4 November 30 - December 6, 2023 miaminewtimes.com | browardpalmbeach.com New Times | music | cafe | culture | Night+Day | news | letters | coNteNts | MONTH XX–MONTH XX, 2008 miaminewtimes.com MIAMI NEW TIMES | MUSIC | CAFE | FILM | ART | STAGE | NIGHT+DAY | METRO | RIPTIDE | LETTERS | CONTENTS | ▼ MIAMI NOT WELCOME A STUDY RANKS MIAMI AS ONE OF THE LEAST LGBTQ-FRIENDLY CITIES IN THE U.S. BY NAOMI FEINSTEIN I n the wake of the DeSantis administra- tion’s legislative crusade targeting the LGBTQ community, it may not come as a surprise that two Florida cities were ranked among the five least LGBTQ- friendly cities in the U.S. According to a new study by real estate company Clever, Miami and Jacksonville are the fifth and third-least LGBTQ-friendly cit- ies in the nation, respectively, among large municipalities. Orlando came in tenth on the rankings. While Miami Beach has largely been con- sidered a haven for the gay community and South Florida a bastion of LGBTQ-inclusiv- ity, the state legislature’s passage of bills like the Parental Rights in Education law, AKA “Don’t Say Gay” bill, has thrust Miami to the bottom of the LGBTQ-averse rankings along- side cities like Birmingham, Alabama, and Memphis, Tennessee. “Our study not only balances the fun as- pects of the LGBTQ community but also the political realities necessary for LGBTQ Americans to thrive when they are moving across state lines for better futures amid ris- ing costs of living,” the report reads. Stratton Pollitzer, cofounder and deputy director of advocacy group Equality Florida, places the blame on Gov. Ron DeSantis for Miami’s ranking. As a longtime resident of Miami, he says he is heartbroken to see the “terrible damage” the governor has done to the city’s image as a welcoming municipality. “It’s incredibly frustrating, especially for those of us who live in cities that have worked so hard to be on the leading edge of inclusion and support for LGBTQ residents,” Pollitzer tells New Times. “I know that folks in other states look at this, and they think, ‘How can that be happening in Florida? I’m used to reading about this in these headlines from deep red, southern states.’” “I blame the state laws for damaging Mi- ami’s reputation,” Pollitzer says. “We are part of Florida, and DeSantis has been a wrecking ball to Florida’s reputation.” On the ground, gay residents and visitors may feel the Miami metro area is a world apart from more conservative, rural areas of north Florida, where two men kissing might draw stares. However, when factoring in em- pirical data, the study indicates statewide policy is overshadowing South Florida’s rep- utation for embracing LGBTQ culture. Clever, a real estate data company, ranked the nation’s 50 most populous cities based on 14 weighted criteria, including the number of anti-trans and “Don’t Say Gay” laws, the number of Parents, Families, and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG) chapters per 100,000 residents, the total LGBTQ-affirm- ing healthcare providers per capita, the state’s LGBTQ population, the number of gay bars and pride events, and the percentage of resi- dents opposing same-sex marriage and anti- discrimination laws, among other categories. San Francisco; Hartford, Connecticut; Las Vegas; Portland, Oregon; and Denver sit atop the rankings for most LGBTQ-friendly cities. As outlined by the study, these cities are in states that have neither passed legislation tar- geting the gay and transgender communities nor created parental opt-out laws that allow parents to challenge classroom reading mate- rial. They also have LGBTQ-inclusive curric- ulum standards, according to the study. The Magic City has one of the lowest “state equality tally scores” given by the Mu- nicipality Advancement Project, which scores state laws and policies that impact LG- BTQ people’s lives. The study says Florida has five laws on the books that qualify as anti- trans, including legislation that bars trans- gender people from using their preferred restrooms in public and prohibits public funds from being used to provide gender-af- firming care. Thirty-two percent of Miami residents op- pose same-sex marriage, according to the study, in comparison to 11 percent of resi- dents in Hartford. Although Miami is one of the top cities for most pride events per 100,000 residents, it is third on the list for the fewest number of gay bars. San Francisco, which the study considered the most gay- friendly city, has .68 gay bars per capita in comparison to Miami’s .08. Despite these statistics, Pollitzer says peo- ple in Miami are engaged in supporting the local LGBTQ community. He notes Equality