03.16.10
Posted in D's Thoughts at 6:59 pm by pikapp44
For the first time in 33 years, the Florida Legislature is scheduled to debate whether people should be asked about their sexual orientation when applying to adopt.
Pro-equality legislators are fired up and ready to make the case that the adoption ban tears families apart prevents children from being adopted.
House and Senate leadership is actively trying to silence the discussion, but top allies in both chambers will fight as hard as they can to ensure that does not happen.
More than one hundred Floridians are in Tallahassee right now having face-to-face conversations with their state legislators. Today more legislators than ever are signing on to sponsor pro-equality bills, but more are still needed to pass critical legislation. That’s where you come in….
Write to your lawmaker right now and ask them to take a stand against discrimination. Ask them to sponsor three important
bills:
- The Florida Competitive Workforce Act (HB 391 by Skidmore and SB 798 by Gelber) This bill would add sexual orientation and gender identity to the state law that already protects people in employment and housing based on race, religion, sex, age and disability.
- Repeal of Florida’s Adoption Ban (HB 3 by Brandenburg and SB
102 by Rich) Equality Florida continues to work with legislators to repeal the ban. With approximately 3,000 children waiting for adoption in Florida’s foster care system, the state desperately needs to open up the pool to include qualified gay and lesbian parents.
- Domestic Partnerships (HB 477 by Steinberg SB 232 by Sobel) This bill would create a statewide domestic partnership policy in Florida. Dozens of cities and companies in Florida already offer some form of domestic partnership benefits, but right now there are no statewide protections for our families.
Florida Legislature to debate should people be asked about their sexual orientation when applying to adopt
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03.15.10
Posted in D's Thoughts at 9:40 pm by pikapp44
In South Florida’s gay community, Ray Fetcho is known as drag queen “Tiny Tina.”
To the families of elderly dementia patients, he’s a godsend, a compassionate caregiver.
But now Fetcho is out of a job and his 35-year nursing career is in jeopardy, all because of a minor arrest — in 1976.
Fetcho, performing under his stage name, was emceeing a “Wet Jockey Shorts” contest at the Copa, a now-closed gay nightclub in Dania Beach, when undercover state agents investigating drug sales witnessed what they considered a lewd act. Fetcho was charged with a misdemeanor and paid a $150 fine.
He continued working in nursing homes until last month, when state inspectors discovered the offense during an inspection of Victoria Villa, an assisted living facility in Davie where he’d worked for 13 years. Fetcho was terminated.
“It was my day off. … My boss calls me and says, ‘Ray, I have some bad news. I have to let you go,’” Fetcho said in an interview Friday. “I was shocked.”
Supporters are lining up behind him: former employers, family members of patients he has cared for, even the agent who arrested him.
“I think it’s an injustice and terrifically unfair for Mr. Fetcho to lose his position now over a misdemeanor over 30 years ago,” said David Shomers, who headed the Copa investigation for the Florida Division of Alcoholic Beverages and Tobacco and is now a Lauderdale Lakes city commissioner. “It’s not as if he robbed a bank or beat somebody up.”
The state has been cracking down on caregivers with criminal records since a Sun Sentinel series last fall found people with the most serious offenses — rape, child abuse, even murder — had slipped through because of flaws in Florida’s background screening system.
Linda Greenfield, of Plantation, whose mother is a resident of Victoria Villa, said she understands the safety concern but does not think it should bar people like Fetcho from working.
“There are true felons out there working with people like my mom,” she said. “This is crazy. This man is not a felon.”
Inspectors with the state Agency for Health Care Administration said they had no choice. Under Florida law, people with records for certain crimes, including some misdemeanors such as lewdness, are not permitted to work as caregivers unless they obtain an exemption from the state declaring that they have been rehabilitated and pose no danger to patients.
Fetcho never got an exemption. The state paid a visit to his employer on Feb. 3 in part because of a complaint that Victoria Villa had not screened employees.
Inspectors reviewed Fetcho’s personnel file and discovered he had failed a background check because of the arrest and should not have been hired.
“It is the facility’s responsibility to ensure staff have clear background screenings,” said AHCA spokeswoman Tiffany Vause.
A woman who answered the phone at Victoria Villa on Thursday said the facility had no comment.
