FL GLBT Democratic Caucus Summer Conference Huge Success
Reporting from The Florida GLBT Democratic Caucus Summer Conference of 2009
Chip Arndt
President, Freedom Democrats of Miami-Dade and
Director, Florida GLBT Democratic Caucus
July 18, 2009 – Key West, FL - The Florida GLBT Democratic Caucus Summer Conference of 2009 kicked off with a bang on Friday evening July 17 at the home of Campbell Cawood, a local Key West host of the conference, with executive leaders from each of the 13 Florida GLBT Democratic Caucus chapters and many straight allies, including State Rep. Ron Saunders, incoming FL House Democratic Leader, and Florida Attorney General candidate Dan Gelber in attendance. Political discourse turned to fun as attendees enjoyed the many restaurants in the Key West, gathered at The Ernest Hemingway Suite at the host hotel for adult beverages, and then enjoyed the many late-night activities Key West offers.
Glorious sunshine greeted over 100 conference attendees from all parts of the State of Florida Saturday morning who gathered in the glorious, roof-top conference center at the host Crowne Plaza - La Concha Hotel on famous Duval Street. Despite the distractions of the stunning views of Key West from the conference center room and attendees catching up with old friends, the conference started promptly at 9:00 am.
With over 30 speakers on the schedule including conference calls with US Congressional Representatives Tammy Baldwin and Jared Polis and Florida Democratic State Party Chair Congresswoman Karen L. Thurman, the conference dove right into business. Within the first ten minutes, FL State Rep. Ron Saunders addressed the conference in person. Representative Saunders set a positive tone for the day as he committed to working on several legislative initiatives supportive of the LGBT community in his leadership role at the state’s capitol, including passing legislation that allows LGBT people to adopt children in Florida.
Mr. Saunders commented simply and forthrightly that responsible human beings, no matter their sexual orientation, should be allowed to care for and adopt children in the State of Florida. The rest of the morning highlighted commentary from several candidates running for statewide offices – including Florida CFO and gubernatorial candidate Alex Sink, US Senate candidate Kevin Burns, Attorney General candidate Dan Gelber, and Florida Agriculture Commissioner candidate Eric Draper - and leaders from state-wide organizations (please see list at the end of this article for a complete list of speakers). Leaders from these organizations spoke to the work they are doing at the local, state and federal level on both political and non-political issues as they relate to the LGBT community. Topics included bringing organizations together from across the state of Florida that are interested in expanding LGBT rights through the newly founded statewide Organizations United Together (“OUT”); outreach for LGBT related historical materials of any nature for The Stonewall Library & Archives; to the history and progress of the One Human Family Foundation, which has distributed over 1 million pieces of literature worldwide about human dignity and love; and the National March For Equality on Washington, DC October. Other organizations that presented in the morning session included: The Victory Fund and The National Stonewall Democrats, which both gave a summary of LGBT initiatives at the Federal and State level.
The afternoon session continued after a working lunch. The working lunch included vital commentary on organizational structure and how to win political races in your localities from openly LGBT representatives Monroe County Commissioner Heather Carruthers and Hillsborough County Commissioner Kevin Beckner, both of whom fielded questions from conference attendees. The Q&A session was informative and helpful to many in the audience who have aspirations to represent their districts in various capacities. The session provided valuable advice from how to engage your spouse/ partner in the campaign, planning the campaign from the beginning, canvassing your district, securing endorsements, media and public relationship management, organizing volunteers and, of course, raising money.
The conference continued with more speakers talking of their experiences and updating the conference on numerous GLBT related local, state, and federal initiatives happening across the great state of Florida from many cities including: Pensacola; Tallahassee; Jacksonville; Gainesville; and Orlando to Tampa; St. Petersburg; Palm Beach; Ft. Lauderdale; Miami; Miami Beach; and Key West. These organizations included: Equality Florida dedicated to securing equality for the FL LGBT community; Fair Districts Florida dedicated to correcting districting across the state of Florida; Gay American Heroes Foundation dedicated to education on LGBT hate-crimes and honoring those LGBT people who have been murdered in hate crimes.
The conference’s last hour closed with updates on Federal legislative initiatives from US Congressional Representatives Tammy Baldwin and Jared Polis, via conference call, and general caucus business and updates from the 13 FL Caucus chapters across and local and state LGBT initiatives conference attendees are working on over the next six to twelve months. The conference showed how far the Florida GLBT Democrats have come as a leading voice across Florida at all levels of the decision making process at the local, state, and federal political level and within grass-roots organizations that collectively call for the advancement of full civil rights for all people under the law.
The conference closed promptly at 5:00 pm EST with the announcement that the Winter GLBT conference will be held in Orlando, FL, sponsored by the newest chapter of The Florida GLBT Democratic Caucus - The Rainbow Democratic Club - and attendees adjourning to enjoy the beauty and fun of Key West.
