News Archive
Our first meeting was held on Sunday afternoon, May 18th. We had about 30 guests attend and several speakers. After a brief introduction (and explanation) from John Hawkins we heard from Lee County’s only openly gay Candidate for the Florida House of Representatives, Stephen Gray-Blancett. He is running in District 73 which covers most of North and Downtown Fort Myers following both McGregor Blvd and U.S. 41 through to South Fort Myers where it swings inland towards the Daniels and Alico Corridors and out past through Gateway and San Carlos Park. If you do not know if you live in District 73, a detailed PDF map is located at:
http://www.myfloridahouse.gov/FileStores/Web/District/H406H020_district_73wmap.pdf
Stephen’s website is titled Your Voice for Change and provides a great deal of information on himself, his charities, and his ideas for our area and does not shy away from announcing his relationship with his long-time partner, James. There is also a section where he asks for anyone to contact him and share their issues, concerns and ideas on how he can truly be your voice in government.
http://www.yourvoiceforchange.com
One of our planned speakers Larry Byrnes, a Democratic Candidate running in Congressional District 14 (and who openly supports Civil Unions) ran afoul of a snafu by State Supervisor of Elections which has temporarily disrupted his campaign when they certified his campaign as a write-in candidate instead of a Democrat. Larry has filed suit against the Florida Division of Elections to correct this error. Hopefully he will be able to attend one of our follow-up meetings soon. To learn more about Larry, please visit his website at:
http://www.byrnesforcongress.com
Of course, our guest of honor was Chad Thilborger from Florida Red & Blue - an organization whose sole purpose is to defeat the so-called "marriage protection" amendment on the ballot this fall. Chad passed out informative literature and answered questions on how to address the issue with non-Gay people to help them understand why this is NOT a gay issue and will end up hurting all types of non-traditional families. I urge anyone who has found their way to this website to click onward and find out more about why we should all "Say No 2"
Plans are already in the works to have our second open meeting on Sunday, July 27th at 3:00 PM. Our special guest speaker for this meeting will be the Minority (Democratic) Whip serving from District 27, Dave Aronberg. I also have confirmed the banquet room at The New Metropolitan. My goal is to help you learn about the candidates - what they stand for, meet as many as I can get to speak with us and work to turn not just our beautiful SW Florida, but all of Florida and even our White House BLUE!
John (@) swflglbtdems.org
Sincerely,
John Hawkins, President
Stonewall Democrats of SW Florida
6900-29 Daniels Pkwy PMB 260
Fort Myers, FL. 33912
(800) 578-2123
