florida to recognize relationships of same-sex couples.

Couples who record their relationships in the registry are entered in a government database and then can visit each other in the hospital or jail, make health-care decisions for an incapacitated partner and plan a partner's funeral.

Orlando Commissioner Patty Sheehan pushed for the registry, noting that same-sex couples are often barred from seeing their partners during medical emergencies because state law doesn't recognize them as family. Gay people are sometimes unable to execute a partner's funeral plans for the same reason.

"It's not as many rights as marriage, but it helps couples during very difficult times," Sheehan said.

The Orlando Sentinel

The registry only applies to hospitals and other institutions in Orlando. Still, people who live outside the city are allowed to sign up.

Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer said he expects some non-residents to do that because anyone in Central Florida could at some point be a patient at Orlando Health or Florida Hospital, the region's two biggest hospitals -- both hospitals are in Orlando and thus required to treat registered partners as family members.

The registry, which takes effect January 12th, will extend vital legal protections to gay and lesbian families.

When the registry goes into effect, any unmarried couple who lives, works or visits Orlando can gain the right to make medical decisions for an incapacitated partner, be notified in a life threatening emergency, visit a partner in a health-care facility and participate in the education of a partner's children, according to Equality Florida.

The proposal was discussed for about 90 minutes, with about 20 speakers voicing their support for the registry. Just one speaker spoke against the measure before it was approved by the council by a vote of 7-0.

"I support the domestic partnership registry because I believe it keeps us competitive with other world-class communities," said Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer.

"A domestic partnership registry helps us recruit employers who share our commitment to diversity while attracting and retaining a creative workforce that knows they'll have protections for their families," said Dyer.

In enacting the ordinance, Broward County adopts one of the nation's most significant policies furthering workplace equality.

“This is a big win,” said Stratton Pollitzer, deputy director of Equality Florida, the state’s oldest gay-rights group.

“This ordinance puts Broward’s domestic-partner policies among the very strongest in the county. If you want to do business with Broward County, you must treat domestic partners and married employees equally,” Pollitzer said.

Broward is the first county Florida to adopt an EBO. In 2005 Miami Beach became the first city in the state to pass an EBO, and the Miami Beach policy has been praised by the city commission and the staff, while reporting no negative fiscal impact.

The EBO applies to companies who are in contracts of $100,000 or more with the county and who have 5 or more employees. If a company does not currently provide benefits to the spouses of their employees, then they are not required to provide benefits to the domestic partners of their employees.

If companies are not able to provide benefits to domestic partners, they may provide the cash equivalent to the employee and still meet the requirements of the EBO.

The funding was designated for "Learning for Life" -- a character education program that teaches students values like respect, responsibility, honesty and fairness. Learning for Life is a subsidiary of the Boy Scouts of America, which has publicly stated that "homosexuality is inconsistent with its values."

Board member Linda Lerner, who has a gay son, has been trying to get the board to split from the program for ten years.

"This board has a chance to send a strong message to the Boy Scouts," said Lerner during the meeting. "I was pleasantly surprised [when they agreed], and I believe that it is so good for our district for our educators, students, and citizens, gay and straight."

In an editorial on Thursday, The St. Petersburg Times said:

The Boy Scouts of America is a civic institution that has provided millions of young men the chance to experience the great outdoors, the opportunity to develop leadership skills and hone other critical talents that guide them into adulthood. But it is also hypocritical for an organization to promote a school character-building program stressing respect, responsibility, honesty and citizenship while openly discriminating against children because of their sexual orientation.

Along with Pinellas, at least eight other Florida counties either have or currently receive Learning for Life grants, including Polk, Manatee, Lee, Orange, Dade, Duval, Escambia, and Palm Beach counties.

Now, as a result, same-sex couples and gay and lesbian individuals have stepped up their efforts to become parents.

According to an article published Sunday in the Fort Lauderdale- based South Florida Sun-Sentinel, family law attorneys estimated that more than 100 gay and lesbian persons in South Florida have pending adoption cases awaiting final court approval.

"The phones have been ringing off the hook," said family law attorney Elizabeth Schwartz, of Miami. "It's been 33 years of pent up desire," she said.

At the Foster and Adoptive Parent Association of Palm Beach County, Executive Director Marie Bond said "we're definitely seeing more families" from the gay and lesbian community.

The 2008 ruling by a Miami-Dade Circuit Court judge found the state’s ban against gays adopting children to be unconstitutional. On Oct. 22, 2010, Florida's Attorney General Bill McCollum announced he would not appeal the ruling.

Florida was the only state in the U.S. that legally disallowed any and all LGBT parents from adopting, although they could be foster parents.

State Rep. Mark Pafford (D-West Palm Beach) on Monday filed House Bill 139, referred to as the Domestic Partnerships Act. State Sen. Eleanor Sobel (D-Hollywood-Fort Lauderdale), is the sponsor of the Senate version, SB-139.

