Gainesville does the right thing

http://floridablade.com/today/index.cfm?blog_id=24655

SKIPPER’S KILLER GETS LIFE IN PRISON

Read all about it: Joseph Bearden was sentenced to life in prison, after being convicted of second-degree murder Friday for the stabbing death of Ryan Skipper, an openly gay student in Polk County, Fla. [SoFla Blade]

NAPLES P-FLAG SCREENS PRO-GAY DOCUMENTARY

How did we miss this story?  The Naples chapter of P-FLAG held a screening in February, of “For the Bible Tells Me So,” a documentary of religion and its relationship with gay issues.  Read the article here: P-FLAG Naples

MySpace page for P-Flag Naples, including meeting times (third Thursday of each month)

NEWS YOU CAN USE

Unity becomes rallying cry for GLBT politics
Gathering in Fort Myers aimed to plan the future of Florida’s GLBT movement

Polk County gay murder trial closes
Ryan Skipper was killed ‘because he was gay,’ prosecutors say

Have you taken an amazing trip? Share your travel stories with the Blade

‘DOUBT’ AT GULFSHORE PLAYHOUSE

Did he do it? This is the maddening question that may or may not be answered in “Doubt,” the Broadway hit play about priests, young boys, and a nun that may or may not be on a witch hunt gone wrong.  The play was adapted into a film starring Meryl Streep and Philip Seymour Hoffman; if you saw the film, it takes a slightly different view than the play (as they always do unfortch), but they’re both equally capable of driving you crazy.

The stage version has come to SWFla: Gulfshore Playhouse in Naples debuts “Doubt” this weekend, through March 1.

Story in Naples News: Gulfshire Playhouse to stage ‘Doubt’

PARIS BOYS COME TO THE BEACH

Paris-based superbloggers OhLaLaMag.com paid a visit to Miami Beach, to pop some photos for their site:

The rest of the photos (lots of landscapes and palm trees) are here.

DOMESTIC PARTNERSHIP LEGISLATION INTRODUCED IN FLORIDA

From Equality Florida:

Sen. Eleanor Sobel (Hallandale Beach) has introduced a statewide
Domestic Partnership bill (SB 1642). Equality Florida has been working
closely with Sen. Sobel in preparing this historic legislation. The
companion bill will be sponsored in the house by Rep. Richard Steinberg
(Miami Beach). As a Miami Beach City Commissioner, Rep. Steinberg
played a key role in passing Florida’s strongest Domestic Partnership
policy.

The introduction of these domestic partnership bills comes at
a time when public support is at an all time high for this legislation.
The latest polls show 77% of Floridians in favor of extending benefits
to unmarried couples.

It also comes as a South Florida hospital is embroiled in a
lawsuit for refusing to grant a woman access to her partner as she lay
dying at Jackson Memorial Hospital. The case has provoked international
outrage and highlights the vulnerability gay couples face when there is
no legal framework to protect their families.

If passed, this bill would ensure committed, unmarried couples
throughout Florida have access to basic legal rights like visiting each
other in the hospital.

Many places in Florida already understand the importance of
offering domestic partner protections. Miami Dade County enacted
domestic partner benefits in the past year, as did the cities of
Sarasota and Orlando.

Does this have a chance of passing?  We shall see.  A bill to establish anti-bullying protections for GLBT students met with an enormous fight amongst state legislators; it wasn’t officially passed, although some sneaky wording on the pro-GLBT side made sure that the laws would go into effect.  But “sneaky wording” won’t necessarily work for something as major as domestic partnership benefits.

LOVE OF THE BOOTY

As I am a fan of the big butt, South Florida is like a walk in the clouds of heaven, with all the Latin men walking around jiggling their assets.  So it is with great pleasure I stumbled upon Beautiful Mag’s latest feature “Booty Shop”…

Click this link for the full photo spread: Booty Shop

GAY ADOPTIVE DAD DENIED STATE BENEFITS

I’ve tried to explain this story here in this post, but I end up re-writing the entire thing; it’s pretty convoluted, and it’s definitely not the most well-written story ever published so that doesn’t help.  But the point is still important, touching on the ongoing drama within Florida’s gay adoption ban.

The Key West adoptive father, Wayne LaRue Smith, who won the right to legally adopt his foster son is once again facing problems from the Division of Children & Family Services.  This time, the issue is money, and the State doesn’t want to pay.

VALENTINE’S WEEKEND

At The Bottom Line, in Fort Myers—a fundraiser for the Bob Rauschenburg Center for Living: