Please note that we are holding our June Membership
Meeting in the Starlite Ballroom and via Zoom! (Link below)
Coffee and light refreshments will be served to those attending
in person. If you are planning to watch on Zoom,
plan to make your own snacks!
CHANGE OF PLANS!
June Meeting Will Feature:
NIKKI FRIED
Secretary of Agriculture
and Consumer Services
and she is a candidate for
Florida’s next governor!
AND
LITA EPSTEIN
With updates on the road projects
in and around Poinciana.
Come to the Starlite Ballroom
Or Join Our Zoom Meeting:
Time: Wed., June 9th at 7:00 PM
Enter or click on the link below:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81885665595?pwd=YzRwOXZCYlFuRFlFL2RqQUl1NWFUZz09
Meeting ID: 818 8566 5595
Passcode: 662050
Dial in only: 646 558 8656
Please login prior to start time. We will begin login at 6:45 pm.
Early login gives you time to resolve problems that may arise while connecting. It also enables us to admit you before the meeting begins. You will be on standby until admitted to meeting.
President’s Letter:
In June, we celebrate LGBTQ+ Pride Month
A month of recognition for LGBTQ+ culture, achievements, and contributions; educating and raising awareness about anti-transgender legislation; activating and driving action, solidarity, and allyship for critical issues facing the LGBTQ+ community; and encouraging allies to be #UnitedWithPride.
Pride Month is observed in June to pay tribute to the Stonewall Inn riots that took place in New York City on June 28, 1969. On that day, police raided the Inn, which was a well-known gathering place for the LGBTQ+ community. Passersby watched as police arrested employees and patrons of the bar, leading to five days of rioting to protest the injustices committed. A year later, on June 28, 1970, the first Pride March was held, and to this day, the Pride Parade marches on.
The fight is still ongoing, with over 100 bills introduced in 2020 aimed at dismantling rights for transgender people.
While similar measures have been filed in 30 states, an Associated Press survey earlier this year found only a few instances of transgender girls competing among hundreds of thousands of teenagers nationwide playing high school sports. Charlie Crist, Florida Democratic Congressman and candidate for Governor in 2022, called the new Florida law “cruel legislation… creating an issue where one doesn’t exist.” Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signs transgender athlete ban on first day of ‘Pride Month’ (yahoo.com) We need a national solution to protect trans kids, ensure their safety, and honor their right to pursue happiness. One big part of the solution is the Equality Act.
There remains hope that the U.S. is moving towards equality. President Biden’s administration has created protections against LGBTQ+ discrimination, including the establishment of a White House Gender Policy Council that serves to advance gender equity and equality.
Also, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled on June 15, 2020 that LGBTQ workers are protected under existing civil rights laws. In a 6-3 decision, the court ruled that the 1964 Civil Rights Act protects gay, lesbian, and transgender employees from discrimination based on sex. The ruling was historic particularly because nearly half of the states have no legal protection for LGBTQ employees. Now, the federal law will protect employees in those states from firing and other adverse employment decisions made on the basis of their sexual orientation or gender identity.
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Celebrating LGBTQ+ Pride Month in June
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(Above) Polk County LGBTQ supporters march in Lakeland during Pride Month, June 2019.
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The first rainbow flag made its debut at the San Francisco Pride Parade in 1978. Designed by San Francisco
artist Gilbert Baker, the original flag was hand-dyed and consisted of eight symbolic colors: Hot Pink(sexuality), Red (life), Orange (healing), Yellow (sunlight), Green (nature), Turquoise (magic/art), Blue (serenity/harmony) and Violet (spirit).
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SDC Board Member Has a School Named For Her!
The Dorothy Schwartz Community Centre
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Previously known as “Joy House,” a small school in Mukuru, is in a desperately poor slum of Nairobi, Kenya. Dorothy Schwartz held a fundraiser for the school when she returned home after a visit there in 2011.
In 2012 Dorothy was asked by Sherry Fine to join the board of her organization, Living Water Children’s Fund ( LWCFund.org), which was helping schools and orphanages in Tanzania and Haiti. Joy House was added to the places helped by this nonprofit organization. (Since that time Guatemala and Myanmar have been added as countries they are also involved with.) Dorothy and other board members visited Joy House several times and in 2016 started a sponsorship program for students to be able to go on to secondary school. This program has been very successful, with 52 current or past students.
All students are motivated and have done well in school with several currently attending Universities in Kenya. Work continues to be able to help students with their University expenses.
The LWC Fund also continues to help the primary school, with a breakfast program, school supplies, and annual teacher stipends. When a new building was needed, they were able to raise the necessary funds. The Mukuru community members provided the labor for the new building. In 2017, the community informed the organization that they had renamed the school to Dorothy Schwartz Community Centre. So, while she was honored to have a school named after her, it did not change her commitment to the kids.
