You can still get a decent car wash at Cactus on North Federal Highway in Fort Lauderdale, but you can't read SFGN there anymore.

“If a bullet should enter my brain, let that bullet destroy every closet door.” - Harvey Milk

The first of a four-part series.

The Florida Agenda used to publish news. Now it just makes news.

When I write my columns for SFGN, sometimes I must remember all my readers were not 18 years old in 1968, that some of you may not remember Vietnam, Watergate or Woodstock. Some of you may not even know George Carlin.

Today is the 7^th anniversary of the debut of SFGN. We were going to do a celebratory cover. But it dawned upon me that there is nothing to celebrate this January. 

As the campaign for the Presidency of the United States winds down, and when the next issue of SFGN is published one day later than usual, we will know whether or not our nation has elected its first female president.

“Any society that would give up a little liberty to gai a little security will deserve neither and lose both"

-Benjamin Franklin

Here, on the streets of Orlando, the mood is somber. But there is also a new intersection of hope, because the city is holding hands, regardless of sex or status, color or creed.

This year, SFGN names as its Person of the year an individual whose career and credentials have been marked and modeled by accumulating a resume of accomplishments.

Okay, I need to vent. Institutional politics is why Trump triumphed. He did not just destroy the Democratic party in November. He took down the Republican establishment as well.

On November 7, 2016, a former Army reservist walked into an FBI office in Anchorage, Alaska, to report, “his mind was being controlled by a U.S. intelligence agency.”

“My name is Harvey Milk, and I am here to recruit you.”

-Harvey’s most famous words

This is the beginning of gay history month.

As we approach World AIDS Day this weekend, SFGN features our annual SPIRIT issue. I know that discussions of HIV and AIDS are not the most popular features in the world, but my job as publisher is to share truth not fiction, reality not illusion. 

Today I am going to come out of the closet a second time, but now as a Bi-Coastal cannabis consumer.

October is LGBT history month, and apparently, it has just dawned upon the Dolphin Democrats that South Florida has a gay history.

Twenty-five years ago, I guess when I was relevant—I was asked by Center One to deliver an address on World AIDS Day at the Esplanade in Fort Lauderdale. I delivered a talk about young people carelessly contracting HIV.

As our community moves through its LGBT history month, there are three local events of interest worth noting, even though, shockingly, none of them were my birthday today.

There is a reason South Florida, greater Fort Lauderdale, and Wilton Manors has become the epicenter of gay life in the U.S., particularly in the winter months. While the nation begins to freeze, things heat up here daily.

“Surrounded by death, Father Bill Collins embraces life. Confronted by anger, he preaches forgiveness.

And faced with an ending inevitable from the very start, he encourages acceptance and faith and most of all, love.”

—From a Sun-Sentinel article about, December 11, 1994

As I ended last week’s editorial, so do I begin today’s.

It's the summer.

I had an interesting conversation with a local businessman while we were discussing his advertising contract. He complimented SFGN, saying that he had been foolish for not advertising in it for years.

There are few things more rewarding in life than watching a plant blossom.

Publisher’s Note: This unsigned SFGN editorial ran in our May 5 newspaper. I’ve decided to rerun it since Wilton Manors installed their permanent Pride flag last week. But this editorial is a reminder that pride is more than just a flag.

As the publisher of the South Florida Gay News, I have to say thank you this week to a number of people and groups. Bear with me. Thank you speeches can be boring. Today’s should not be.

For decades, the LGBT community of South Florida has had a contentious relationship with the Broward County Sheriff.

‘To thine own self be true, and it must follow, as the night the day, that thou cannot be false to any man.” 

-Shakespeare’s Hamlet  

This week, as the Republicans carved out their presidential platform, they ‘softened’ their stand on gay marriage. They decided to leave it up to the states. How dumb can they be?

For months I have been meaning to write a column just featuring some of the stories and successes in our community.