“It is only sensible that we do all we can to attract and retain the best and brightest to work in Florida and to grow businesses here,” said Pafford, in a statement released to Equality Florida.

“By recognizing domestic partnerships, we will take a leap forward in improving our economy and the manner in which our residents are treated. It makes good economic sense, it is sound personnel policy, and it is the right thing to do.”

The filing comes as more local municipalities in Florida have adopted vital workplace protections that are often the only means for same-sex couples to get health care benefits.

With 6.7 million people living in communities that recognize domestic partnerships, Florida currently ranks seventh in the nation. Pafford's bill would make these protections and responsibilities available to all couples statewide.

According to research conducted by Equality Florida, nearly 60 percent of Fortune 500 companies and a majority of Florida’s universities offer domestic partner benefits in order to attract and retain the best and brightest employees. The Domestic Partnerships Act would grant individuals in a domestic partnership the same benefits and responsibilities currently available through marriage.

“Equality Florida is proud to work with Rep. Pafford and Sen. Sobel to provide these important protections to Florida’s domestic partners, gay and straight,” said Mallory Wells, public policy director for Equality Florida.

“Equality Florida has also been working with municipalities across the state, as well as private employers, including Pepsico, Citi Bank, BlueCross BlueShield of Florida and Wells Fargo, who offer domestic partner benefits because they recognize that workplace inequities create obstacles to attracting and retaining top talent," said Wells.

"I'm proud to have filed this bill over the past three years to draw attention to disparities in the workplace," said Sobel. "Equality Florida has done a remarkable job getting these provisions approved ... Now it is time to ensure this basic fairness all across our state."

Miami Herald

Harold Strickland

Last week, the city announced it was firing officers Frankly Forte and Eliut Hazzi, who had been under investigation by police Internal Affairs and prosecutors since The Miami Herald reported in February 2010 on the incident.

Strickland, a former Beach resident who moved to Los Angeles, said that about 1 a.m. on March 13, 2009, he was visiting South Florida and wanted to see his old neighborhood. He walked past Flamingo Park near 14th Street and Michigan Avenue and said he saw two guys beating a man and kicking his head like "a football.”

Strickland called 911, realizing as he described the beating that the two assailants — with guns, walkie-talkies and handcuffs — were undercover police officers. For nearly five minutes, Strickland spoke with a 911 dispatcher until he said the two men were “coming after me!” The men, later identified as Forte and Hazzi, approached Strickland and can be heard on the recording asking him why he is there, where he lives and if he has identification. Then the line went dead.

Strickland, who according to state attorney’s office documents said the two officers repeatedly called him “fag and faggot,” was arrested on charges of loitering and prowling.

More: The Miami Herald

The settlement requires the City of Miami Beach to pay Strickland $75,000 which includes attorneys’ fees, as well as enact new policies regarding the reporting of police misconduct.

Among the changes mandated by the settlement is the inclusion of new training language for Miami Beach police officers, including the following: “Improperly prohibiting or punishing a citizen from observing, documenting, or reporting a police officer’s conduct violates the First Amendment of the United States Constitution.”

The move by the Miami-Dade school board to add sexual orientation and gender identity to its anti-discrimination and harassment policy was greeted with praise by both Equality Florida and the Miami-Dade Safe Schools Coalition who have been working diligently for years to pass such protections.

Equality Florida, in a statement on its website, recognized that their victory was not just based upon lobbying the school board, but also because of grassroots activism.

In addition to working closely with the 30+ organizations that make up our Miami-Dade Safe Schools Coalition, Equality Florida has also been on the ground in Miami-Dade schools, training students to lead Gay Straight Alliances (GSA’s) and training their adult GSA advisors.

Currently, nearly 40 Miami-Dade GSAs are part of our Florida GSA Network, one of the fastest growing state networks in the nation.

“For the past year we’ve focused on strengthening Miami-Dade’s anti-bullying policy as a way to create a climate where bullying a student because of their real or perceived sexual orientation and/or gender identity is no longer tolerated,” said C.J. Ortuno, executive director of SAVE Dade. SAVE Dade worked with their partner the ACLU of Florida in developing the policy’s new language.

But Equality Florida, noting that this move only covers 1.55 million of the states schoolchildren, 60 percent, said that more work needs to be done on the issue of LGBT bullying and harassment.

"This is a tipping point for the state but our work continues until every school district large and small provides these vital protections," said Stratton Pollitzer, Equality Florida Deputy Director.

The Florida Family Association spent $7,000 to fly banners over Orlando for 10 hours each day on Friday and Saturday that read, "Warning Gay Day at Disney 6/4."

