Domestic partners preparing to be registered
After Orlando mayor Buddy Dyer started turning up the heat on a domestic partner registry for the city in August, the measure was on a fast track to its Dec. 12 approval. Couples are booking appointments for once the registry goes legal Jan. 12. The big question for 2012 will be whether Orange County follows suit. Orange County mayor Theresa Jacobs did not accept Dyer's invitation to walk side by side with the city as they approved the registry. The county did take the smaller step of benefits for domestic partners of employees, but only time will tell whether they'll make the giant leap to full registry in the coming year.
Come out with Pride postponed
Come Out With Pride 2011 organizers woke up on Pride day to grey skies, rainy weather, dangerous winds and”¦ a huge decision. After talking with city officials and the National Weather Service they made the tough call: the Oct. 8 event would be postponed. A fundraising frenzy filled the time between Pride 1.0 and the rescheduled date of Nov. 13, and goshdarnit, they pulled it off, with nearly 85,000 revelers filling Lake Eola Park to prove they wouldn't let a little rain ruin their parade.
Jerry Buell puts his Facefoot in his mouth
Mt. Dora High School's 2010 Teacher of the Year, Jerry Buell, just couldn't keep his mouth shut. After hearing that gay marriage had become legal in New York, Buell took his bigoted opinions to Facebook, posting that the news made him want to “vomit” and calling gay marriage a “cesspool.” He was suspended from the classroom and the investigation peeled an onion of fundamentalist behavior, outing Buell's nasty church-and-state mixing habit of injecting scripture wherever he could at the school, from his district profile to his syllabus. He headed back into the classroom after orders to scrub away the heavy-handed religious stuff, but decided to team up with the notorious anti-gay National Organization for Marriage to release a video blaming”say it with us””the media” for his predicament.
O-Town's gay vets get loud
2011 was the year Orlando's gay veterans decided to get visible. They got organized under the group Out & Proud Veterans of America, marched as a unit in the city's Veteran's Day parade for the first time ever and embarked on a campaign to remember gay soldiers through their Flag Pole Project. In the meantime, the Orlando VA marched in step by increasing support and services specific to gay veterans.
Saying farewell to a local legend
Everyone knew the day would come, but that didn't make it any easier. Drag performer, philanthropist and friend to many John “Tweeka” Barber announced at the end of 2010 that he had been diagnosed with Sinonasal Carcinoma Cancer, a rare and aggressive form of the disease. He lost his battle on Oct. 17 this year at the age of 38. Friends and family gathered to remember Tweeka the way he would have wanted”by honoring his generosity with fundraising efforts of their own, in their departed friend's name.
