Will Gainesville Florida Become Gaynesville?

Hat tip to Lyndon Evans of Focus On The Rainbow for bringing this to our attention.  It’s highly possible at this point that Gainesville, Florida may be the next city to elect an openly gay mayor, after Annise Parker was elected in Houston earlier this year.

According to a post on Gainesville.com:

Lowe, with 4,073 votes, had nearly 11 percent more votes than Marsh, who got 2,960, he failed to get the 50 percent majority required to avert a runoff.

The five-candidate field probably had something to do with that.

Lowe said he wasn’t disappointed in the showing.

“I feel great,” Lowe said. “I’m ready to move forward.”

Lowe felt he made a “very strong case” to the voters and would continue pushing his record after serving seven years on the commission.

While his “Victory Party” at The Top restaurant on North Main Street went on as scheduled, it was a subdued affair.

Still, Eric Conrad, the spokesman for Lowe’s campaign and a University of Florida student, remained confident.

“Craig Lowe will be the next mayor of Gainesville,” Conrad said.

How ever, just as in the Houston race, those who are opposed to LGBT equality and are fearful of LGBT politicians have been busy spreading their handywork in an effort to thwart Lowe’s campaign efforts.

According to a post on City Limits, anti-gay fliers have been circulating around the city:

The pink fliers sarcastically suggest Lowe, who is openly gay, will work to get: “Gays in Women’s Restrooms,” “Gay Marriage,” “Gay Public Sex Education,” “Gay Oriented Churches,” “Gay Communities,” “Gay Civil Rights” and “Gay Parades.”

“Please help to make this town more like San Francisco, CA,” the flier reads. “Don’t let Traditional Value Activists use scare tactics against you!”

Hopefully this tactic, as it did in Houston, will fail, and as Lowe stated when asked if he’d file a complaint, “I think that the biggest recourse is with the voters.”

Craig Lowe

CBS5: Newsome Announces Run for LG

Good news out of California from CBS5:

Months after abruptly dropping his bid to be California’s governor, San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom announced Friday that he wants to be second in command.

More on the story at: CBS5.com!

Silence of the Lambs

When news broke about California State Senator Roy Ashburn being arrested for, LGBT bloggers and news outlets began to speculate that Ashburn was gay.

Many LGBT bloggers in their subsequent postings expressed outrage, some feigning utter contempt with the use of vulgarity for the entertainment of their readership, in what appears to be the “best keep known secret” in California.

In the days which followed it was reported that many in various local communities knew Ashburn was, or at the very least suspected he was gay, having been seen in several gay bars in California. Many would share a drink or two with Ashburn. It has even been said that local media knew of Ashburn’s “closeted” side.

Yet as many pointed out even before Ashburn admitted in a radio interview on KERN that he was in fact gay, all these people including the press never, so it seems, ever called out Ashburn for being a gay man and yet voting against LGBT issues in the state of California.

In his remarks in the interview Ashburn stated, ”The best way to handle that is to be truthful and say to my constituents and all who care I am gay”.

He continued, “My votes reflect the wishes of the people in my district, I have always felt that my faith and allegiance was to the people there in the district, my constituents.”

More at: Focus On The Rainbow!

Anti-Gay Senator Arrested Leaving Gay Club

There is a saying,  truth is stranger than fiction,  you really couldn’t make it us, early Wednesday morning, the anti-gay California State Senator, Roy Ashburn was  spotted and  stopped by the local police.   Ashburn was then arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol.

Now this news on it’s own is nothing unusual.   Politicians all over the world like the odd tipple,  and it’s quite common for them to be charged with drink driving and things like that.   But  what turns this story upside down,  has created a media frenzy is where this opponent of gay rights was  seen leaving  Faces,  a gay nightclub in downtown Sacramento!

Yep,   this campaigner against our equal rights, not only gets himself busted drink driving coming out of a gay club,  but he also had an unidentified male in the passenger seat,  and let me tell you,  it wasn’t any of his staff!

The ashamed father of four issued a statement -

“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. I am also truly sorry for the impact this incident will have on those who support and trust me – my family, my constituents, my friends, and my colleagues in the Senate.”

For more  see the local TV news report of the incident!

Jason Shaw,  Brighton,  England.

Openly Gay Cali Assembly Speaker Sworn In

From LA Times:

California’s first openly gay Assembly speaker was sworn in to office in Sacramento early Monday afternoon.

Democrat John A. Pérez, a first-term legislator representing parts of downtown L.A. and East Los Angeles, will face as one of his first tasks the challenge of preserving social programs for his political base as the state struggles with a roughly $20-billion budget deficit.

The Gay Men’s Chorus of Los Angeles sang prior to the oath.

“He’s someone who sends a signal to the nation that being gay is no longer a barrier to greatness,” said an Assembly colleague, Fiona Ma (D-San Francisco).

More at: LA TIMES!

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