Florida added 75,000 new supporters in one year — triple the group’s yearly average — to fight back against the new legislation. “Pride festivals are bursting at the seams,” he tells New Times. “I understand that some people are going to make the decision to leave our state for reasons about their family’s safety. I understand and respect that, but we’re here to stay, our community is here to stay. We’re here to fight, and I see evidence of that every day. I have never seen people as en- gaged in pushing back as they are right now.” | RIPTIDE | GET MORE NEWS & COMMENTARY AT MIAMINEWTIMES.COM/NEWS Statewide LGBTQ policies have overshadowed South Florida’s reputation as a bastion of inclusivity. City of St. Petersburg photo ▼ MIAMI-DADE FOUND OUT EX-MIAMI PROUD BOY CONVICTED ON FELONY CHARGES FOR JANUARY 6 CAPITOL RIOT. BY ALEX DELUCA A onetime Miami Proud Boy and former Miami-Dade Republican Executive Committee member has been con- victed of two felonies for storming the U.S. Capi- tol on January 6, 2021. As a mob of Trump supporters descended upon the Capitol on January 6, 2021, Gabriel Garcia hopped on Facebook live to record him- self inside the building while he taunted House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to “come out and play.” Sporting a red Make America Great Again cap, he allegedly encouraged other members of the crowd to flood into the building and called police “Fucking traitors.” The former U.S. Army captain and ex-Proud Boy leader was one of the first South Floridians nabbed in connection with the riot. During a Monday bench trial, more than three years after his arrest, U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson found Garcia guilty of civil dis- order and obstruction of an official proceeding. His sentencing is scheduled for March 28, 2024. Garcia is one of numerous Proud Boys in- dicted for breaching the Capitol during the certi- fication of electoral college votes for the 2020 election of President Joe Biden. Miami native En- rique Tarrio, the Proud Boys chairman at the time, was sentenced in September to 22 years in prison for his role in orchestrating the Capi- tol attack, although he wasn’t present at the riot, having been arrested two days earlier on charges related to the burning of a stolen Black Lives Matter flag. Four prominent members of the Proud Boys — Ethan Nordean, Joseph Biggs, and Zachary Rehl, and Dominic Pe- zzola — were tried alongside Tarrio and received felony convictions for storming the Capitol. Garcia was also one of at least a half-dozen then-current and former Proud Boys who man- aged to secure seats within the Miami-Dade GOP Executive Committee, the Republican Party’s lo- cal governing body, in an effort to shape local politics from the inside. Garcia previously served as leader of Miami’s Vice City Proud Boys, the far-right group’s local chapter formed by Tarrio in 2018. Garcia has since claimed to have parted ways with the ex- tremist group. Garcia pleaded not guilty to the two felonies and four other charges: entering and remaining in a restricted building, disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building, disorderly con- duct in a Capitol building, and parading, demon- strating, or picketing in a Capitol building. A self-described lifelong Republican who ran a failed campaign for Florida House of Represen- tatives against incumbent Daniel Perez in 2020, Garcia made headlines in the months following his January 6 arrest for repeatedly requesting the removal of his GPS ankle monitor, which he claimed was making “embarrassing beeping noises” in front of his business clients. After more than two years of traveling around the country while awaiting trial, prose- cutors sought to revoke his travel privileges fol- lowing his allegedly unauthorized pit stop at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Maryland. His attorney at the time, Aubrey Webb, ar- gued that the requirement that Garcia provide his precise itinerary to the court only applied when he was in Washington, D.C., and that Gar- cia accordingly did not violate the court’s orders. But in mid-March, Judge Jackson found him in violation of his release conditions and placed him on home detention. In the aftermath of the CPAC controversy, Webb told New Times that Garcia would be willing to resolve the charges if the government dropped the felony counts against him. Prosecutors de- clined to do so, and after Garcia waived his right to a jury trial, Jackson found him guilty of the felony charges at the November 20 bench trial in D.C. [email protected] GARCIA IS ONE OF NUMEROUS PROUD BOYS INDICTED FOR BREACHING THE CAPITOL.
