.jpg)
Anti-Social
We' not anti-people, just anti-social media. Interesting topics, with some logic, originating from the island paradise of Key Biscayne, Florida.
Anti-Social
Pride Month: LGBTQ+ advocate Orlando Gonzalez
IN FLORIDA and across the nation, legislatures have passed restrictive laws that many in the LGTBQ+ community feel are targeting their right to exist. In Florida, the "Don't Say Gay" law was expanded, and some teachers feel a chilling effect.
Our guest is Orlando Gonzalez, executive director of SAVE/LGBTQ. We ask him about the challenges the community is facing, recent court rulings, and the how the issue will unfold in upcoming elections.
All right, we'll be starting in about five seconds. The views expressed in the following program are those of the host and guests and do not necessarily represent those of the Cuba Sgane Independent or Miami Fork Estate. Portions were pre-recorded. again and again I think I will have Live from Key Biscayne, Florida, this is Anti-Social, the radio show and sometimes podcast on YouTube, where we look at current events, what's in our news feeds, and we kind of strain our eyes to make sense of it. It's not an easy task, but we do try to have fun doing it. I'm Tony Winton.
[John Pacenti]:I'm John Passanti.
[Tony Winton]:How you doing, John?
[John Pacenti]:Pretty good, pretty good, Tony. Little hot.
[Tony Winton]:Hot. Just a little bit hot.
[John Pacenti]:Yes. Actually, I think we're doing better than Texas. Texas is in the middle of a scorching heat wave.
[Tony Winton]:Yeah, I don't know. This is how bad I think it is. Just it's unrelenting hot. But we're gonna talk about that a little bit later in the show because not only is it, it's hot in the atmosphere, it's hot in the ocean, it's hot just about everywhere you go. But we'll get to that in a little bit.
[John Pacenti]:So, uh, well you know what they say, Tony, you know, if you don't like the weather in South Florida, just wait 20 minutes.
[Tony Winton]:Yes, that in the thunderstorm, right? That's the other thing, right? It'll be gone. It'll be gone before you, you even know what's happening.
[John Pacenti]:Yes.
[Tony Winton]:The guest today though has been dealing with a different kind of heat, right?
[John Pacenti]:Yes,
[Tony Winton]:It's pride
[John Pacenti]:yes,
[Tony Winton]:month.
[John Pacenti]:it's
[Tony Winton]:So
[John Pacenti]:Pride
[Tony Winton]:we're
[John Pacenti]:Month.
[Tony Winton]:it's pride month and we've been told that are at least one of the things that's been filling Uh, not just uh here, uh in not nationally and internationally, but we've even had incidents here in kibis gain Uh, we've been having just one story after another that is talking about issues that affect that community
[John Pacenti]:Yes, I mean the LGBTQ community has been the topic of legislation, lots of legislation, and Governor Ron DeSantis has kind of taken aim at it, I mean with the whole Disney controversy for instance. legislation targeting in this last session, the trans community came in bunches. And here on Key Biscayne, we had an incident in which a, looked like a preteen, drove up on a bike, he was caught on surveillance camera, spitting on a pride flag. But on the other hand today, a Florida judge overturned a law prohibiting the use of Medicaid funds in transgender care.
[Tony Winton]:So we are joined to talk about all of this by Orlando Gonzalez, who is the executive director with LGBTQ SAVE. He's got a long history of public service. Before he came to Miami, he was chief of staff at the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute in Washington. Welcome.
[John Pacenti]:And what is the spirit of pride? Now with the legislation that going back to the don't say gay and what's happened in this last session, we take up the whole podcast to go through every single one of them right now. But what is the immediate impact in the community? Not just tangibly, like I know that some Pride events were cancelled I think near Tampa or something. But also with the... LGBTQ residents living day to day. I mean, doesn't this kind of stress them out? I mean, knowing where the state is kind of sliding? Uh huh.
[Tony Winton]:Can you tell me a little bit though about what you're seeing in the shift of polling? There has been, I guess, slippage or reversal, the public polling on people's comfort zone with this seems to have been nationally has been moving in the other direction, particularly on some of these on these trans issues. Why do you think it's getting traction? Hmm
[John Pacenti]:Thanks for watching. One of the things that I find interesting is that these critics say, well, we just want to live our lives, but you guys are trying to force a trans ideology down our throats. The only time I'm really hearing it, that drumbeat, is on their news media. It's not the trans community. It's the right-wing media. They're the ones that are... blasting it into the living rooms.
