National
Police describe Wilton Manors Pride incident as ‘fatal traffic crash’
Pickup truck driver identified as 77-year-old man

The Fort Lauderdale Police Department has released additional information about an incident at a Wilton Manors Pride parade that left one person dead and another injured.
A press release notes a 77-year-old man who was “a participant who had ailments preventing him from walking the duration of the parade and was selected to drive as the lead vehicle” was behind the wheel of a 2011 white Dodge Ram pickup truck that struck the two people near the Stonewall Pride Parade’s staging area shortly before 7 p.m. on Saturday.
“As the vehicle began to move forward in anticipation for the start of the parade, the vehicle accelerated unexpectedly, striking two pedestrians,” reads the press release. “After striking the pedestrians, the driver continued across all lanes of traffic, ultimately crashing into the fence of a business on the west side of the street.”
“The driver remained on scene and has been cooperative with investigators for the duration of the investigation,” further notes the press release. “A DUI investigation of the driver was conducted on scene and showed no signs of impairment.”
The press release confirms the driver, Fred Johnson, Jr., and the two people he hit, James Fahy and Jerry Vroegh, are members of the Fort Lauderdale Gay Men’s Chorus.
Fort Lauderdale Fire Rescue transported Fahy and Vroegh to Broward Health Medical Center “with serious injuries.” The press release Fahy died shortly after he arrived at the hospital.
The Fort Lauderdale Police Department described the incident as a “fatal traffic crash.” Vroegh has been released from the hospital. Another man, Gary Keating, suffered minor injuries.
“While no arrests have been made, the Fort Lauderdale Police Department continues to investigate this incident and will not be releasing the names of the involved parties due to the status of the investigation,” says the press release. “The Fort Lauderdale Police Department asks anyone who may have witnessed this incident, who has not already spoken to investigators, to contact Traffic Homicide Investigator Paul Williams at (954) 828-5755.”
The pickup truck narrowly avoided U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.), who was in a convertible participating in the parade. Florida Congressman Ted Deutch was also nearby.
“Our thoughts and prayers are with those affected by the tragic accident that occurred when the Stonewall Pride Parade was just getting started,” said Fort Lauderdale Gay Men’s Chorus President Justin Knight in a statement he issued after the incident. “Our fellow chorus members were those injured and the driver was also part of the chorus family.”
“To my knowledge, this was not an attack on the LGBTQ community,” added Knight. “We anticipate more details to follow and ask for the community’s love and support.”
Fort Lauderdale mayor initially described incident as anti-LGBTQ ‘terrorist attack’
Fort Lauderdale Mayor Dean Trantalis initially described the incident as “a terrorist attack against the LGBT community,” without any official confirmation. Detective Ali Adamson of the Fort Lauderdale Police Department on Saturday confirmed to reporters that investigators are “working with” the Federal Bureau of Investigation, but stressed the “investigation is active and we are considering and evaluating all possibilities.”
“Last evening, at the start of what was to be a celebration of pride for the LGBT community and commemoration of our hard-won victories for equality, our community faced the worst of tragedies. The grief of our LGBT community ā and greater Fort Lauderdale as a whole ā is palpable,” said Trantalis on Sunday in a statement he posted to his Facebook page.
“I was an eyewitness to the horrifying events. It terrorized me and all around me. I reported what I saw to law enforcement and had strong concerns about what transpired ā concerns for the safety of my community. I feared it could be intentional based on what I saw from mere feet away,” he added.
Trantalis added “law enforcement took what appeared obvious to me and others nearby and investigated further ā as is their job.”
“As the facts continue to be pieced together, a picture is emerging of an accident in which a truck careened out of control,” he said. “As a result, one man died, two others were injured and the lives of two members of Congress were at risk. My heart breaks for all impacted by this tragedy.”
