 | |
| Founded | 2007 |
|---|---|
| Focus | "Fight OUT Loud is a national non-profit organization dedicated to empowering GLBT individuals and their allies to fight discrimination and hate." |
| Location | |
Area served | United States |
| Method | Activism |
| Website | fightoutloud.org |
Fight OUT Loud is a non-profit organization in the United States aimed to empower LGBT individuals. Fight OUT Loud was established in 2007.
Fight OUT Loud is a United States 501(c)(3) non-profit organization established in 2007 to empower lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) individuals, and their allies to fight discrimination and hate. [1] [2] The organization also works to raise awareness of hate crimes as in the cases of E.O. Green School shooting of Lawrence King. [3] The group also advocates for the passage of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA). [4]
Fight OUT Loud was founded by Waymon Hudson and Anthony Niedwiecki as a result of a 2007 incident where an employee at the Fort Lauderdale International Airport played an anti-gay death threat over the intercom quoting a Bible verse from Leviticus reading "men that lie with men as with women should be put to death." [5] The couple complained but no action was taken until they alerted local and national media outlets. [6] According to Hudson, the incident became an international news story. [6] According to the group they had over 5,000 members in less than four months of doing their free online action alerts. [2]
Their first cause after the airport incident was supporting two 14-year-old lesbians in Portland, Oregon who were verbally abused by the bus driver as he was kicking them off the bus for kissing. [5] The group worked with the teens and their mothers, the Portland transit department issued an apology in response to the concerns. [5]
In 2007 Fight OUT Loud became a leader in the effort to address Fort Lauderdale, Florida Mayor Jim Naugle's comments about the gay community. [7] [8] [9] [ unreliable source? ] Comments Naugle made about alleged use of a planned $250,000 robotic toilet in Fort Lauderdale's beach to prevent sexual encounters between men caused protests from the local community. [10] In a press release and in public rallies they tied his official public statements to violent anti-gay incidents. [11] [12] The protests and campaign led to Naugle's removal from Broward County's Tourism Board, and the proposed toilet was eliminated from the budget. [7] [13]
In 2008 the group announce the first four members of their newly formed national board of advisors including: Chip Arndt (activist and winner of The Amazing Race - season 4); Matt Foreman (Executive Director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force); David Mixner (political strategist, civil rights activist and public affairs advisor); and Pam Spaulding (Editor and publisher of Pam's House Blend). [14]
In 2010 Hudson and Niedwiecki moved to Chicago and continue to coordinate the group's work from there online. [1] [15]
In 2011 the organization was the beneficiary of "Rock Out Loud", a music concert and anti hate crimes rally at Nova Southeastern University. [16]
A law professor and administrator at Broward County's Shepard Broad law school, Niedwiecki and his husband Waymon Hudson were co-founders of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender lobby group Fight OUT Loud, [17] and led an activist campaign against former Fort Lauderdale mayor Jim Naugle after Naugle made a number of anti-gay statements. [18] The couple also lobbied the Florida State Senate to overturn the state's ban on gay adoption, after taking in a foster child who had been abandoned as "unadoptable" by the state because of the child's HIV status. [19] The couple wed in California in before Proposition 8 passed in June 2008 [20] and remain legally married as one of 18,000 couples still wed after the anti-gay marriage proposition passed. [21]
Broward County is a county in Florida, United States, located in the Miami metropolitan area. It is Florida's second-most populous county after Miami-Dade County and the 17th-most populous in the United States, with 1,944,375 residents as of the 2020 census. Its county seat and most populous city is Fort Lauderdale, which had a population of 182,760 as of 2020. The county is part of the South Florida region of the state.
Fort Lauderdale is a coastal city located in the U.S. state of Florida, 30 miles (48 km) north of Miami along the Atlantic Ocean. It is the county seat of and most populous city in Broward County with a population of 182,760 at the 2020 census, making it the tenth-most populous city in Florida. After Miami and Hialeah, Fort Lauderdale is the third-most populous city in the Miami metropolitan area, which had a population of 6,166,488 in 2019.
Lauderdale Lakes is a city in Broward County, Florida, United States. It is part of the Miami metropolitan area of South Florida. As of the 2020 United States Census, the city's population was 35,954.
North Lauderdale is a city in Broward County, Florida, United States. It is a principal city of the Miami metropolitan area. As of the 2020 census, the city's population was 44,794.
Wilton Manors is a city in Broward County, Florida, United States. Wilton Manors is part of the Miami metropolitan area, which was home to 6,166,488 people at the 2020 census. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 11,426.
Norman Elliott Kent was an American criminal defense attorney, publisher, and radio talk show host.
Same-sex marriage has been legal in Florida since January 6, 2015, as a result of a ruling in Brenner v. Scott from the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Florida. The court ruled the state's same-sex marriage ban unconstitutional on August 21, 2014. The order was stayed temporarily. State attempts at extending the stay failed, with the U.S. Supreme Court denying further extension on December 19, 2014. In addition, a state court ruling in Pareto v. Ruvin allowed same-sex couples to obtain marriage licenses in Miami-Dade County on the afternoon of January 5, 2015. In another state case challenging the state's denial of marriage rights to same-sex couples, a Monroe County court in Huntsman v. Heavilin stayed enforcement of its decision pending appeal and the stay expired on January 6, 2015. Florida was the 35th U.S. state to legalize same-sex marriage.