[Tony Winton]:And we're going to talk a little bit more about that when we come back after a break because this issue has is rearing its head, not just you know, in the in Florida, but we're seeing it. We already have it in the Miami Dade School Board has been very controversial. And I wanted to see what your actions are locally, but hold that thought and we will be back in just a minute. Yeah. We go down the trails to the north point of the Barricade Bridge.
[John Pacenti]:I'm John Pisenny.
[Tony Winton]:I'm Tony Winton and we're back on Antisocial.
[John Pacenti]:We're joined here by Orlando Gonzalez with SAVE, which is the South Florida's longest serving organization dedicated to protecting people from discrimination who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer. Now Tony, you had a question.
[Tony Winton]:Yeah, the question is about at the at the educational level, because we have these laws have been put into effect. And the we've seen reporting all over the state, particularly even here in Dade County, where there's a chilling effect going on. Teachers have told us that. So the question is, what are you guys doing about it? Is it something you try to do off campus? Do you reach out to people? Obviously, you have other channels, social media, etc. What is, and I know obviously, there's a legal front, that's the more direct front. But while that's happening, what are you folks doing to try and connect? with people, students who have and young people who have these questions and want to be informed.
[John Pacenti]:about some LGBTQ individuals in Florida have left the state. Have you heard, do you know any of these people who have decided they'd rather not be here?
[Tony Winton]:Orlando Gonzalez, thank you for being our guest here on anti social. It's a item in the news we've covered it here locally, we'll continue to cover it in all of its levels on the local level on the school board level and obviously on the state level. And we appreciate your coming on and hopefully you'll be able to join us again in the future.
[John Pacenti]:Thank
[Tony Winton]:Thanks
[John Pacenti]:you so
[Tony Winton]:very
[John Pacenti]:much.
[Tony Winton]:much. We'll be back just after this. And we go down the trails to the north point of the Barricade Bridge. As the sand flies, itching
[John Pacenti]:I'm John Bisseni.
[Tony Winton]:your head as you turn back home. And we are back on Antisocial. I am Tony Winton. And John, that is gonna be a... I'm... just as we're seeing it, it's just going to be a dominant theme throughout the election campaign, certainly in 2024. It is front and center in just about all of the Republican presidential candidate campaigns. I think everybody's talking about it. Am I missed any of the people running that have taken a different position?
[John Pacenti]:There might be none of the main Republican candidates out there. I think there might be one that has said that he stands for LGBTQ rights. There was a fascinating conversation which I had more time with him. One of the things is like is this going to stop? Are they going after... marriage and adoption next in the community. And almost a lot of this is being driven by the fundamentalist Christians in the in the legislatures and I wanted to ask him about that because a lot of members of the LGBTQ community are Christian, you know, and it's not incongruous to you know, to be gay and be Christian. And I I think that is sometimes lost in this debate.
[Tony Winton]:Indeed, we ran a story this week from again, our partnership with the Associated Press on our website, KB independent.org, where the Vatican is actually considering a major change in the way it developed some of its positions, including the term was used radical inclusion. of the LGBT community in a document that there they'll be meeting in October. And it also calls for empowering women to have authority and decision making roles in the Roman Catholic Church short of ordination to the priesthood. But that is also something a lot of cultural shifts that are happening around us. And they will play out this is a it does really feel like there's a pivot how the culture and how society is going to choose to move forward.
[John Pacenti]:Well, if you look at the seats in the pews, those numbers are going down, Tony,
[Tony Winton]:In the
[John Pacenti]:you
[Tony Winton]:US,
[John Pacenti]:know?
[Tony Winton]:yeah,
[John Pacenti]:Yeah,
[Tony Winton]:in the
[John Pacenti]:in
[Tony Winton]:US.
[John Pacenti]:the US, yes, yeah. So if you wanna bring them back, you're gonna have to be inclusive because family members, you know, the traditional family of a mother, a father, you know, that doesn't... exist as much anymore. I mean, they're non-traditional families. There are mixed race families. There are families with kids that are LGBTQ or trans, you know, and if they're going to church and being told that something's wrong with them, then they're not going to come back.
[Tony Winton]:What else is in your social media feed these days?
[John Pacenti]:Well, I heard a little birdie told me that Senator Scott is going to run for president. Is that true?
[Tony Winton]:it would be what let's see count them how many filibrians would that be that's the New York Times reporting that so you'd have obviously Donald Trump who lives in Palm Beach County and Mayor Suarez in Miami right and of course our governor and Rick Scott former governor.