National
LGBTQ literature advocacy org to host celebrity panel
Discussion to be moderated by writer Saāiyda Shabazz, āGleeā actor Chris Colfer

Affectionately known by fans of the show as the āfashionable soprano,ā Chris Colferās character in āGleeā came out as gay to his father in the fourth episode of the Golden Globe-winning musical drama series. Colfer paused in between fragments of sentences to catch his breath as his pupils, set atop his recognizable rosy cheeks, dilated.
āBeing a part ofā¦the glee club and football has really shown me that I can be anything,ā he said. āAnd what I am isā¦Iām gay.ā
Colfer, who is also author of young adult fiction series āThe Land of Stories,ā will be one of four panelists at a virtual event hosted by LGBTQ organization Pride and Less Prejudice (PLP) on Saturday, June 3. At the event, panelists will discuss queer visibility in authorship and the importance of queer people telling queer stories.
āWe selected [them] because weāre trying to look at the intersection between TV, film, podcasts, [and] books because itās all media and itās all really great avenues for queer people telling their own story,ā said Rebecca Damante, co-founder and outreach coordinator of the organization.
PLP began in 2019 when Damante had conversations with her mother about her experiences as a queer person and how she came to terms with her sexuality in high school. Although she watched shows such as āGleeā and āPretty Little Liarsā that had great queer representation, she knew that āit wouldāve made a huge differenceā if she had seen this as a kid.
āI was a huge reader as a kid and my mom had a lot of great books in our library about interfaith families and adoption,ā said Damante. āI come from an interfaith family and have family members who are adopted, so she had diverse books in that way but never really had LGBTQ inclusive books.ā
This motivated the mother-daughter duo to start an organization that donates LGBTQ-inclusive books to classrooms from pre-K to third grade.
They posted a Google form to social media that was reposted by GLAAD, where Damante had interned, and amplified by LGBTQ activist Kristin Russo. Teachers would put in requests for books and this allowed PLP to start an email chain that they could also use to solicit donations.
It wasnāt until Damante posted to Pantsuit Nation, a Facebook group that rallied Hillary Clinton supporters during her 2016 presidential run, that PLP garnered interest from hundreds of teachers. This led to a celebrity campaign video where actors Nicole Maines, Theo Germaine, and Darryl Stephens, among others, emphasized the importance of LGBTQ literature in classrooms.
Since 2019, the organization has raised more than $140,000 in grants and donations and donated over 8,000 books.
Dylan Moss, a kindergarten teacher in Albany, N.Y., is among those who have benefitted from PLPās efforts.
During a quest for more diverse and inclusive books for his classroom, he stumbled upon PLPās website between 2020 and 2021 and reached out to the organization. Since then, he has been actively involved in PLPās efforts and is now a member of the advisory committee that helps to create lesson plans that accompany the books.
āBiases start to get formed [in kindergarten], so I like to help [my students] create better narratives,ā said Moss in a Zoom interview. āItās easier to learn it now than to take away all the negative biases they have from everyday society, family, and just being around other humans.ā
Moss also added, over email, that when discussing diverse topics in the classroom, conversations are aligned with social studies standards.
āIād rather [my students] understand that people are different and that thereās a reason weāre different and that we should love that weāre different,ā he said on Zoom. āYou donāt have to go deep into the ideas necessarily. You can just give them the basis of what youāre saying and kind of let them take it from there.ā
For Lisa Forman, Damanteās mom and co-founder and executive director of PLP, approaching education this way is not only a form of allyship and advocacy, itās āstanding up for whatās right.ā
The first half of the 2022-2023 school year saw 1,477 attempts to ban 874 individual book titles, 26% of which had LGBTQ characters or themes, according to data from Pen America, an organization that advances human rights and literature causes in the United States and worldwide.Ā
In 2022, the Washington Blade reported that a Loudoun County, Va., school board voted to remove āGender Queer: A Memoir,ā an illustrated autobiography by non-binary author Maia Kobabe that contains descriptions and comic book style drawings of sexual acts that Kobabe uses to tell the story of the journey and struggle in discovering the authorās gender identity.