Currently the Living Water Children’s Fund is looking for additional sponsors for the new crop of graduates to be able to go on to secondary school. The cost is $500 per year, and can be shared among co-sponsors. The pledge can be paid annually, monthly or individually tailored payment plans. Please contact Dorothy if you are interested in becoming a sponsor. It is very rewarding, with photos and letters shared between student and sponsor.
The Fund is also appreciative of donations of any amount; even $5 goes a long way toward a student’s breakfast or for school supplies. On their website you can learn about our other projects, all worthy of support at any level. An important note is that all sites with which they are involved are owned and run by the people in the country. LWC Fund helps with funds/ideas only as requested by them.
For more information, or to contribute, contact Dorothy Schwartz, Board Member, LWCFund.orgat 732-207-3358
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Polk County Democratic Executive Committee selected a new logo at their May meeting.You will start seeing it on all new print and digital publications soon, including a redesigned website. The address will continue to be PolkDemocrats.org.
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In the “White” states (above) non-voters outnumbered voters for both presidential candidates in the 2020 election. (Indiana is VP Mike Pence’s home state!)
U.S. wages have fallen behind corporate profits since George W. Bush’s corporate tax cuts in his second term. Notice the surprising fall of company profits during the Reagan years and recovery under Obama.
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Here’s What’s Goin’ On in Florida Politics…
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Crist would take 55% of the vote to Fried’s 22% if a primary were held today, St. Pete Polls finds.
Charlie Crist opens the 2022 gubernatorial race with a solid majority of Florida Democrats ready to back him, while few Democrats show confidence that his likely Democratic rival Nikki Fried would have much chance to oust Gov. Ron DeSantis.
A new poll from St. Pete Polls survey, commissioned by Florida Politics, finds the former Republican Governor turned Democratic Congressman is a commanding favorite over the state Agriculture Commissioner if the Democratic primary were held now between Crist and Fried.
The poll shows nearly 55% of registered Democratic voters would vote for Crist.
Just under 22% would pick Fried. Another 11% of voters are holding out for another candidate. More than 12% remain undecided.
Ron DeSantis’ committee has already raised more than $5M in May
As pandemic wanes, Gov. Ron DeSantis seizes national stage.
May was a pretty good month for DeSantis. Even ahead of any Memorial Day weekend activity, the committee supporting Gov. Ron DeSantis’ reelection is reporting a huge May.
As of the end of May, Friends of Ron DeSantis pulled in $5,148,847 in fresh contributions. While that’s just over a third of the $14-million haul the committee reported in April, it’s still an enormous deposit in the account more than a year away from the General Election.
More than 2,150 donations have come to the committee as the Governor’s national profile grows and he mulls a presidential run in 2024. Of course, the state political committee by law and practical necessity will focus its efforts on 2022 and DeSantis’ reelection as Florida’s chief executive.
The money also comes before the committee has to lay down any serious expenditures. The $5.1-million intake balances against $88,763 in expenses, the bulk of which went to account and credit card fees. Of the total contributions, $1.35 million came from a half dozen individual donors.
Gov. DeSantis says lockdowns turned ‘Democrats into Republicans’
Media’s ‘phony narratives’ aren’t swaying people, says the Governor.
Gov. Ron DeSantis believes “lockdowns” are turning Democrats into Republicans.
During a Republican Governors Association town hall on Fox News Wednesday night, DeSantis made the case that Florida freedom is drawing people from blue states rejecting the media’s “phony narratives” about the state’s pandemic performance.
“The people (who) buy these phony narratives from these media; they’re probably not coming to Florida. But most people see through it. And the people who see through it, they think like us. So I think a lot of these people are coming. I think they’re registering as Republicans overwhelmingly. And I’ve come across a lot of people who quite frankly were Democrats,” DeSantis said. “The lockdowns turned them into Republicans.”
“I think this whole process has caused people to reevaluate some of their prior commitments,” DeSantis added. “When they put teachers’ unions over the interests of kids being able to access an education at all, that tells you all you need to know about the modern Democratic Party.”
DeSantis, fresh off a one-on-one with Sean Hannity Monday night, returned as part of an ensemble six-pack. Early talking points included a dutiful crediting of Donald Trump for vaccines in arms today.
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RECOMMENDED READING. CASTE: The Origins of Our Discontents. By Isabel Wilkerson.
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Oprah’s Book Club 2020, winner of the Pulitzer Prize. This is a masterful portrait of an unseen phenomenon in America
told through a deeply reasearched narrative and stories of real people; how today and throughout our history, our nation has been shaped by a sometime not-so-hidden caste system, a rigid hierachy of human rankings. This book reveals why
Governor Ron DeSantis and Republicans across America are desperate to shore up White Power while they still can.
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Best Regards from the Solivita Democratic Club Board of Directors
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