[John Pacenti]:Now Scott has been elected almost in every position, I think for governor and
[Tony Winton]:And Senate, yeah.
[John Pacenti]:in Senate by the slimmest of margins here in Florida. So I don't know. I mean, a lot of these people are getting in the race to get an inside track, not for 2024, but to 2028.
[Tony Winton]:right.
[John Pacenti]:But I don't know
[Tony Winton]:But
[John Pacenti]:what
[Tony Winton]:he
[John Pacenti]:he's
[Tony Winton]:but
[John Pacenti]:thinking.
[Tony Winton]:he if he gets in though very deep like think about it though for a second. DeSantis has got a pile of cash. He'll be he'll be there through the Florida primary.
[John Pacenti]:Yes.
[Tony Winton]:And the and obviously Trump will be there. And then you know, and Rick Scott, if he wants to, he could also stay in stay active all the way to that point. I mean, I it would seem to me that would kind of almost guarantee a three way vote in Florida. I don't know if Francis But it would seem to me that would make the Florida primary kind of very interesting.
[John Pacenti]:Yeah, if they stay in there that long.
[Tony Winton]:I'm just
[John Pacenti]:The
[Tony Winton]:trying
[John Pacenti]:other
[Tony Winton]:to picture
[John Pacenti]:question
[Tony Winton]:a debate
[John Pacenti]:is...
[Tony Winton]:between Trump, DeSantis, Suarez, and Scott. If that just, that would be it. And who knows, obviously there's a lot of other people running, I'm not disrespecting any support of any other Republican candidate, but that would just because they're all Floridians, it would be like the sunshine to be.
[John Pacenti]:Yeah.
[Tony Winton]:And has it ever happened? Have you had, in a presidential election cycle, have you had four candidates running from the same state at the same time?
[John Pacenti]:Well, I bet you it hasn't happened in Florida history.
[Tony Winton]:No,
[John Pacenti]:I
[Tony Winton]:well, okay. So
[John Pacenti]:almost guarantee
[Tony Winton]:we
[John Pacenti]:you
[Tony Winton]:know
[John Pacenti]:that.
[Tony Winton]:we have lots of we have lots of very wonky people who listen to the podcast. So if you if you know that, because there's all people that keep track of this like fantasy baseball, right. So if anybody has that information, I would just be curious to know if that's ever that's ever happened before.
[John Pacenti]:I bet you it's happened in New York or California. So then there's the sad news about the submarine.
[Tony Winton]:Very sad, yes. The news being reported, just as we're going onto the air this afternoon, that it's the company involved saying they believe that everyone who was on that vessel has perished. And so a sad story, people are fascinated about the oceans and seeing things firsthand. And it's a sad story. I know there's, you know, that's, one of the nasty things about social media is people making all kinds of, it does bug me a lot. They kind of snide comments about whatever they want to talk about. And maybe the craft was unstaved, and I'm sure there'll be an investigation, and that will all come out in time. But these are people who are just really trying to get close to something amazing in the ocean. And if they paid for that with their lives, that's a really sad thing.
[John Pacenti]:What interested me, Tony, was I think it's led the nightly news for like the last three nights. I really do. At least on NBC. And you know, we just had 650 migrants die off the coast of Greece. And I don't know if that's going to get more than maybe a brief mention tonight. That's 650 migrants, many of them mothers and children, that are dead. And that's, you know... not to discount what happened to the submarine, but that's like 646 more people that my math might be off there that have perished. But you know, the oceans are fascinating to just about all of us. I mean, that is a fact. And you had a story this week, Tony, in which the... talk to researchers who say that it's getting pretty hot out there in
[Tony Winton]:Yeah,
[John Pacenti]:the
[Tony Winton]:it's actually.
