FLORIDA: Mario Lopez Named Grand Marshal Of Miami Beach Pride 2015

Via press release:

Emmy Award winning host of the popular nationally syndicated entertainment program Extra, Mario Lopez will preside over the 2015 Miami Beach Gay Pride parade and festival as Grand Marshal, announced Mark Fernandes, chair of the Pride Board. As Grand Marshal, Lopez will lead the enthusiastic and colorful parade that is expected to draw more than 100,000 spectators on Sunday, April 12. The Miami Beach Gay Pride parade kicks off at noon along famed Ocean Drive between 5th and 15th Streets and will be followed by the Pride Festival with live performances from four stages, community booths and refreshments. An ardent proponent of LGBTQ issues, Lopez is a long-time supporter of GLAAD.

RELATED: Yesterday Lopez told the Huffington Post that he lost his virginity on the day before his 13th birthday.

At Miami Beach Pride 2014

Miami Beach's sixth annual LGBT Pride parade took place yesterday on South Beach's Ocean Drive with Grand Marshal Gloria Estefan, who appears at 2:30 in this clip.

Morning View - Ocean Drive

Afternoon View - Jerry's Deli

Jerry's Deli, as I may have mentioned here one hundred times in the past, operates in the building that once was the Warsaw Ballroom, the single greatest gay nightclub in the history of the world. And I am unanimous in that.

At Miami Beach Pride

Video and photos by Father Tony.

Winter Party: Under One Sun

Yesterday Father Tony and I attended the National Gay & Lesbian Task Force Winter Party's Under One Sun pool event at Miami Beach's Surfcomber Hotel. This is the 19th annual Winter Party and I think I've only missed handful since 1993. Hit the play button for lots of happy people raising money for South Florida LGBT and AIDS causes. The Winter Party is volunteer-produced and staffed and 100% of the proceeds stay local. Amazing. Full-screen photos here.

After the pool event we attended a cocktail party for some of the big Task Force donors, then we headed north for the annual official Winter Party satellite event in Fort Lauderdale, which this year was held at Wilton Manor's sprawling bear bar, Bill's Filling Station. Which mean's I've gotten to hear DJ Herbie James for three nights in a row. Crazy fun there and a sound system that really did justice to Herbie's deep trance sound.

Today: the official and main beach event. I'm pre-exhausted!

Morning View - Miami Beach Deco Bike

Jerry's Deli / Warsaw Ballroom

My ex texted me at 6am to alert me that MSNBC's Morning Joe was doing today's Florida primary coverage from the former location of the Warsaw Ballroom, the greatest gay nightclub from the very early years of South Beach's birth as a homo hotspot. Was it really almost 25 years ago? Sigh. Oh, the things that transpired in that room. I'd love to tell those journalists about the Warsaw show by "pussy contortionist" Lady Hennessy Brown. Just for starters...

Winter Party 2011

Yesterday Father Tony and I were joined by my dear Orlando friend Thomas for the 16th annual Winter Party on South Beach. This (I think) was my 11th time attending and once again the National Gay & Lesbian Task Force and their volunteer staff delivered a flawless event. Huge kudos to Task Force head Rea Carey, Winter Party event chair Chad Richter, and their army of smiley helpful volunteers. And we loved the trampoline stunt show.

I was especially pleased (of course) by the high turnout of bears this year and made it point to get some of their photos for those who complained yesterday about the smooth aesthetic of Saturday's pool party. Hit the slideshow at the bottom of this post for photos of many, many hotties of all ages, races, body types, and fur distributions. Full-screen versions here.

SLIDESHOW: Under One Sun

Yesterday Father Tony and I spent the afternoon at the Winter Party Festival's Under One Sun event at Miami Beach's Surfcomber Hotel. As you can see, it was quite the festive mob scene, so I spent much of the party comfortably removed in one of the poolside balcony cabanas. And I still got sunburned.
SLIDESHOW: Many hotties within. Full-screen images here.

Morning View - South Beach Loews

Mark King At Miami Fashion Week

With help from our own Father Tony.

