Pam Bondi, Melissa Etheridge, CDC, and more...
Gay Republican leader defends Bondi
Mimi Planas, president of the Miami Log Cabin Republicans, is steadfastly defending Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi. With the November general election looming, Planas, leader of the gay Republican group, issued a statement claiming, “Pam Bondi does not hate gay people is NOT a homophobe.”
Bondi, 48, was elected Florida’s attorney general in 2010. She has come under fire from gay rights activists for her defense of a lawsuit challenging Florida’s Constitutional ban on same-sex marriage.
“We cannot ask a sworn officer of the law to ignore certain laws we do not like,” Planas notes.
Bondi faces Democrat George Sheldon in the Nov. 4 midterm election.
Equality Florida launches business directory
Consumers seeking to do business with equality minded companies have a new service to meet their needs. Equality Florida, the largest organization dedicated to securing full equality for Florida’s LGBT community, is launching Another Business for Equality, which connects Floridians with pro-equality companies via a free, searchable online directory that is open to the public, including more than 200,000 supporters of Equality Florida. “Now more than ever, consumers are paying attention to corporate social responsibility and want to know that the businesses they support respect equality, fairness and equal opportunity for their employees and customers,” said Michael Reedy, Statewide Organizer for Another Business for Equality. To learn more about the directory, visit www.AB4E.org
Melissa Etheridge goes digital
Award winning recording artist Melissa Etheridge announced a new partnership with Deloitte Digital last week, making the Los Angeles based technology company her digital agency of record. Etheridge said the timing was perfect as she just released her new album, “This is M.E.” and feels Deloitte Digital will help her analytically to reach her market.
Etheridge, 53, has been nominated for 15 Grammy Awards, winning twice. Her 1995 hit “Come To My Window” captured best rock vocal performance by a female.
In 2007, Etheridge won an Academy Award for best original song, “I Need To Wake Up” from the environmental documentary “An Inconvenient Truth.”
CDC: Gaps in HIV care for Latinos
In promoting National Latino AIDS Awareness Day, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is releasing results from a study showing gaps in treatment for Latinos diagnosed with HIV. In 2010, only 54 percent of Latinos diagnosed with HIV were retained in care with 44 percent receiving antiretroviral therapy and just 37 percent achieving virus suppression. “Latinos represent 17 percent of the U.S. population, and remain one of the populations hardest hit by HIV in the United States, accounting for 21 percent of new HIV infections,” said CDC Dr. Eugene McCray. National Latino AIDS Awareness Day is observed Oct. 15.