Details of the Winter conference and information in regard to all GLBT state chapters can be found at The Florida GLBT Democratic Caucus – please join us no matter where you live in Florida.
Presenters at The Florida GLBT Democratic Caucus Summer Conference of 2009 – in order of appearance:
9:00 am-Noon
President of the FL GLBT Democratic Caucus Michael Albetta
President of The Lambda Democrats of Monroe County Henry Woods
FL State Rep. Ron Saunders - incoming FL House Democratic Leader Monroe County Commissioner Heather Carruthers
State Attorney Dennis Ward (16th Judicial Circuit)
Key West City Commissioner Teri Johnston
Key West City Commissioner Clayton Lopez
Key West Utility Board Chair Lou Hernandez
Key West Police Chief Donnie Lee
FL US Senate candidate Kevin Burns
FL Attorney General candidate Dan Gelber
Founder of One Human Family Foundation J.T. Thompson
Development Director of Stonewall Library & Archives Chad Thilborger
Director of Organizing For America Jackie Lee
FL Agriculture Commissioner candidate Eric Draper
BODs of Organizations United Together (OUT) Cathy James and Terry Flemming
BOD of The Victory Fund and VP of the FL GLBT Democratic Caucus Sally Phillips
FL CFO and gubernatorial candidate Alex Sink (by conference call)
FL Democratic Party Chairwoman Karen Thurman (by conference call)
FL Democratic Party Secretary and President, Stonewall Democrats of Pinellas County Rick Boylan
Founder Names Project/AIDS Memorial Quilt & Coordinator National Equality March on Washington Cleve Jones (by conference call)
1:00 pm-5:00 pm
Monroe County Commissioner Heather Carruthers
Hillsborough County Commissioner Kevin Beckner
Broward County Vice Mayor Ken Keechl (committed but unable to attend due to family death) Equality Florida Executive Director Nadine Smith
US Rep. Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) (by conference call)
Executive Board Members of the FL GLBT Democratic Caucus: Chip Arndt (Miami-Dade), Bill Vayens (Broward), and Bryan Worthington (Hillsborough)
FL Fair Districts Campaign Finance Director Deborah Tannenbaum
National Stonewall Democrats Leadership Council Co-Chair Stephen Driscoll and BOD Stephen Gaskill
US Rep. Jared Polis (D-CO) (by conference call)
Phil Perry and Ron Mills of Philter Media - Social Media
Chip Arndt
President, Freedom Democrats of Miami-Dade and
Director, Florida GLBT Democratic Caucus
July 18, 2009 – Key West, FL - The Florida GLBT Democratic Caucus Summer Conference of 2009 kicked off with a bang on Friday evening July 17 at the home of Campbell Cawood, a local Key West host of the conference, with executive leaders from each of the 13 Florida GLBT Democratic Caucus chapters and many straight allies, including State Rep. Ron Saunders, incoming FL House Democratic Leader, and Florida Attorney General candidate Dan Gelber in attendance. Political discourse turned to fun as attendees enjoyed the many restaurants in the Key West, gathered at The Ernest Hemingway Suite at the host hotel for adult beverages, and then enjoyed the many late-night activities Key West offers.
Glorious sunshine greeted over 100 conference attendees from all parts of the State of Florida Saturday morning who gathered in the glorious, roof-top conference center at the host Crowne Plaza - La Concha Hotel on famous Duval Street. Despite the distractions of the stunning views of Key West from the conference center room and attendees catching up with old friends, the conference started promptly at 9:00 am.
With over 30 speakers on the schedule including conference calls with US Congressional Representatives Tammy Baldwin and Jared Polis and Florida Democratic State Party Chair Congresswoman Karen L. Thurman, the conference dove right into business. Within the first ten minutes, FL State Rep. Ron Saunders addressed the conference in person. Representative Saunders set a positive tone for the day as he committed to working on several legislative initiatives supportive of the LGBT community in his leadership role at the state’s capitol, including passing legislation that allows LGBT people to adopt children in Florida.
Mr. Saunders commented simply and forthrightly that responsible human beings, no matter their sexual orientation, should be allowed to care for and adopt children in the State of Florida. The rest of the morning highlighted commentary from several candidates running for statewide offices – including Florida CFO and gubernatorial candidate Alex Sink, US Senate candidate Kevin Burns, Attorney General candidate Dan Gelber, and Florida Agriculture Commissioner candidate Eric Draper - and leaders from state-wide organizations (please see list at the end of this article for a complete list of speakers). Leaders from these organizations spoke to the work they are doing at the local, state and federal level on both political and non-political issues as they relate to the LGBT community. Topics included bringing organizations together from across the state of Florida that are interested in expanding LGBT rights through the newly founded statewide Organizations United Together (“OUT”); outreach for LGBT related historical materials of any nature for The Stonewall Library & Archives; to the history and progress of the One Human Family Foundation, which has distributed over 1 million pieces of literature worldwide about human dignity and love; and the National March For Equality on Washington, DC October. Other organizations that presented in the morning session included: The Victory Fund and The National Stonewall Democrats, which both gave a summary of LGBT initiatives at the Federal and State level.