Father Tony At The Winter Party

Father Tony had the grueling assignment of covering this weekend's Winter Party for The Bilerico Project. I don't imagine you'd care to look at a slideshow of hotties in Speedos, so definitely don't click here. The Winter Party is an all-volunteer annual fundraiser by the National Gay & Lesbian Task Force which provides a boatload of money to local South Florida LGBT and HIV/AIDS groups. Below, NGLTF executive director Rea Carey sends a shout-out to JMG readers.

Guest Post - Bradley Carlson

Last Sunday I posted an article which claimed that gays are fleeing Miami Beach for Fort Lauderdale and other places. The article and its author Natalie O'Neill, who cited rising hate crimes as part of the reason for the exodus, have since come under some criticism both at home and here in NYC. O'Neill appeared on Michelangelo Signorile's SiriusXM show on Wednesday to discuss the article and the response. Below, JMG reader Bradley Carlson defends his adopted hometown.

Last week, the Miami New Times, a free local newspaper with a circulation of about 70,000, printed a cover story proclaiming that, in the wake of increasing hate violence, gays are leaving South Beach “in droves” and heading to “friendlier” Fort Lauderdale. My gay South Beach friends and I were stunned. Why didn’t we get that memo? What shocked us most is that the New Times got it so incredibly wrong. Not just wrong in terms of personal opinions about which place is better; their data were wrong.

The Miami New Times article wove a story of anti-gay violence that made it seem like homophobia in South Beach has reached epidemic proportions. Nothing could be further from the truth. The fact is, since gay people started migrating to South Beach in the 1980s, violent crime of all sorts has steadily declined. Nobody who spent time here in the 1980s and 1990s could honestly say they feel less safe walking the streets nowadays.

Contrary to the story spun by the New Times, Broward County, which contains Fort Lauderdale and the gayborhood of Wilton Manors, has a lot more hate crime than Miami-Dade. The Miami Herald's Steve Rothaus writes:

"According to Florida’s latest annual hate crime statistics, Miami-Dade County (including Miami Beach) reported 18 hate crimes total, including 4 based upon sexual orientation. Broward County (including Fort Lauderdale/Wilton Manors) ranks No. 1 statewide with 25 total hate crimes, including 9 based upon sexual orientation."

To put it another way, Broward County, with a population one quarter less than Miami-Dade, has THREE TIMES the incidence of anti-gay hate crime.

Let’s not pretend that Florida, legally and politically, doesn’t have plenty of problems with homophobia. Last year, Florida voters passed Amendment 2, a referendum that put anti-gay language relating to relationships into the State Constitution. Florida is still the only state in the country that bans adoption by gay people—although a court ruling is expected soon that could change that. But at the level of politics and public policy important to LGBT people, Miami-Dade, and Miami Beach in particular, leads Florida. In a state with more than its share of intolerant right-wingers, Miami Beach is an oasis.

If there was ever a story to be told about gays leaving South Beach, it was about 15 years ago, when real estate prices started rising and many of the gay men who’d moved here to either retire or party (or both) could no longer afford it. The real story today is that the environment for the LGBT community in South Beach is better than ever. We have one of the most pro-gay mayors in the country, a city commission that works actively to address LGBT issues, and we have recently had two openly gay city commissioners in succession. Significant progress has been made at the level of policy and politics, making South Beach one of the most progressive, tolerant and gay-friendly places in the country. And with housing prices coming back down to earth, it’s once again possible to buy or rent apartments at reasonable prices.

Just last week, Miami Beach passed a revised Human Rights Ordinance that strengthens enforcement of already existing human rights laws and adds protections for transgendered people, making Miami Beach’s human rights laws the most progressive in the state. Miami Beach residents have been able to register as domestic partners since 2004; in 2008 this benefit was extended to all of Miami-Dade County.

Fort Lauderdale, and heavily Republican Broward County, is quite different. Despite the fact that the small gayborhood of Wilton Manors (pop. 12,879) has an openly gay mayor and a lot of gay bars, the surrounding City of Fort Lauderdale is hardly a paragon of tolerance. Fort Lauderdale is the city that elected for six consecutive terms outspokenly anti-gay mayor, Jim Naugle who, along with his cadre of right-wing supporters, spent several months in 2007 using the non-issue of sex in public restrooms to scapegoat, stereotype and vilify local gays.

