Gays declare war on Florida's bathrooms, Russia and vodka

No, this column is not satire! Gays across Florida have declared war on Florida’s bathrooms, Russia and vodka. Gays are demanding equal access to all bathrooms in the sunshine state, an end of ties in Florida with Russian Sister Cities and gay bars boycott Russian vodka because of anti-gay laws there.

According to PolicyMic.com, “On June 30 this year, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed into law a bill banning the ‘propaganda of nontraditional sexual relations to minors,’ thus opening a new, dark chapter in the history of gay rights in Russia. The law caps a period of ferocious activities by the Russian government aimed at limiting the rights of the country’s lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and intersex people.” The irony is that Russia is the mother of progressivism throughout the world.

Gays declare war on Florida’s bathrooms.

World Net Daily reports:

A well-organized coalition of pro-family and civic organizations in Miami-Dade soundly defeated a measure that would have given transsexuals access to public restrooms and locker rooms used by the opposite sex.

The Miami-Dade Commission gave initial approval in May to adding “gender identity and expression” to the county’s anti-discrimination law by an 11-1 vote but the measure stalled after intense lobbying by opponents – led by the local Christian Family Coalition.

Bill sponsors withdrew it on August 14 because they lacked the votes to get it through committee.

The victory in liberal Miami-Dade “is really landmark,” said Christian Family Coalition executive director Anthony Verdugo of the win 36 years after singer Anita Bryant led the successful repeal of Miami-Dade County’s homosexual rights law.

[ … ]

The Miami-Dade campaigners developed a coalition of 17 Republican, Democrat, human rights and religious organizations and worked with numerous churches to educate and mobilize the opposition.

[ … ]

Nationwide, 17 states and the District of Columbia have embraced the transsexual agenda. Rhode Island added “gender identity and expression” to its anti-discrimination law in June with the support of Gov. Jack Markell, and Delaware Attorney General Beau Biden announced his support in an Equality Delaware video.

Gays declare war on Sister Cities in Russia.

Hanna Marcus, Staff Writer for the Independent Florida Alligator writes:

Although struggles in Russia over anti-LGBT sentiments may seem an ocean away, the backlash has reached Gainesville.

For the past few decades, the city has facilitated the Sister City Program of Gainesville Inc., which pairs Gainesville with cities abroad and allows joint international programs.

Because of the passing of anti-LGBT legislation in Russia, some Gainesville residents have voiced the desire to end the 31-year partnership with the Russian city Novorossiysk.

“Russia has passed several appalling laws aimed at dehumanizing gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people in Russia and abroad,” wrote Mallory Garner-Wells, a public policy director for Equality Florida, in an email to Mayor Ed Braddy.

Garner-Wells wrote that terminating the relationship would reflect that anti-LGBT legislation passed in Russia is considered unacceptable.

“As a resident of Gainesville, I know our city has always been a leader in ensuring LGBT people are treated fairly,” she wrote. “By continuing a Sister City relationship…we are turning a blind eye to the atrocities that are happening in Russia.”

According to the Sister Cities International policy, members are encouraged to keep “their sister city relationships active, especially when political issues threaten to disrupt” the relationship because of political disputes.

NOTE: Gainesville is a Sister City with the Palestinian National Authority. The Palestinian territories have no specific, stand alone civil rights legislation that protects LGBT people from discrimination or harassment. Same-sex marriages, civil unions or domestic partnerships are not given legal recognition in the Palestinian territories. Some LGBT Palestinians have fled, legally or illegally, mostly to Israel’s urban centers, like Tel Aviv, seeking tolerance there. In Islam, homosexuality is condemned in the story of Lot’s people in the Qur’an (15:73; 26:165) and in the last address of the Prophet Muhammad. Some members of the Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC), which includes the Palestinian National Authority, Saudi Arabia and Iran, execute gays.

Cities in Florida with Sister Cities in Russia include: Jacksonville, Orlando, Palatka, Sarasota and Tallahassee.

Gays declare War on Russian Vodka

Max Fisher from the Washington Post reports:

Russia has been tightening its laws restricting the rights of gay citizens for months, passing legislation that bans “propaganda of nontraditional sexual relations” such as public marches. But it was the recent violence against gay rights marchers, committed by nationalist counter-protesters as well as police, that seems to have led gay rights activists in the West to say “enough.” A campaign to boycott Russian-made vodkas has been adopted by a number of gay bars in the United States and Canada, as well as, to a lesser degree, the United Kingdom and Australia.

Switching from Stoli to Ketel One, though, is probably not likely to shame the Duma into repealing its laws or persuade far-right Russian nationalists to accept fellow citizens. Russian vodka brands are big enough that the loss of Western gay bar business is not likely to harm them much. Even if it did, the alcohol companies don’t have tremendous political clout in Moscow or economic importance for Russia. But that’s not the real reason that, as activists acknowledge, the boycott is unlikely to improve human rights in Russia. It actually has as much or more to do with issues unique to Russia, its post-Soviet popular ideology and ongoing political divisions.