[John Pacenti]:for those fishes
[Tony Winton]:it's record setting heat and we will be following that throughout the summer. We interviewed researchers at the Rosenstiel school right up the road from us on Virginia Key, one of the world's leading scientific institutions at studying the atmosphere and the environment. And this is an interaction, right? The ocean is a giant conductor of heat. It's like a conveyor belt that moves heat around all over. And for some reason, the sea surface temperatures in much of the just hot, like a little bit above normal, like record setting breathtaking amount of heat. For some researchers, others say, well, maybe it's just a spike that will fade. That's it. But but the actual numbers are pretty impressive. And the question is, well, what's causing it? And our story, just check it out on KB independent.org. It's really not known. There are mechanisms that redistribute heat in the ocean. And they may have be changing currents could be changing. They're still trying to collect data. The the worrisome part, according to Nick Shay, one of the professors we spoke to will be if this persists, if this becomes an annual feature. Right now we have an El Nino going on. But if this were to happen when there isn't an El Nino, that could be incredibly worrisome. So so we're watching it at the same time. I'll just point out that we are it's today is Thursday, June 22. We're expecting the third named storm of the season Cindy to be to form at some point relatively soon. And that would be three named storms in the first 22 days of hurricane season. So Buckle up, batten down, and keep your eyes on the weather forecasts.
[John Pacenti]:Yeah, I think that there's a direct correlation with the temperature of the ocean and what we're seeing right now. The hurricane experts that I spoke to for my story a few weeks back said that this temperature rise could fuel not only more hurricanes but stronger hurricanes. The El Nino kind of. will depress things in the Gulf Coast, around the Gulf of Mexico, but in the Atlantic, we could see some big storms.
[Tony Winton]:What else you're working on, John? What's coming up in the future issues of the Kibis Gain Independent?
[John Pacenti]:Well, I don't want to make any promises, Tony, but we are continuing to look into our, you know, I'm working with you and I'm working with our student journalists. We're looking, we're talking to other students at Mast Academy about these allegations of racism. We are still investigating our misappropriation of funds over at a key colony condominium. and uh...
[Tony Winton]:Did you say key comedy? We haven't played that in a while. That's our Hellmouth music.
[John Pacenti]:Only the key colony people will.
[Tony Winton]:No, we've played that out before.
[John Pacenti]:Hahaha!
[Tony Winton]:Go ahead. Well, this is serious stuff that we're talking about, but I mean, I was
[John Pacenti]:Mm-hmm.
[Tony Winton]:at a condominium board meeting last night, and, you know, screaming, yelling, banging of gavels, you know, talking about things. We'll have it in a story coming up, but there's a reason why there's an apathy in condominium buildings, public people serving.
[John Pacenti]:Yeah, and I actually understand that apathy. I mean you want to live your life. You just want you know your building maintained and your money that you pay for your dues to go to that maintenance. I mean you don't have to worry about I write the check you know I don't want to worry about it. I mean that isn't that part of the attraction of condo living. You don't have to worry about all the headaches of owning a house you know. But
[Tony Winton]:No,
[John Pacenti]:now
[Tony Winton]:you
[John Pacenti]:you're
[Tony Winton]:just
[John Pacenti]:like,
[Tony Winton]:have to worry about a different set of headaches.
[John Pacenti]:yes, it just seems to be a
[Tony Winton]:Governance
[John Pacenti]:lot of other
[Tony Winton]:and bookkeeping
[John Pacenti]:more headaches.
[Tony Winton]:and regulatory compliance and a bunch of other stuff.
[John Pacenti]:Yeah. And then you have you have nightmares of surfside, you know. What happened there? Could that happen here? Oh my god. You know. So. Yep.
[Tony Winton]:What
[John Pacenti]:And
[Tony Winton]:else you got cooking?
[John Pacenti]:well, you know, one thing I'm going to be looking into, I don't know when I'll pop the story, but I saw on the police blotter that what did I come up with? Eleven noise complaints on Key Biscayne? I mean, Why are people calling the police on their neighbors playing loud music? I don't understand this. I guess it's—
[Tony Winton]:What was it where you lead on your up and polka and tell our listeners is it quiet there? No one ever plays their stereo loud
[John Pacenti]:I'd be the one that'd be
[Tony Winton]:Okay,
[John Pacenti]:playing
[Tony Winton]:you
[John Pacenti]:your
[Tony Winton]:be
[John Pacenti]:stereo.
[Tony Winton]:all right. So let's be honest, you're driving around the block with your car and you got your spoon boxes going out the window, is that what you're doing? All right,
[John Pacenti]:It's a more of my,
[Tony Winton]:we're gonna go on the road and report
[John Pacenti]:I got a
[Tony Winton]:at your
[John Pacenti]:turntable,
[Tony Winton]:house.
[John Pacenti]:I got a Yamaha receiver, but you know, the thing that drives me crazy in my neighborhood and that is the leaf blowers. Oh, I hate them. I
[Tony Winton]:Oh,
[John Pacenti]:hate
[Tony Winton]:what
[John Pacenti]:them so
[Tony Winton]:Kiebus,
[John Pacenti]:much.