The afternoon session continued after a working lunch. The working lunch included vital commentary on organizational structure and how to win political races in your localities from openly LGBT representatives Monroe County Commissioner Heather Carruthers and Hillsborough County Commissioner Kevin Beckner, both of whom fielded questions from conference attendees. The Q&A session was informative and helpful to many in the audience who have aspirations to represent their districts in various capacities. The session provided valuable advice from how to engage your spouse/ partner in the campaign, planning the campaign from the beginning, canvassing your district, securing endorsements, media and public relationship management, organizing volunteers and, of course, raising money.
The conference continued with more speakers talking of their experiences and updating the conference on numerous GLBT related local, state, and federal initiatives happening across the great state of Florida from many cities including: Pensacola; Tallahassee; Jacksonville; Gainesville; and Orlando to Tampa; St. Petersburg; Palm Beach; Ft. Lauderdale; Miami; Miami Beach; and Key West. These organizations included: Equality Florida dedicated to securing equality for the FL LGBT community; Fair Districts Florida dedicated to correcting districting across the state of Florida; Gay American Heroes Foundation dedicated to education on LGBT hate-crimes and honoring those LGBT people who have been murdered in hate crimes.
The conference’s last hour closed with updates on Federal legislative initiatives from US Congressional Representatives Tammy Baldwin and Jared Polis, via conference call, and general caucus business and updates from the 13 FL Caucus chapters across and local and state LGBT initiatives conference attendees are working on over the next six to twelve months. The conference showed how far the Florida GLBT Democrats have come as a leading voice across Florida at all levels of the decision making process at the local, state, and federal political level and within grass-roots organizations that collectively call for the advancement of full civil rights for all people under the law.
The conference closed promptly at 5:00 pm EST with the announcement that the Winter GLBT conference will be held in Orlando, FL, sponsored by the newest chapter of The Florida GLBT Democratic Caucus - The Rainbow Democratic Club - and attendees adjourning to enjoy the beauty and fun of Key West.
Details of the Winter conference and information in regard to all GLBT state chapters can be found at The Florida GLBT Democratic Caucus – please join us no matter where you live in Florida.
Presenters at The Florida GLBT Democratic Caucus Summer Conference of 2009 – in order of appearance:
9:00 am-Noon
President of the FL GLBT Democratic Caucus Michael Albetta
President of The Lambda Democrats of Monroe County Henry Woods
FL State Rep. Ron Saunders - incoming FL House Democratic Leader Monroe County Commissioner Heather Carruthers
State Attorney Dennis Ward (16th Judicial Circuit)
Key West City Commissioner Teri Johnston
Key West City Commissioner Clayton Lopez
Key West Utility Board Chair Lou Hernandez
Key West Police Chief Donnie Lee
FL US Senate candidate Kevin Burns
FL Attorney General candidate Dan Gelber
Founder of One Human Family Foundation J.T. Thompson
Development Director of Stonewall Library & Archives Chad Thilborger
Director of Organizing For America Jackie Lee
FL Agriculture Commissioner candidate Eric Draper
BODs of Organizations United Together (OUT) Cathy James and Terry Flemming
BOD of The Victory Fund and VP of the FL GLBT Democratic Caucus Sally Phillips
FL CFO and gubernatorial candidate Alex Sink (by conference call)
FL Democratic Party Chairwoman Karen Thurman (by conference call)
FL Democratic Party Secretary and President, Stonewall Democrats of Pinellas County Rick Boylan
Founder Names Project/AIDS Memorial Quilt & Coordinator National Equality March on Washington Cleve Jones (by conference call)
1:00 pm-5:00 pm
Monroe County Commissioner Heather Carruthers
Hillsborough County Commissioner Kevin Beckner
Broward County Vice Mayor Ken Keechl (committed but unable to attend due to family death) Equality Florida Executive Director Nadine Smith
US Rep. Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) (by conference call)
Executive Board Members of the FL GLBT Democratic Caucus: Chip Arndt (Miami-Dade), Bill Vayens (Broward), and Bryan Worthington (Hillsborough)
FL Fair Districts Campaign Finance Director Deborah Tannenbaum
National Stonewall Democrats Leadership Council Co-Chair Stephen Driscoll and BOD Stephen Gaskill
US Rep. Jared Polis (D-CO) (by conference call)
Phil Perry and Ron Mills of Philter Media - Social Media
