Tag Archives: Wilton Manors

FLORIDA – NO PRIDE: Wilton Manors To Impose Dress Code at PRIDE.

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A dress code? Really? A FUCKING DRESS CODE?

 South Florida Gay News (FINALLY) reports:

In the week since Wilton Manors’ city commission voted unanimously to amend the permit for the Stonewall Pride Parade & Street Festival, people on both sides of the issue on whether or not to comply with drag laws have lashed out.
The amendment ensures event producers follow all laws, including ones passed since the permit was issued in February. The practical effect is to comply with the new law that appears to classify all live drag entertainment, regardless of content, as adult entertainment, and prevent drag performances on outdoor stages that will be set up all along Wilton Drive for the June 17 party.
It appears people in drag will be allowed into the event and to participate in the parade. However, performing in the parade or on any exterior stage is likely to be prohibited due to being labeled adult entertainment. Producers of the event haven’t finalized standards for admission and participation, but have said there will be a “dress code” applying to all participants, vendors, attendees, and performers.

It started this way in Germany. And please don’t tell me I’m being dramatic.

Pick up a history book not published in Florida.

And besides. I have the receipts to prove it.

FLORIDA - Wilton Manors Bans Drag Queens at PRIDE

FLORIDA – Wilton Manors Bans Drag Queens at PRIDE

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Image what could be done to fight DeSantis if the Flori-gays actually had a backbone.

Via South Florida Gay News:

Drag queens and other performers who work up and down Wilton Drive, filed into the city commission chamber at Wilton Manors City Hall. They, along with other citizens, stood up and spoke out, urging commissioners to stand with them against the tyranny of Tallahassee.

In the end, the panel sympathized, empathized, and voted against them. The issue was amending the permit for Stonewall Pride Inc. to force compliance of a new law that expands the definition of “live adult entertainment” to include drag entertainment.

Mayor Scott Newton (the lone straight man in the city government) said people marginalized by the law are still welcome to be part of the event. “We’re proud to have drag queens and the transgender community come and walk and ride in floats down Wilton Drive. But because of the commissions vote the individual will be breaking the law. Not the PRIDE organization running the parade.

We’ve posted before that in the year since Ron DeSantis and “Don’t Say Gay” that Wilton Manors in Fort Lauderdale which is heavily LGBT has done very little in the way of any protests or blowback to the state. What makes it even more shocking is the entire city commission is LGBTQ and not one of them had the balls to stand-up against Ron DeSantis because they MIGHT lose their Commission seat.

Remember: Fascism can only take root when good people comply.

DO NOT COMPLY.

In other news today Wilton Manors unveiled it’s new Pride Flag.

Wilton Manors in Florida Sets Protest Against Anti-LGBT State Laws.

Wilton Manors in Florida Sets Protest Against Anti-LGBT State Laws.

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Well it took a couple of months but its nice to see some LGBT’s in Florida finally standing up against Florida’s heinous and oppressive anti-LGBT laws.

According to the 2010 Census, Wilton Manors is the country’s “Second Gayest City” – at least in terms of couples. It has about 140 per 1,000, putting it second only to Provincetown, Mass

Via ABC affiliate Local 10.com:

The LGBTQ community in Wilton Manors is preparing to march Sunday against new measures that Republicans in Florida are pushing forward. Christ Caputo, a Wilton Manors commissioner, said it’s time for the community to stand against “discriminatory” Florida bills Caputo said he is especially concerned about House Bill 1011 and Senate Bill 668, which set limits to flags at governmental agencies. “A new bill that came out, a House bill, essentially bans pride flags from flying in government property,” Caputo said. “Crazy enough, there was an amendment to it where it would have been OK to fly a Confederate flag but not to fly a Pride flag. I mean that’s unbelievable.”

The protest march “in heels” means no white plumber’s boots.

1 Dead, 1 Seriously Injured As Car Slams Into Wilton Manor's Pride Parade

1 Dead, 1 Seriously Injured As Car Slams Into Wilton Manor’s Pride Parade

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1 person is dead and 1 person has been seriously injured after a driver slammed into spectators Saturday evening at the start of a Pride parade in South Florida, killing one man and seriously injuring another during the Wilton Manors Stonewall Pride Parade Saturday night.

Via AP News:

To my knowledge it was an accident. This was not an attack on the LGBTQ community,” Knight said in the statement. “We anticipate more details to follow and ask for the community’s love and support.”

Fort Lauderdale Mayor Dean Trantalis said a driver of a pickup truck suddenly accelerated when he was told he was next in the parade, crashing into the victims, according to WSVN-TV.

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In the immediate aftermath of the crash, Trantalis said he believed the crash was “deliberate.” and spectator Christina Currie told the South Florida SunSentinel that she was with her family at the start of the parade.

“All of a sudden there was a loud revving of a truck and a crash through a fence,” Currie said. “It was definitely an intentional act right across the lanes of traffic.”

It is unclear at this time what exactly did happen and why.

Police said the driver was taken into custody, Both the driver and the victims were a part of the Fort Lauderdale Gay Men’s Chorus family, according to a statement reported by news outlets from the group’s president, Justin Knight.

FLORIDA: Wilton Manor Gays Butthurt and Verklempt Over LGBT Travel Advisory Boycott.