[Tony Winton]:Kiebus gain this I'll give you an example. You may not know this Kiebus gain actually pass an ordinance banning all but electric leaf blowers. There's actually,
[John Pacenti]:Oh.
[Tony Winton]:and they it's actually enforced.
[John Pacenti]:I actually looked into this issue. You know that those gasoline leaf blowers make the workers sick too. They're horrible. All they're doing is blowing around the dirt. I mean it doesn't do anything but blow around dirt. It's ridiculous.
[Tony Winton]:I sometimes kind of question the whole leaf blower concept, if you think about it. Yes, I'm gonna
[John Pacenti]:Yeah.
[Tony Winton]:blow a bunch of leaves around and blow them and then where do they wind up going? Anyway, they're not where they were, that's true.
[John Pacenti]:Yes. But yeah, so I'm thinking of looking into these noise complaints and you know, it's like a
[Tony Winton]:Ladies and gentlemen, john percent is ready to hear you and your noise complaint.
[John Pacenti]:Yes,
[Tony Winton]:You
[John Pacenti]:yes
[Tony Winton]:can go to
[John Pacenti]:I
[Tony Winton]:our
[John Pacenti]:am.
[Tony Winton]:website and his every story that he writes, there's a little contact box at the bottom with his email, you can you can send him an email he wants to hear from you.
[John Pacenti]:Absolutely.
[Tony Winton]:Just be just be quiet, because it is a noise story. Come on now serious.
[John Pacenti]:Is there a bunch
[Tony Winton]:Okay.
[John Pacenti]:of grumpy people? I thought this was a party island. already
[Tony Winton]:That's
[John Pacenti]:for some.
[Tony Winton]:that's another that's another show, I'm afraid.
[John Pacenti]:Ha ha ha.
[Tony Winton]:And I will tell you that the last bit of news before we sign off is you will also be seeing some additional bylines in the coming weeks from our new. summer intern, Anastasia Ivanova, who is a mass student who is very interested in journalism, and we'll be working with her. She's already had a couple of bylines, and we hope to have her on the show a little bit later. But you know, she is coming at things from a student perspective, and also trying to spread her wings a little bit. So look for her work in the Kibis Gain Independence. One of our missions is to work with schools to expand the field of journalism. So as you support us, we are supporting others. And that's my pitch would be to please be generous at www.kbindependent.org. And you can give online, your donations are tax deductible, and every dollar is really appreciated. And if you go now, we're running a special, Get the Gear. so that we can kick in some of our very, and very swaggy looking t-shirts and hats. So now's an opportunity to show your support for our organization. So please, every dollar helps and we're very grateful. Thank you. John, no words of wisdom
[John Pacenti]:I
[Tony Winton]:for the end of the show.
[John Pacenti]:was waiting
[Tony Winton]:I'm waiting
[John Pacenti]:for the music.
[Tony Winton]:for you.
[John Pacenti]:I
[Tony Winton]:You're waiting for you.
[John Pacenti]:This is this is what happens at the end of the show I always miss my cue always I go
[Tony Winton]:So
[John Pacenti]:hey
[Tony Winton]:we
[John Pacenti]:I have
[Tony Winton]:go,
[John Pacenti]:to be ready for
[Tony Winton]:so
[John Pacenti]:my cue and I'm
[Tony Winton]:right,
[John Pacenti]:gonna miss
[Tony Winton]:so
[John Pacenti]:it
[Tony Winton]:right. So the cue is I wrap up the fundraising
[John Pacenti]:Heh.
[Tony Winton]:pitch
[John Pacenti]:Heh!
[Tony Winton]:and then you kind of say something like, well, thank you for joining us. I'm so and so, so and so, and I've got the music here. So let's do that again.
[John Pacenti]:Okay.
[Tony Winton]:So thank you. So just, we're gonna back it up. Okay, so thank you for your generosity. We really appreciate it. Every dollar supports quality journalism.
[John Pacenti]:And thank you for reading and listening to the podcast. I hope your summer's going great and keep tuning in.
[Tony Winton]:I'm Tony Winton.
[John Pacenti]:I'm John Pecente.
[Tony Winton]:Smooth sailing everyone.
[John Pacenti]:Hehehehe
[Tony Winton]:We'll always be This way as well. Trails to the north point of the bear
[John Pacenti]:Yeah.