āAs much as these books are for the queer kids in the classroom, theyāre for every kid,ā said Forman. āWeāre doing this not just for the queer kidsā¦we want to normalize the idea of being queer in the classroom.ā
Looking to the upcoming celebrity panel, Damante wants to leave attendees feeling inspired enough to own their narratives, whether they identify as queer or not.
āIf teachers are able to see the impact of these queer stories then theyāll understand why itās important for them to share the books,ā she said.
Florida
Gay Days 2023 will go on despite DeSantis and anti-LGBTQ animus
Tens of thousands expected at Walt Disney World

Equality Florida has issued a travel advisory to LGBTQ people that traveling to the state isnāt safe given the plethora of anti-LGBTQ laws. On May 23, the Human Rights Campaign joined with Equality Florida urging LGBTQ people to avoid travel to Florida.
Citing six anti-LGBTQ bills passed and signed by Gov. Ron DeSantis, the two groups noted that while not a blanket recommendation against travel nor a call for boycott, the travel advisory outlines the devastating impacts of laws that are hostile to the LGBTQ community.
As Pride month gets underway Thursday, an annual event that is celebrating its 32nd anniversary this year and draws tens of thousands of LGBTQ people to Walt Disney World and the Disney resort areas near Orlando, is slated to commence over the next four day period.
Wearing red shirts to identify themselves, participants in the unofficial Disney Gay Days celebration gather for parties, meet-ups and enjoying a Disney holiday. In an interview with the Associated Press, Joseph Clark, CEO of Gay Days, Inc., said that he is hoping that this year can see upwards of 150,000 LGBTQ people descending on Central Florida to mark the start of Pride season.
In addition to Disney, the LGBTQ folks will also be visiting the neighboring amusement parks of Universal Studios and SeaWorld.
Pride celebrations this year in Florida have taken on a different tone, St. Cloud organizers of the āPRIDE in St. Cloudā scheduled for June 10 cancelled the event joining a growing list of Pride events being cancelled as a āclimate of fearā has overtaken the state in the wake of DeSantisā extreme new anti-LGBTQ laws.
The Pride Alliance of the Treasure Coast notified the greater Treasure Coast community that the Pride parade was cancelled and that Pridefest will only be accessible to residents 21-years-old or older.
The Wilton Manors City Commission as well as the cityās mayor voted to amending the permit for Stonewall Pride, Inc., to force compliance of a new state law that expands the definition of ālive adult entertainmentā to include drag entertainment.
Brandon Wolf, the press secretary for the largest state-wide LGBTQ equality and human rights advocacy group Equality Florida, in a text with the Washington Blade noted: āThese are the intended chilling effects of DeSantisā slate of hate legislation. Just as the Donāt Say LGBTQ law didnāt direct school districts to rip down rainbow stickers, this bill does not ban drag or pride. But it uses vague language and threats to induce self-censorship.ā

āWe continue to be that blue speck in a sea of red, but ultimately laws are laws, and that is the interesting situation we are in,ā Clark told Deadline, adding that many folks have reached out to ask whether itās safe to visit Florida.
In a Facebook post earlier this week, GayDaysĀ® announced the cancellation and āreimaginingā of Taste of GayDaysĀ® as ādue to challenges caused by the current political climate in Florida which recently caused concerns for a large group of our restaurant partners.ā
āUPDATE: Weāre deeply sorry to announce the cancellation and ‘reimagining’ of Taste of GayDaysĀ® due to challenges caused by the current political climate in Florida which recently caused concerns for a large group of our restaurant partners. Because of these circumstances, and though we adamantly tried to recruit additional vendors, it became clear that we would be unable to provide the exceptional experience that our guests have come to expect at the Taste of GayDaysĀ® Event.