It is true that Fort Lauderdale has a greater number of self-identified gay bars than South Beach, but I hope we can all agree that there’s more to a community than its bar scene. During a typical South Beach winter, people South Beach—gay and straight—are busy with almost-weekly events, such as Art Basel, the Food & Wine Festival, Miami Spice, the Boat Show, the White Party, the Winter Party, the Miami Gay and Lesbian Film Festival, Art Deco Weekend, Miami Beach Gay Pride Weekend, Aqua Girl and the bi-weekly Lincoln Road flea market.

People who cut their teeth on Miami Beach’s gay scene in the 1980s and early 1990s often lament the closing of the great gay clubs Paragon, Warsaw and Salvation. But in their place, numerous and ever-changing gay nights and roving parties have sprung up, such as Buck 15, Crème Lounge and Martini Tuesdays. In the thick of South Beach, we still have the longstanding gay bars Score and Twist, the lounge bar Mova (formerly Halo), and the new Bar 721 which has taken over the former Laundry Bar space. And of course, there’s the oceanfront staple, the Palace, always a popular destination after a sunny Sunday on the gay beach. Another new bar, Azucar, is scheduled to open soon. There are a number of newer gay places just across the bay in Miami, such as Discotekka. From time to time, fun new parties pop up, like UUFF! at Newsbar, which had a several month run last summer and I’m told is being resurrected soon.

One of the best things about South Beach is that you can walk everywhere. The gay beach, Lincoln Road, the hotel strip on Collins Avenue, the Jackie Gleason Theater, Regal Cinemas, hundreds of restaurants and shops, and the gay bars are all within walking distance of each other—or, if you’re feeling lazy, a quick ride in an easy-to-find taxi. Soon, the new Frank Gehry-designed New World Symphony building will open, offering symphony and other cultural events in the heart of everything.

In Fort Lauderdale, if you want to enjoy the beach, Las Olas shopping, and the gay bars of Wilton Manors, you must have a car, since they’re separated by miles of (not-so-pretty) roads, which are often clogged with traffic during peak times. Not only does this add to the cost of a visit but more importantly, for drinkers, it means chancing a DUI, or worse.

When it comes to large-scale social and fundraising events, South Beach is the undisputed leader. South Beach hosts one of the nation's largest and most successful LGBT fundraisers, the Winter Party, which benefits the National Gay & Lesbian Task Force. Now in its 16th year, the Winter Party is an enormous beachfront dance party that draws approximately ten thousand revelers annually from all over the world. Miami also hosts the White Party at Vizcaya, the worlds oldest and largest HIV/AIDS fundraiser, which benefits Care Resources, an HIV/AIDS service organization. Miami also hosts the annual Miami Recognition Dinner, a large benefit that last year raised over $325,000 for the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force and the South Florida LGBT nonprofit organizations.

Last year, with support from the Mayor Matti Bower and the City Commission, Miami Beach resurrected its annual Gay Pride Parade, which drew thousands of mostly local residents for an all-day parade and festival on Ocean Drive. We also have an active Miami-Dade Gay & Lesbian Chamber of Commerce, whose membership includes over 600 gay-owned and gay-supportive businesses. On April 1, the Chamber, with support from the City of Miami Beach, is opening an LGBT Visitors Center in the heart of South Beach.

The truth is, South Beach and Fort Lauderdale both have their merits, and we all know that the biggest factor in one’s enjoyment of any place is the attitude they bring with them. Decisions about where to vacation and live depend mostly on people’s personal preferences, economics, and ties to friends. As someone who’s been coming to South Beach from New York City since the mid-1990s and in 2006 made it my primary home, I can tell you there is no exodus of gays. In my experience, falling hotel and condo prices have spurred an influx of gay folks like we haven’t seen in a long time.

Bradley Carlson, Miami Beach.