"Thousands of homosexuals, lesbians and transgenders will converge on Central Florida the first week of June to celebrate their immoral lifestyles," said another warning on the FFA's website.

"Many Gay Day patrons wore shirts that promoted homosexuality, kissed, hugged and groped in very public places and dressed in drag all to the curiosity of tens of thousands of children (top right photo), the FFA reported in a follow-up on the day's events.

The FFA claims thousands of people leave the park when they see same sex couples, and that mainstream America is offended. Disney and event organizers say that's just not true.

Orlando's annual six-day "Gay Days" celebration is a 20 year tradition with Saturday spent at the Magic Kingdom.

The annual pilgrimage attracts more than 160,000 gays and lesbians and their families, and contributes an estimated $150 million to the Orlando-area economy.

WESH-TV reports:

The new policy will give life, medical and dental benefits to gay county employees' families on Jan. 1. Gay workers will receive the same benefits given to heterosexual employees.

"It's time for the change and a matter of tolerance," Orange County Mayor Teresa Jacobs said.

In November 2010, commissioners voted to extend its anti-discrimination laws, adding marital status, sexual orientation and gender identity to other protected statuses in private sectors of business and housing.

Jesse Walters, who is openly gay, said campaign mail was distributed to voters' homes Saturday with a picture of his partner of 23 years and their 15-month-old daughter. He believes the picture set someone off.

"Initially it was very unsettling, you know it was kinda like if you've ever had your house broken into, you feel violated and you feel threatened, but the outpouring today has just been so wonderful," Walters said Sunday, reported WTVJ-TV.

In an email to the Miami Herald, Walters added, "Some folks are very scared by our campaign, but Miami Shores is not a place for this type of hate. This will only energize us more."

Tuesday is election day in Miami Shores, and if elected, Walters would become only the fourth openly gay elected official in Miami-Dade.

Guzman

Miami police have arrested a man in the shooting deaths of two men that he thought were gay and coming onto him.

Matthew Guzman, 21, is charged with the first-degree murder of Paul Barrow, who was shot in the head on the morning of Dec. 16 at his business. Police said Guzman confessed to killing Barrow as well as another man, Harry Ray, on Nov. 18, reports WSVN-TV.

According to arrest affidavits, Guzman confessed to hunting down his victims, shooting and killing them, because he thought they were gay and were coming onto him.

The police report said, "His motive for committing the murder was due to his belief that the victim had homosexual tendencies. (The suspect) further stated that the victim had recently looked at him in an inappropriate manner of which (the suspect) felt was loaded with homosexual connotations, thus causing him to kill the victim.

The subject confessed...eventually claiming that the victim made homosexual advances towards him, leaving him no choice but to shoot the victim."

Barrow, 46, suffered a gunshot wound to the head and his body was found at his place of business by a customer. Ray, 64, was shot to death at his Miami home after getting into an argument with Guzman.

Peter Avsenew

A suspect is in custody in the double homicide of a gay couple found slain in their Wilton Manors, Fla., home over the weekend.

Peter Serge Avsenew, 26, was arrested miles away from where police believe he murdered Kevin Mark Powell and Stephen Adams.

According to police, Avsenew lives in Hollywood, Fla., where the victims lived previously, but it's unclear whether that is related to the crime. Investigators have not yet released information regarding a motive of the crime, or how the two men died.

The couple was discovered when officers went to the their home after Adams’ sister called police because he did not show up to her home for Christmas.

Adams, 52, and Powell, 47, met at a Cleveland gay pride parade 29 years ago.

“They fell in love, and they’ve been together ever since,” Powell’s brother, Shannon Kicklighter, told the Miami Herald.

Avsenew, a felon, has previously been convicted of vehicle theft, robbery, grand theft, and check fraud. He also has pleaded no contest to possession of marijuana and drug paraphernalia and criminal mischief.

No charges have been filed yet, but Wilton Manors police have labeled Avsenew the primary suspect.

WILTON MANORS, Fla. -- Police in Wilton Manors have identified two men who they believe are the victims of a double murder that occurred over the weekend.

Stephen Duane Adams, 52, and Kevin Mark Powell, 47, were found dead inside their home on Sunday night.

WILTON MANORS POLICE

Stephen Adams (left) and Kevin Powell

The couple met at a Cleveland gay pride parade 29 years earlier.

“They fell in love, and they've been together ever since,” Powell's brother, Shannon Kicklighter, told the Miami Herald.

Officers discovered the crime scene when they went to the men's home after Adams' sister called police when he did not show up to her home for Christmas.

A motive of the murder is still unknown and the cause of death is also under investigation. Police said Tuesday afternoon they had identified a possible suspect in the murders.

The killings add to the number of gay men murdered in South Florida this year, which were featured in a special report in the South Florida Gay News on Nov. 3.