A gay problem for Charlie Crist

[Freddie Stubbs]

Charlie Crist will be the keynote speaker at the joint "Kennedy-King Dinner" sponsored by the Hillsborough and Pinellas Democratic parties Saturday, May 11 at the Tampa Convention Center.

The former Republican governor and potential Democratic gubernatorial nominee for 2014 provokes some strong feelings pro and con among Democrats. And the invititation to Crist by Hillsborough and Pinellas Democratic leaders prompted the following Buzz BLOG Guest Column by Michael Rajner, a Democratic activist from Fort Lauderdale, who serves as the legislative director for the Florida GLBT Democratic Caucus and was the GLBT Representative on the Florida Democratic Party's Platform Committee.

CRIST, I DARE YOU TO SAY GAY IN HILLSBOROUGH

Hillsborough County is rich in its own history of harmful policies affecting the lives of gay, lesbian,bisexual and transgender people. In 2006, Rhonda Storms, Hillsborough County's own Anita Bryant, served as a Hillsborough County Commissioner and moved for her county to "adopt a policy that Hillsborough County government abstain from acknowledging, promoting or participating in gay pride recognition and events, little g, little p." In 2013, The majority of the Hillsborough County Commission opted to join Storms on the homophobe train, voting to deny unmarried partners in Hillsborough County the ability to register with the county as domestic
partners.

more: http://www.tampabay.com/blogs/the-buzz-florida-politics/a-gay-problem-for-charlie-crist/2119216?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+tampabaycom%2Fblogs%2Fbuzz+%28The+Buzz+%7C+tampabay.com%29

[dhol82]

1. didn't christ get married?

just to provide himself with a beard?

don't see him coming out any time soon.

[ellenfl]

3. p.s. it's 'crist', not 'christ'. eom

[dhol82]

6. oops

sorry, satan must have taken over my fingers.

[ellenfl]

7. before he came over to the dark side, fla repubs thought him divine. boy were they surprised. eom

[KaryninMiami]

2. Well he's certainly not going to come out now, that's for sure

No matter how evolved we as a country appear to be heading, if Christ has any intention to harvest votes from anti Scott voters from both sides, unfortunately, showing his rainbow flag is not going to be an asset to him here in wacko land aka Florida. We are sadly, just not that progressive yet. Remember- enough people voted here to elect Scott- even though I believe it was probably so close that it was due to rigged machines that got him in but people did in fact vote for him. We are a purple state after all. But most of us know who he really is and the truth about his sexuality. At some point, it will all come out- as will he.

[HooptieWagon]

4. You might be exaggerating.

Inre: Rhonda Storms...she's a bible-thumper who represented the suburbs. She browbeat the County Commission into following her anti-gay agenda. She has since left the County Commission to go to Tallahassee, where she's been largely ineffective, even with a GOP supermajority. Since then, a gay has been elected to the County Commission. A lesbian is Chief of Police. A lesbian represents Tampa in Congress. The suburbs are still Jesusland, but City of Tampa is solidly blue, and mostly accepting of gays. The picture is not as bad as you paint it, IMO.

As far as Charlie Crist... the only people concerned about whatever his sexuality is aren't going to vote for him anyway. He still leads Rick Scott by the biggest margin of all potential Democratic challengers. Concerns about Crist from Democrats largely center around his lack of core beliefs, which was the same problem the GOP had with him. He'll say anything to get elected. That said, he did do a better job as Gov than Dems had feared he would....certainly a hell of a lot better than Jeb or Scott. I suspect a lot of the negativity coming out now is coming from his Dem rivals, over which he has a huge lead in polls. Basically, its a lot of pre-primary mud-slinging. I probably won't vote for him in primary, but would have no problem voting for him in GE. He's a hell of a lot better than Scott, and is the biggest threat to Scott. Thats enough for me.

[blkmusclmachine]

5. I wouldn't vote for Crist.

Keep electing these fake "DEMS," then wonder why the Party keeps going right? No more fake "bipartisanship" !!