But FEAR NOT! Weāve planned something special for you all. Join us for the FREE GayDays Orlando 2023 ‘Taste of GayDaysĀ® Entertainment Preview Show’ at 6 p.m. on Thursday, June 1! This new event aims to give a preview of several other special events during GayDaysĀ® Orlando including performances by some of our Miss GayDaysĀ® Pageant competitors, introductions and meet and greets with Mr. GayDaysĀ® Leather Competitors and more. Please know ā we are committed to delivering extraordinary experiences at GayDaysĀ® Orlando.
As we are days away from the start of GayDays Orlando 2023 this was not an announcement we had expected to have to make. We will not let this deter us! We are determined to work towards changing the mindset of people and ensure that future events uphold the high standards that are synonymous with GayDaysĀ®. It is because of you, that together, weāll make a difference,ā the group wrote.
GayDaysĀ® at Area Theme Parks | #RedShirtDays schedule linked here: (Link)
The White House
Biden’s Pride month proclamation: ‘Our nation faces another inflection point’
States across the country have passed anti-LGBTQ laws

Just as the 1969 Stonewall riots marked a transformational time for LGBTQ civil rights in America, the country now faces another critical inflection point, President Joe Biden said in the White House’s proclamation Wednesday honoring Pride month.
This moment is precipitated by the wave of hateful anti-LGBTQ legislation moving through state and local legislatures across the country and amid the escalating violence and threats of violence against the community, the statement notes:
“In 2023 alone, state and local legislatures have already introduced over 600 hateful laws targeting the LGBTQI+ community.Ā Books about LGBTQI+ people are being banned from libraries.Ā Transgender youth in over a dozen states have had their medically necessary health care banned.Ā Homophobic and transphobic vitriol spewed online has spilled over into real life, as armed hate groups intimidate people at Pride marches and drag performances, and threaten doctors’ offices and children’s hospitals that offer care to the LGBTQI+ community. Our hearts are heavy with grief for the loved ones we have lost to anti-LGBTQI+ violence.”
Biden drew parallels between the “LGBTQI+ protestors” who “bravely stood their ground” against the law enforcement dispatched to arrest them more than 50 years ago and the youth organizers leading walkouts in response to discriminatory education laws, along with the “young people and their parents [who] are demonstrating unimaginable courage by testifying in state capitols in defense of their basic rights.”
The statement reaffirms the Biden-Harris administration’s commitment to standing “proudly with the LGBTQI+ community in the enduring struggle for freedom, justice and equality,” chronicling some of the major steps the administration has taken on this front.
Biden highlighted his issuance, on his first day in office, of an executive order prohibiting anti-LGBTQ discrimination, along with his signage last year of the Respect for Marriage Act, which codified protects for the rights of same-sex couples that might otherwise be jeopardized by the U.S. Supreme Court’s conservative supermajority.
The statement then noted the administration’s moves to protect LGBTQ youth by ordering federal agencies to: Combat conversion therapy, “end the crisis of homelessness among LGBTQI+ youth and adults,” and address anti-LGBTQ discrimination in foster care.
Meanwhile, Biden said, the Justice Department is fighting against discriminatory laws targeting transgender youth, while the U.S. Departments of Education and Health and Human Services have drafted rules that would better protect anti-LGBTQ discrimination “in healthcare, at school and in sports” and the White House is developing ways to combat online harassment and abuse that “disproportionately target LGBTQ people.”
Finally, the White House noted: Its rollout last year of the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline for LGBTQ youth, who can now reach specially trained counselors by dialing 988 and then three; the administration’s appointment of historic numbers of LGBTQ appointees at all levels of the federal government; and its repeal of bans preventing trans people from serving in the U.S. Armed Forces.
From passing federal nondiscrimination protections for LGBTQ Americans via the Equality Act to addressing “the crisis of violence against transgender women and girls of color,” Biden acknowledged the work that lies ahead.
“This month and every month,” his proclamation concludes, “let us celebrate the pride that powers the movement for LGBTQI+ rights and commit to doing our part to help realize the promise of America, for all Americans.”
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