Wilton Manors, Florida Elects All Gay City Commission and Mayor

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The city of Wilton Manors, in South Florida will have an all-gay City Commission and a newly elected gay Mayor after Tuesday’s election.

Commissioner Justin Flippen was elected mayor, while the outgoing mayor, Gary Resnick, won a commissioner seat. Paul Rolli won the second commissioner seat in a four-candidate race.

The two other commissioners who form the five-person body, Julie Carson and Tom Green, are in the middle of their terms.

Commissioner Scott Newton, the only straight member of the commission, lost his re-election bid.

Data from the 2010 U.S. Census showed that Wilton Manors has the second-highest percentage of gay couples — behind Provincetown, Mass. — in the country.

Wilton Manors is the second city in the United States to have a city council with all gay members, after Palm Springs, California.

Tuesday’s election will also give Florida more openly gay and lesbian state legislators — three of 160 — than it’s had before.

Jennifer Webb, a Gulfport Democrat, became the first open lesbian elected to the state House of Representatives.

State Rep. Carlos Guillermo Smith, D-Orlando, the state’s first openly gay Latino legislator, won a second term on Tuesday.

State Rep. Shevrin Jones, D-West Park, who became the state’s first openly gay black legislator when he came out in August, didn’t have any opposition in his re-election bid.

Florida Man Sentenced to Death for Killing Gay Couple in Wilton Manors

Florida Man Sentenced to Death for Killing Gay Couple in Wilton Manors

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A Florida man, who described gay people as a “disgrace,” has been given the death penalty for murdering a gay couple he met on Craigslist back in 2010.

Peter Avsenew, who described gay people as a “disgrace,” was convicted last year of murdering Kevin Adams and Steven Powell (pictured above) at their home in Wilton Manors.  Adams and Powell were found shot dead and wrapped in blankets the day after Christmas in 2010.

Avsenew, a male sex worker, met the couple after he placed an ad on Craigslist. He moved in with the couple of weeks before their deaths.

The prosecution alleged that Avsenew was found with the couple’s car, an SUV, adding that he had used their credit cards.

Avsenew’s mother turned him in to police after he arrived at her home in central Florida unexpectedly and then made suspicious comments to her.

She also testified against him in court.

Avsenew  who showed no remorse over the murders, sent a hand-written letter to Broward County Judge Ilona Holmes, following his conviction.

The letter read:

“It is my duty as a white man to cull the weak and timid from existence. I will always stand up for what I believe in and eradicate anything in my way. Homosexuals are a disgrace to mankind and must be put down. These weren’t the first and won’t be the last.”

The date of execution has not yet been set. 

Craigslist Killer

Craigslist Killer Give The Finger To Murdered Gay Men’s Families at Sentencing Trial

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Convicted Craigslist Killer Peter Avsenew stood before a Broward jury Thursday morning and offered no excuses, no explanations and no signs of remorse.

“I have no regrets in my life and I’m proud of every decision I’ve ever made,” he said.

Avsenew, 32, was convicted of murder in the 2010 deaths of Kevin Mark Powell, 47, and Stephen Adams, 52, in Wilton Manners, a heavily populated gay city near Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. Prosecutors said Avsenew used Craigslist to get invited to the victims’ home and then killed and robbed them, leaving with their money, a car, and other belongings.

Avsenew’s attorneys argued that he went to the couple’s house and found them already dead, and that he didn’t call 911 because he was working for the couple as an escort.

The jury deliberated less than three hours and recommended that Avsenew, 33, be put to death for the murders of Powell of Adams.

Minutes after the sentencing, Avsenew gave the middle finger to the victims’ families.

Avsenew is the first defendant in Broward to receive a death recommendation from a jury since the state’s death penalty law was rewritten last year. Juries now have to make unanimous decisions to execute convicted killers.

Source: The Sun Sentinel 

Man Accused Of Making PULSE Style Massacre Threats Against Gay Community To Be Arraigned Today On Federal Terrorist Charges

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Craig JungwirthArrested]

Craig Jungwirth who made social  media posts threatening a Pulse-style attack against the LGBT community over Labor Day weekend in South Florida was arrested Saturday by the Florida Highway Patrol.

Orlando’s NBC affiliate reports:

On Wednesday, FBI agents identified the address of Jungwirth’s mother, and found Craig Jungwirth walking on the street in the area of Citrus Chase Drive in the Bay Hill area. FBI and Orlando Police detectives talked to Jungwirth, who refused to read the printed Facebook statements, and denied making the threats. He would not speak further, and referred detectives to his lawyer.

The FBI subpoenaed Facebook, which identified Jungwirth as the user of the Facebook account that posted the threats, and traced the internet account with Brighthouse Networks to Jungwirth’s address. Jungwirth was arrested Saturday. The FBI has charged him with one count of “threatening communications.”

He is in federal custody at the Seminole County Jail and is expected to have his initial appearance before a judge on Tuesday at the federal courthouse in Orlando. Numerous law agencies are continuing to work the case, including FBI Joint Terrorism Task Forces in Miami and Tampa, along with the Orlando Police Department, Osceola County Sheriff’s Office, Orange County Sheriff’s Office and Seminole County Sheriff’s Office.

Sources tell Back2Stonewall that Jungwirth is very well known in the Wilton Manors community and that he is a constant nuisance and trouble maker

Jungwirth faces up to five years in federal prison.

 

Craig Jungwirth Threat Tweets