Champions of Equality for South Florida’S Lgbtq Community Board of Directors
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JUNE 5, 2016 #ChampionsOfEquality #LadyWindridge BRUNCH ON THE BAY Honoring this year’s Champions of Equality for South Florida’s lgbtq community Board of Directors Safeguarding American Values for Everyone Elizabeth Regalado Chair Raul Rodriguez Joseph Falk Owen Carhart Vice Chair Treasurer Secretary Ron Bilbao Chester Dowdy Giselle Kovac Alexander Palenzuela Ed Pascoe Trelvis D. Randolph SAVE Foundation Brian Adler Carlos Alzate Chair Board Member Staff Tony Lima Executive Director Justin Klecha Devin Cordero Director of Campaigns Marketing Manager Charo Valero Alex Spriggs Field Organizer Events Manager BRUNCH ON THE BAY 2016 Host Committee Brian Adler & Omar Suarez Caryn Lavernia Carlos Alzate Zammy Migdal & Jose Szapocznik Ron Bilbao & Maria M. Garcia Rick Morgan Herbert Brito David Norman Nancy Brodzki & Lettie Oks Alexander Palenzuela Owen Carhart & Eduardo Perichner Christopher Cooper & Carlos Lopez Ed Pascoe Luigi Devoto Trelvis Randolph Victor Diaz Herman & Kris Castellano Liz Regalado & Tenaj Davis Dan DiMatteo The Very Reverend Doug McCaleb & Claudio Gonzalez Chester Dowdy & Lemuel Curtis Lamb Jr Lynare Robbins & Carmen Suero Joseph Falk Raul Rodriguez Sylvain Gouy Gene Sulzberger Steve Haas Christian Ulvert & Carlos Andrade Andre Hicks David Ward & Cecil Ybanez Giselle Kovac Caitlin Wood & Martha Schoolman Honorary Host Committee Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen Commissioner Kristen Rosen-Gonzalez Congresswoman Debbie Commissioner Michael Grieco Wasserman-Schultz Commissioner Micky Steinberg State Senator Oscar Braynon II Commissioner Ricky Arriola State Senator Dwight Bullard Commissioner John Aleman State Senator Jack Latvala Commissioner Joy Malakoff State Senator Gwen Margolis Commissioner Ken Russell State Representative David Richardson Commissioner Francis Suarez State Representative Holly Raschein State Representative Jose Felix Diaz Commissioner Willy Gort State Representative Councilman Harold Mathis Jose Javier Rodriguez Councilman Scott Galvin State Representative Shevrin Jones Councilwoman Ivonne Ledesma Mayor Carlos Gimenez Councilwoman Karyn Cunningham Commissioner Audrey Edmonson Mayor Peggy Bell Commissioner Barbara Jordan Councilwoman Mary Ann Mixon Commissioner Daniella Levine Cava Mayor Cindy Lerner Commissioner Sally Heyman Mayor Connie Leon Kreps Commissioner Rebeca Sosa Mayor Gary Resnick Mayor Philip Levine Commissioner Justin Flippen BRUNCH ON THE BAY Welcome Tony Lima, SAVE Executive Director Recognition of Elected Officials and Dignitaries Elizabeth Regalado, SAVE Board Chair Presentation of Awards State Representative Holly Raschein Presented by State Senator Jack Latvala Dr. Hansel Tookes III Presented by State Representative David Richardson The Right Reverend Leo Frade Presented by The Very Reverend Dean McCabe Roxanne Vargas Presented by Tony Lima Hall of Champions Award: Gay 8 Festival Founders: Joe Cardona and Damian Pardo Presented by Brian Adler, SAVE Foundation Chair Raffle drawing The Lady Windridge will embark on a lovely cruise throughout Biscayne Bay promptly at 3:15pm and will return at 4:45pm dockside. Performances by the Diva, Maryel Epps Tea Dance tunes by DJ Chris “Smeejay” Hodgson IS Proudly SPONSORED BY: Equality Angel Level Sponsors Equality Advocate Level Sponsors James G. Pepper Jon Kislak James Tyrell & Roger Thomson Liebe & Seth Gadinsky Jim Stork & Ron Ansin Equality Ally Level Sponsors Brian Adler & Omar Suarez State Representative David Richardson Raul Rodriguez Tony UlloA Don Hayden & Brian Thompson Alberto Moris A word from SAVE’s Executive Director: Tony Lima Dear Esteemed Champions of Equality Guest, For the past nine years, SAVE has hosted some of the community’s most prominent lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) luminaries for one very special evening. This year, we are proud to welcome several hundred community, political, and civic leaders to attend our annual Champions of Equality Awards Reception and Brunch aboard the Lady Windridge yacht in downtown Miami. The past few years have been the most successful on record for equality in South Florida, with SAVE notching historic victories for transgender nondiscrimination in Miami-Dade County and for the freedom to marry for Floridians early last year after our court victory alongside the ACLU of Florida -- as well as for all Americans last June as a result of the Supreme Court’s historic ruling. At the same time, in retaliation to these historic advances, we have seen anti-equality extremists rush bills through state legislatures in places like North Carolina and Mississippi that legalize discrimination against LGBTQ people and worse, threaten to throw transgender people in jail just for using the bathroom. The catastrophe in the wake of passage of these laws in places like North Carolina and Mississippi has vindicated our aggressive fight to stop a similar “bathroom bill” introduced by a Miami lawmaker in the Florida House last year. We won that fight, but we expect similar proposals to