Fetcho is already sorely missed, residents’ family members told the Sun Sentinel. He entertained, dressing up as Shirley Temple one Halloween, and was particularly sensitive to the needs of Alzheimer’s patients.
“He knew what was best for each individual,” said Ann Garfinkel, of Pembroke Pines, whose 89-year-old mother lives at Victoria Villa. “He learned their characteristics, what made them more comfortable. This is really a big loss for all the families.”
Fetcho said he was arrested during an era of intolerance, when gay bars were an easy mark.
On that night 34 years ago, Fetcho said he merely used a watering can to wet down the contestants’ briefs, the same act he performed every week at the club. Shomers, the ex-agent, recalls that “it went beyond that,” but does not remember details.
Regardless, it was a minor incident long ago, said Shomers, who has offered his assistance to Fetcho in getting permission to work again.
A week ago Fetcho applied for an exemption with the state Department of Health, which holds his license as a practical nurse. Norm Kent, a lawyer and publisher of SouthFloridaGayNews.com, which first reported on Fetcho’s job loss earlier this month, is representing him for free.
Now 61, Fetcho said he’s had job offers and hopes to soon be able to return to the work he loves.
“It’s like family to me,” he said. “They not only took my nursing job, they took my family away, too.”
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03.13.10
Posted in D's Thoughts at 4:24 pm by pikapp44
Three Bay Area men charged with hate crimes for allegedly assaulting men whom they perceived to be gay on San Francisco streets had videotaped multiple attacks, law enforcement officials said Friday.
A spokesman for San Francisco district attorney Kamala Harris said police officers found the videotape in a suspect’s car. The footage includes assailants laughing and shooting air rifles at an unidentified man on 16th Street and Guerrero Street near the city’s Castro neighborhood.
The 24-year-old suspects, Mohammad Habibzada, Shafiq Hashemi, and Sayed Bassam from nearby Hayward, Calif., have been charged with assault for the Feb. 26 attack and are currently free on $50,000 bail, the San Francisco Chronicle reports.
All three men are due to appear in court on April 8.
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03.12.10
Posted in D's Thoughts at 1:29 pm by pikapp44
“GLAAD has learned from a source that wishes to remain anonymous that sponsors of the Stars on Ice Tour, which include Smuckers and IMG Entertainment, have refused to allow 3-time US National Champion and 2-time Olympian Johnny Weir to participate because they claim that he is ‘not family friendly.’”
Calling the 25-year-old “not family friendly” is just a veiled “jab at his perceived sexual orientation,” and that Wier is actually quite the family man, as he put his brother through college and financially supports his disabled father.
Though it’s unclear whether the skater even had any interest in participating, Weir, who is known for his flashy costumes, announced after the 2010 Vancouver games that he was taking a break from skating.
Weir has never publicly announced his sexual orientation.
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03.09.10
Posted in D's Thoughts at 6:48 pm by pikapp44
Sean Hayes, who played flamboyant Jack McFarland on NBC’s Will and Grace for eight years, has publicly confirmed his sexuality for the first time.
The resolutely private actor recently gave his first interview to gay newsmagazine The Advocate after many denied requests.
The Advocate and other media had long criticized Hayes, 39, for not confirming what many have called the “open secret” of his sexual orientation.
I never have had a problem saying who I am,” Hayes says in the new cover story.
“I am who I am. I was never in, as they say. Never,” he states.
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03.06.10
Posted in D's Thoughts at 10:55 pm by pikapp44
The Nevada Taxi Authority is under fire for a policy that groups gays with alleged criminals among those at high risk of giving communicable diseases to agency employees.
“The policy of the Taxicab Authority is to safeguard, to the highest degree possible, employees and the public who come in contact with people who have or are suspected of having communicable disease without sacrificing essential services to the community or individual citizens,” the policy reads.
Who else, besides the gays, poses a risk of transmitting communicable diseases? Sex workers and intravenous drug users.
The policy goes to great length to explain how “persons of high-risk groups, including homosexuals, intravenous drug users, prostitutes and others are to be treated with caution. Where violence or an altercation is likely, when practical, protective disposable gloves and an eye and face shield should be worn.”