James T. Naugle is an American real estate broker who served as mayor of Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Although a lifelong Democrat, Naugle frequently voted for and supported Republican candidates. Elected for the first time in 1991, Naugle was the longest-serving mayor in the history of Fort Lauderdale, serving for six consecutive terms.
Stonewall National Museum and Archives is a nonprofit, tax-exempt 501(c)(3) organization in Fort Lauderdale, Florida that promotes understanding through preserving, interpreting and sharing the culture of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people and their role in society. It owns and manages a library and archival collection and presents a series of public programs. SNMA has two small exhibition areas with changing exhibitions drawn primarily from its collections. Additionally, SNMA hosts a web-based LGBTQ timeline of American LGBTQ history, launched in 2021 and known as In Plain Sight. Although Stonewall's name is inspired by the Stonewall Inn where the 1969 Stonewall riots took place, the museum and archive has no direct connection with the New York location.
Save Our Children, Inc. was an American political coalition formed in 1977 in Miami, Florida, to overturn a recently legislated county ordinance that banned discrimination in areas of housing, employment, and public accommodation based on sexual orientation. The coalition was publicly headed by celebrity singer Anita Bryant, who claimed the ordinance discriminated against her right to teach her children biblical morality. It was a well-organized campaign that initiated a bitter political fight between gay activists and Christian fundamentalists. When the repeal of the ordinance went to a vote, it attracted the largest response of any special election in Dade County's history, passing by a more than 2-to-1 margin.
John P. Seiler is an American politician and 41st Mayor of Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Prior to this he was a Democratic member of the Florida House of Representatives, from 2000 to 2008 representing District 92 which is located in Broward County, Florida.
This article concerns LGBT history in Florida.
Naugle v. Philip Morris was a landmark 2009 court case in which a jury awarded the plaintiff Lucinda Naugle $300 million. The award included $56.6 million in compensatory damages for medical expenses and $244 million in punitive damages. At the time, the verdict was the largest award given to an individual suing a tobacco company, and was featured on NBC, ABC, 60 Minutes, and The New York Times. In 2012, the verdict amount for punitive damages was reduced to $36.8 million.
The Pride Center at Equality Park is an LGBTQ+ community center in Wilton Manors, Florida, that serves Broward County, Palm Beach County, and Fort Lauderdale. The center provides information, news, and events that affect South Florida's LGBTQ community. Established in 1993, the center is headquartered within a 30,000 square feet (2,800 m2) building with meeting and office space for individuals, programs, services, and organizations. The goal of the center is to empower the LGBT communities in South Florida.
Malcom Gregory Scott also known as Greg Scott, is an American writer, activist, and AIDS survivor. In 1987, the United States Navy (USN) discharged him for homosexuality, after which Scott worked to overturn the Department of Defense (DoD) directive prohibiting the military service of lesbian and gay Americans. Upon his discharge, Scott also learned he had tested positive for the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), the virus that causes acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). He was active in the Washington, D.C., chapters of ACT UP and Queer Nation. Scott was an advocate for legal access to medical marijuana, a critic of early HIV prevention education strategies, and a proponent for expanded academic research to support the public policy goals of queer communities. American journalist Michelangelo Signorile once called Scott "the proudest queer in America." Scott worked as a writer for Fox Television's America's Most Wanted, and his writing has appeared in several newspapers and magazines. Scott nearly died of Stage IV AIDS in 1995 and credited marijuana with his survival until effective anti-retroviral therapies became available.
Dean J. Trantalis is an American politician and mayor of Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Before his election as mayor, Trantalis served as a city commissioner for Fort Lauderdale from 2009 to 2017.
Miami has one of the largest and most prominent LGBTQ communities in the United States. Miami has had a gay nightlife scene as early as the 1930s. Miami has a current status as a gay mecca that attracts more than 1 million LGBT visitors a year. The Miami area as a whole has been gay-friendly for decades and is one of the few places where the LGBTQ community has its own chamber of commerce, the Miami-Dade Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce (MDGLCC). As of 2005, Miami was home to an estimated 15,277 self-identifying gay and bisexual individuals. The Miami metropolitan area had an estimated 183,346 self-identifying LGBT residents.
The general election for mayor of Fort Lauderdale was held on May 13, 2018. It saw the election of Dean Trantalis, the city's first openly gay mayor.
The 2012 Fort Lauderdale mayoral election was held on February 13, 2009 to elect the mayor of Fort Lauderdale, Florida. It saw the election of Jack Seiler.
Greg A. Baldwin is a litigation attorney and partner, now retired, for the Florida law firm Holland & Knight. Baldwin has been admitted to practice law in the jurisdictions of the District of Columbia, New York, and Florida. He has been a member of the Miami Dade County Bar Association and the American Bar Association's Task Force on the Gatekeeper Initiative to combat money-laundering and terrorist financing. He is known for his work on anti-money laundering and on criminal and regulatory compliance. In 2014, he was internationally listed as a top lawyer in the area of commercial litigation and white-collar crime.
Niedwiecki may be best known for his vocal opposition to the divisive comments made by Fort Lauderdale 's mayor, Jim Naugle. As part of Fight OUT Loud, Niedwiecki was one of the main organizers of the unity rally protesting the hateful comments made by Mayor Naugle, and he worked tirelessly behind the scenes with the Broward County Commission to have Naugle stripped of his position on the Tourism Development Council.