surface in the legislature in the coming session -- all because of lingering bias and negative attitudes, especially towards the transgender community, among the voters who elect our state lawmakers. It’s clear that the only way to fight such noxious proposals is to educate the voting public. So we joined forces with the Los Angeles LGBT Center to develop a comprehensive, groundbreaking technique to reach South Florida voters at a one-on-one level which we’re calling “deep canvassing” -- and the technique was proven uniquely effective in a study published in the journal Science on April 7th, 2016. We also enlisted the help of Congresswoman Ileana Ros Lehtinen, who joined us with her son, Rodrigo, who is transgender, and her husband Dexter to produce our groundbreaking PSA, “Family is Everything,” on the importance of protections from discrimination for the transgender community and all Americans. The PSA, produced in both Spanish and English, made national headlines, with global outlets like the New York Times, CNN, MSNBC, Univisión and Telemundo covering it. It was even mentioned by Whoopi Goldberg on The View! There is so much to celebrate this year, but there is also so much to defend, and it’s our responsibility to make sure that those who are standing up for equality have the support and recognition they deserve. That’s why we are so proud to honor State Representative Holly Raschein, Dr. Hansel Tookes III, The Right Reverend Leo Frade, NBC6’s Roxy Vargas, and the wildly successful inaugural Gay8 Festival and its founders Damian Pardo and Joe Cardona. I extend my most heartfelt congratulations to these leaders on their selection as SAVE’s 2016 honorees. I have no doubt that so long as we can continue to count on active and generous supporters like yourself, we will prevail in the historic struggle our community faces to achieve and defend our equality. From the bottom of my heart, I thank you for your support and for helping us get closer to equality. In community, Tony Lima Executive Director of SAVE [email protected] 2016 Champions of Equality Honoree The Right Rev. Bishop Leopold Frade The Right Reverend Leopoldo "Leo" Frade made it his life's work as Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Southeast Florida to fight for justice for the oppressed and for the LGBTQ community especially. His proud stance in favor of accepting everyone as God's children traces back back to his time as Bishop of Honduras in the 1980s. In 1984, he remembers seeing a Honduran preacher on TV telling people that if they had a gay son, “He is demon processed,” encouraging them to beat the “demon” out of the person. “I said, ‘Oh my God, this guy is preaching to hundreds of people,’ and they were buying it,” he told the Miami Herald last May. “I thought it was important for the church to speak up. What I was preaching in Honduras was the fact that we cannot kill them or beat them — and it still happens today. I was called a devil’s agent.” When churches refused to bury LGBT Hondurans who died at the beginning of the HIV/AIDS pandemic in the 1980s, Frade’s church in San Pedro Sula did. “For a whole year we were the only church burying gay people in Honduras — in the whole country,” he told the Herald. In the 90s, 2000s, and 2010s, Bishop Frade has continued to stand with the LGBT community through his outspoken advocacy in favor of Miami-Dade County’s Human Rights Ordinance, most recently appealing to the County Commission to pass the trans-inclusive protections added as the culmination of SAVE’s efforts in 2014. SAVE is proud to honor Bishop Frade for his lifelong commitment and outspoken advocacy for LGBTQ equality in his high-ranking position within the Episcopal Church. 2016 Champions of Equality Honoree State Representative Holly Raschein Holly Raschein serves as the State Representative to the Florida House for the 120th District, encompassing southern Miami-Dade County and the Keys. In her role in Tallahassee, Holly has served South Florida’s LGBTQ community admirably as the House sponsor of the Florida Competitive Workforce Act, which succeeded this year in securing its first committee hearing in the Florida Senate after ten years of attempts. In sponsoring the Competitive Workforce Act, Representative Raschein has demonstrated a unique willingness to work with members of both parties to get things done in Tallahassee. She has worked closely with all stakeholders, ranging from advocacy organizations like SAVE to Floridian businesses to the leadership of the State Legislature in order to build consensus around the way forward on this critical piece of legislation. “I was proud to sponsor the Competitive Workforce Act in the House,” said Raschein in response to SAVE’s announcement. “It’s an honor to be chosen as one of SAVE’s Champions of Equality, and I promise that I will not let up on this issue until all Floridians are protected from workplace discrimination.” 2016 Champions of Equality Honoree dr. Hansel Tookes iii Dr. Hansel Tookes III is an infectious diseases researcher for Jackson Memorial Hospital specializing in HIV/AIDS who served a stint on SAVE’s Board of Directors in 2014.