Former TA Officer Scott Lewis told Las Vegas’ CBS 8 the policy shocked him.
“It took my breath away to read that. It lumps in homosexuals and gays with drug users and prostitutes. Drug users and prostitutes as we know are criminals,” he said. “My question is, what is a homosexual? How can you tell? Would you ask them, ‘Are you homosexual?’ and then stop, as it says, for your personal protective equipment.”
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03.05.10
Posted in D's Thoughts at 5:16 pm by pikapp44
My partner and I both love our pets and consider them our babies. This is a heartbreaking story.
For six weeks, the Coombs family searched in vain for their lost Bengal cat, O’Malley.
They held out hope that he eventually would be found and returned because they had implanted a microchip in him with their contact information.
But when Broward County’s animal control division found O’Malley in mid-February, it did not notify the Coombs family until after staff euthanized the cat.
“I just think they are euthanizing animals and not looking for the owners or anything because we had gone there and been reassured and were relying on them,” Deborah Coombs said. “We were so devastated because our animals are like our children and are part of our family.”
The cat’s death has the family and county commissioners wondering if the scandal-plagued agency – which was restructured in 2008 after facing criticism for animal abuse and misconduct – has reformed its ways. The county is apologizing, but officials aren’t sure what exactly happened and are waiting for an internal investigation to be completed.
O’Malley had been at the shelter four days when officers decided he was too sickly to live. Officials say no chip was found when O’Malley was initially scanned, but was discovered when he was scanned again after death.
The Coombses are even more infuriated over what they say happened when they picked up O’Malley’s body to be cremated. They say a shelter employee ridiculed them and suggested they should be cited for O’Malley being malnourished.
An audit of the agency two years ago found food for dogs and cats in short supply, animal carcasses rotted in maggot-infested bags and workers taking valuable dogs for their own profits. Officials were forced to change procedures to reduce the problems.
“I’m furious,” said Broward County Mayor Ken Keechl, who led the drive to reform the agency. “I’m tired of it – how many years will this keep going on?”
O’Malley, who was about 2 years old, was a house cat who enjoyed stretching out on a bed and fetching balled-up pieces of paper. The family adopted him as a kitten from Deborah Coombs’ father and didn’t keep a collar on him because he lived indoors.
On Jan. 3, Michael Coombs accidentally left the cover off a cat door in the garage and O’Malley got out. When the Coombes stopped by the county shelter as part of their search, they were assured the staff checks strays immediately for a microchip and calls the family if one is found.
Microchips are tiny transponders implanted under the skin that use radio frequency waves to transmit information about the pet. The chips can be installed by a veterinarian at a cost of less than $50 and can be read with a handheld scanner.
Animal groups say that microchips are helpful in the return of lost pets, but they warn that chips shouldn’t replace collars with ID tags.
Chips, which are designed to last 25 years, can occasionally get lost inside the pet and be difficult to scan. Also, until recently, there was no universal scanner to read all the different frequencies.
Beth Chavez, who oversees the animal services division as the county’s community services director, said the agency’s policy is to scan all animals and contact the owner. But she noted 20,000 animals a year go through the county shelters and that scanning is not foolproof.
“What happened with the cat is a very unfortunate situation and we do feel sorry to the family for what happened,” Chavez said. She could not discuss specifics of what happened because she is waiting for the internal affairs report.
Normally, the shelter waits three days before deciding whether to euthanize or put up for adoption an animal that does not appear to be owned. It makes that same decision after five days with animals that seem to be owned.
The Coombs family said they were called on Feb. 16 about O’Malley’s fate. They said they were told that O’Malley had an upper respiratory infection and was so malnourished that he would not have survived much longer.
The Coombses question the validity of the agency’s story and say they would have taken O’Malley to their veterinarian if the shelter had given them the opportunity.
They said O’Malley was naturally thin, had long suffered from respiratory problems and had lost muscle tone because of recent hip surgery. They also note O’Malley was clearly a house pet – declawed and neutered.
“We just miss him so much,” Deborah Coombs said. “We would have gone there immediately if they had called.”
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03.04.10
Posted in D's Thoughts at 12:13 pm by pikapp44
An anti-gay California state senator was placed under arrest for drunk driving after leaving a gay bar. A male passenger was in the vehicle along with the lawmaker was not arrested, reported Sacramento CBS affiliate Channel 13.