Miami Beach Adds Trans Protections

The city of Miami Beach has broadened their anti-discrimination ordinances to protect transgender folks. In the same action, the city has created a Human Rights Commission to address claims of wrongdoing against all citizens.

The legislation, sponsored by former Commissioner Victor Diaz Jr., grew out of concern that the 2008 passage of Amendment 2, a statewide voter referendum that limited marriage to a union between a man and a woman, would weaken Miami Beach's laws regarding domestic partnerships. Diaz, who is openly gay, said the result is one of the strongest human rights measures in the country and a reaffirmation that Miami Beach is committed to equal rights. "This is about being again at the forefront, at the cutting edge of these issues,'' Diaz said. "So when people say 'Gee, where should I live? Where do I feel safest? Where do I feel I can express myself and raise children and love my partner and contribute to my community without any fear of discrimination?' they say Miami Beach.'' Diaz stressed that the legislation was a win for all people, but acknowledged that the new, updated measure has great significance for Miami Beach's gay community, considering state and federal laws do not offer the same protections covered under the city's new law.

A spokesman for the ACLU called Miami Beach's new laws the strongest in the state "bar none."

(Tipped by JMG reader Bradley)

Patti Labelle Supports Marriage Equaltiy

Just in from Father Tony in South Florida - Patti Labelle knows the score. At Miami Beach's first ever Gay Pride.

Winter Party 2009: Spend Your Money Where It Does Our Community Good

About twenty years ago, gay pride in major cities and the circuit party scene began to explode from single-day events to a stamina-testing series of parties stretched over long weekends, as glinty-eyed promoters swooped in to take advantage of a captive and restless audience.

While the unprecedented successes of these events offered attendees a long menu of party destinations on each day, attendance often suffered at the very namesake event for which these thousands of revelers had ostensibly traveled. How could you get up for the pride parade when you'd only left the club at 10am? Why would you actually go to the Magic Kingdom during Gay Days and stand in lines for rides when there were half a dozen mammoth pool parties at nearby host hotels? I think I first observed this phenomenon in the late 80's when it became apparent how few attendees of the Hotlanta River Expo actually made it to the banks of the Chattahoochee.

This has always been an annoyance to me, not only for the illogic of flying thousands of miles to not attend the namesake event, but also (and much more importantly), because that title event is often a benefit for a vital LGBT charity which then suffers because outside promoters have descended with big name DJs and performers to siphon away the business. At this month's Winter Party Festival in Miami Beach, the daytime title event on the beach is happily unchallenged, other than by the fatigue of attendees who were out late the night before. Yay!

But the WPF's benefit closing party later that night, which is a huge source of revenue for the organizers, is facing a rival for-profit event with a curious history.

Via Steve Rothaus at the Miami Herald:

Popular DJ Peter Rauhofer enraged local gay activists last fall when he produced a South Beach "Main Event" dance party in direct competition with White Party Week's Noche Blanca AIDS fundraiser. Now, national gay activists are angry with Rauhofer: He is reprising his Main Event party at Mansion on March 1 opposite the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force's Winter Party Orbit fundraiser at Cameo. "It hurts the community. That's what it comes down to,'' said Chad Richter of Miami Beach, festival chairman of this year's Winter Party. "We have volunteers who are working hard all year long. To have someone who is also gay and is doing a competing event, it's almost hard for a lot of people to believe."

While this practicing of dropping monster unofficial parties into an existing event has gone on for at least two decades, this one really pisses me off even though it doesn't compete with the title event. Peter Rauhofer, who is arguably the most popular DJ in the country, is going up against the fundraiser closing party with a for-profit event that may leech an enormous amount of money away the Winter Party's beneficiary, the Dade Community Foundation's GLBT Community Project Fund.

Last year the Winter Party Festival, which is run by the National Gay & Lesbian Task Force, contributed $180,000 to the fund, money that went to local LGBT youth services and to SAVE, Miami-Dade County's gay rights group. Even the name of Rauhofer's party, "The Main Event", seem designed to confuse attendees into thinking they are contributing to the cause.

And just to add some alleged shadiness to the Rauhofer story, some are saying that while his event throttled attendance at the AIDS fundraiser for Care Resource last fall during the White Party, he did it with flyers claiming that his event was sanctioned by and would be making a donation to the Elton John AIDS Foundation. From a letter to the South Florida Blade:

Dear Editor,

There was a fundraiser for the Elton John AIDS Foundation during White Party Weekend, at the nightclub Mansion in South Beach. Peter Rauhofer and Tracy Moran were DJs. I heard it was not a fundraiser—they were just using the Elton John AIDS Foundation name to compete with The White Party, a fundraiser for Care Resource. My friends went to the party because they thought it was for charity. Do you have information on this situation?

Editor’s note: It is true Peter Rauhofer planned a party, called “The Main Event,” the same weekend as The White Party. On his MySpace blog, he voiced grievances with Care Resource, but said he was producing the event at Mansion “with no malicious intent.” He also said he would “donate proceeds” to the Elton John AIDS Foundation, in as his party was in competition with another AIDS fundraiser. However, EJAF representatives say they did not agree to participating in this event, and they did not have an agreement on donations from Peter Rauhofer. They would not choose to compete with a fundraising event for a local HIV/AIDS organization such as Care Resource, and they did not authorize the use of their name in advertisements for Rauhofer’s party. Blade staff attempted to contact Rauhofer for a statement, but he did not respond.

If the above is true, I'd say that's fucking unforgivable. And I say that not only as a devoted attendee of the Winter Party Festival and as a friend of many of its tireless volunteers, but as a very longtime fan of Peter Rauhofer himself. I probably own more than a dozen of his CDs and have patronized many of his parties.

So please, if you're traveling to Miami Beach at the end of the month to soak up some well-deserved sun and enjoy the wide variety of events offered by the Winter Party Festival, DO PAY ATTENTION to who is behind that party you are interested in. The official, volunteer-run, 100% benefit event on Sunday night is at Orbit (also known as the Cameo Theater), where world famous DJs Tony Moran and Chus & Ceballos will rock the house from 8pm - 5am. Spend your hard-earned money where it does the community good. That, gentle readers, is the true "main event."

Tonight In South Beach

Purchase tickets here.

Narchitecture

Via Father Tony comes this amusing blog post about narchitecture, a new name for Miami's mammoth waterfront homes that appear to be owned by drug dealers.

Narchitecture is the pit bull of architecture. It grabs you by the (eye) balls and doesn’t let go, marrying a bevy of Mediterranean styles—neo-Classical, Spanish Revival and Fascist—with the vernacular American school known as Contemporary McMansion. The structures are big, overly-decorous and unabashedly gaudy, and, in their placement, show a complete disregard for their environment. The style veers heavily towards the monumental and its decorative motifs include Spanish tile, Roman-style arches and lots and lots of Italianate columns. It is an architecture that says, “Look at me. But don’t ask what I do.”

Spectacular examples of narchitecture can be found on the Venetians, a string of manmade islands one can skip across from Miami to Miami Beach. Shaquille O'Neal's home on Star Island, just south of the Venetians, is also particularly painful.

Winter Party Generates Record Donation

The National Gay & Lesbian Task Force's Winter Party Festival (which took place in March) generated a record donation of $180,000 to Miami's Dade Community Foundation GLBT Community Projects Fund.

The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force announced at a Coconut Grove reception last night that $200,000 from the 11th Annual Miami Recognition Dinner and the 2008 Winter Party Festival will benefit the local Miami GLBT community. Of that amount, $180,000 will be granted to Dade Community Foundation’s GLBT Community Projects Fund to be disbursed to local organizations providing critical services to LGBT people. The remaining $20,000 will be used to conduct a long-term strategic planning process for the future of the Winter Party Festival. Last year the Task Force’s donation to the Foundation was $160,000.

Pictured are the NGLTF's Russell Roybal presenting a ceremonial check to Dade Community Foundation's Ruth Shack. Non-profit + volunteers + fantastic setting = good work. Win, win, win.