State Sen. Roy Ashburn was pulled over by the California Highway Patrol at about 2:00 a.m. on March 3 when his state-issued vehicle was observed being driven erratically. The driver, identified as Ashburn, was taken in and charged for driving under the influence. Channel 13 reported that unidentified sources said the senator had been at Faces, a popular gay nightspot, prior to his arrest.
In a March 4 article, the online news site Talking Points Memo characterized Ashburn, who is married and has four children, as “a fierce opponent of gay rights” who had led anti-marriage equality rallies.
Ashburn issued a contrite apology, stating, “I am deeply sorry for my actions and offer no excuse for my poor judgment. I accept complete responsibility for my conduct and am prepared to accept the consequences for what I did.”
Ashburn will not be able to drive for a month and the vehicle he was in at the time of his arrest has been impounded, reported online news site Bakersfield.com on March 3. If the state senator receives the same penalties as do others arrested for drunk driving, the article said, Ashburn could face three years of probation, fines of up to $1,000, attendance at a “DUI offender program,” and two days’ jail time.
It is uncertain how the arrest–or his reported presence at a gay bar–will affect Ashburn’s prospects for re-election. He already faces a fellow Republican for in the upcoming race for the seat he occupies in the state senate.
Anti-gay lawmakers who are alleged to engage in sexual activity with members of their own gender have attracted significant media attention in recent years. Among the high-profile cases in lawmakers with records of voting against gay equality measures is the arrest of former Idaho Sen. Larry Craig, who was charged with soliciting another man for sex in an airport restroom, and a 2006 scandal involving Republican Sen. Mark Foley, who allegedly exchanged sexually charged text messages with teenaged male pages and young men who had formerly been pages.
A 2009 documentary titled Outrage noted that rumors have long swirled around Florida governor Charlie Crist, who supported a successful ballot initiative to amend the state’s constitution in a way that bars marriage equality for gay and lesbian families. The film also traced the careers of other anti-gay politicians rumored to be closeted gays themselves, such as Republican Congressman David Drier, a California representative.
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02.26.10
Posted in D's Thoughts at 4:13 pm by pikapp44
Daniel Radcliffe is explaining why he has just filmed a public service announcement for The Trevor Project, the leading organization focusing on suicide prevention efforts among gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered youth.
Because his parents were both actors, ”I grew up knowing a lot of gay men and it was never something that I even thought twice about — that some men were gay and some weren’t,” the ”Harry Potter” megastar said Friday. ”And then I went to school and (for) the first time … I came across homophobia. … I had never encountered it before. It shocked me.
”I have always hated anybody who is not tolerant of gay men or lesbians or bisexuals,” he added. ”Now I am in the very fortunate position where I can actually help or do something about it.”
The result is a PSA that was filmed Friday at the organization’s Wall Street offices. The announcement is scheduled to air sometime this spring.
Radcliffe first became aware of The Trevor Project, founded in 1998 by three filmmakers, while he was appearing on Broadway in the 2008 revival of ”Equus.” Their movie, ”Trevor,” which won an Academy Award for best short film, concerned a gay teen who attempts suicide. The Trevor Project allows young people to call in for counseling or just to talk.
”I have described myself as being ‘gently eccentric’ and slightly different as a person just because I’ve had a very different set of influences growing up than anybody else in my peer group did,” the 20-year-old Radcliffe said. ”I’ve always felt very lucky to have the life that I’ve had. I never had to cope with anything serious about my religion or sexual orientation or anything like that.
”I think it’s important for somebody from a big, commercial movie series like ‘Harry Potter’ and particularly because I am not gay or bisexual or transgendered. … The fact that I am straight makes not a difference, but it shows that straight people are incredibly interested and care a lot about this as well
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02.14.10
Posted in D's Thoughts at 8:50 pm by pikapp44
Kitty’s Toy Box is a lesbian owned online boutique for women.
Kitty’s Toy Box offers a private and comfortable atmosphere where women can shop and purchase e a wide selection of sex toys including dildos, vibrators, fetish gear, and other sexy adult toys and gifts in the comfort of your own home.
You can also find sex tips and how to guides.
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