LGBTQ Advisory Board Minutes - 10-10-17
LGBTQ Advisory Committee
Committee Chair, Robin Schwartz
Meeting Minutes
Tuesday, October 10, 2017
Members in attendance: Craig Garmendia, Dale Stine,
David Lancz, Edison Farrow (telephone), Gayle Durham,
Jorge Richa, Mark Wylie, Michael Bath, Robin Schwartz,
Stephen Fox Jr. George Neary.
Called to order at 1:04 pm.
Ongoing Business:
A) Approval of Minutes from 7/11/17
a. Unanimous approval of 7/11/17 minutes (Motion by George Neary, 2nd by Mark
Wylie)
B) MBPD Updates: No report as Juan Sanchez wasn’t present.
C) GMCVB Updates
a. George represented the destination at the 24th annual Business Expo in New
York City. He made contacts with journalists interested in covering our signature
LGBTQ events.
b. In November he is going to the Community Marketing Inc. conference in San
Francisco.
New Business:
A) Incident of transgender woman getting kicked out of grocery store: According to an e-
mail Juan Sanchez sent to the committee, there was some backstory about the woman
shoplifting, so the incident may have been about more than her being transgender.
This was just for the committee’s information – there is nothing for us to do.
B) Scott Bader to discuss a painting volleyball poles at Lummus Park: Scott would like the
committee’s support in having the volleyball poles painted with regular paint. The
committee agreed that Scott should first talk to Parks & Recreation before we take this
to the commission. The owners of the Gaythering were present at the meeting and
agreed to cover the cost of the paint. The committee will write a letter of support that
Scott can take to Parks & Recreation.
C) White Party, Winter Party and Miami Beach Pride – extension of hours: This item is
already on the October commission agenda supported by Commissioner Steinberg.
The committee voted unanimously to support that the three organizations behind the
events – Care Resource, the National LGBTQ Task Force and Miami Beach Gay Pride
-- have the opportunity to work with the city to be able to extend the hours until 7 am
and that the logistics are worked out between these organizations and the City. (Motion
made by Robin Schwartz; second by Dale Stine.)
D) Committee members: If you were appointed by Malakoff (Dale Stine and Liz Schwartz),
Grieco (Gayle Durham and George Neary) or Levine (Jorge Richa), you will need to
Committee Members
Craig Garmendia
Dale Stine
David Lancz
David Leeds
Edison Farrow
Elizabeth Schwartz
Gayle Durham
Jorge Richa
Mark Wylie
Michael Bath
Robin Schwartz
Stephen Fox, Jr.
George Neary
Heriberto Sosa
reach out to their replacements after the election to get reappointed. People are
terming out. Morgan to send the link to a page that gives the term limits. It was pointed
out that Liz Schwartz moved her office off of Miami Beach but she still has a lot of
clients on the Beach. Morgan to research whether Liz can remain on the committee?
E) Michael Bath will be out of the country next month. Jorge Richa will take the minutes.
Subcommittees Reports:
A) LGBTQ Homelessness – Robin reported that this subcommittee has accomplished
what it set out to do: we got them to put training in the contracts with the shelters they
work with. We’d like for Miami Beach to have a space for homeless LGBTQ youth but
think it’s not likely in the near future. This subcommittee will be on hiatus until
something changes.
B) Attract LGBTQ Tourism: This subcommittee was focused on the World Outgames.
Now it is looking for opportunities to bring more tourism to Miami Beach. The
subcommittee should get together to talk about a specific project that it should take on.
Stefan from the Gaythering is willing to help the tourism committee. A lot can be done
with niche marketing. Stefan pointed out that there is a lack of options for lesbians on
the beach. Robin shared that she had started a free night for women at Soyka; parking
wasn’t an issue. The first time was great, but then attendance fell. Women want some
place to go but they only want it the day the want to go. If you start something for
women only, it may not be successful.
C) Social media impact: Some people in the community have been putting bad reviews of
gay businesses on Facebook. On the Miami Beach Crimewatch page, people were
making disparaging remarks about new gay bar, Molto. Last night three gay business
joined forces to promote a Monday night line-up. It was successful – it was the best
night ever for Kill Your Idol. We will create a new subcommittee to monitor social
media. David Lancz and Stephen Fox will be on the committee. Some of our
committee members met with the city’s social media team.
D) HRC Rating: We got 100 points. We got 96 points of the hard score and 12 bonus
points. HRC now only allows you to go as high as 100 points. The 4 points we didn’t
get had to do with our lack of a requirement that contractors with the city have anti-
discrimination policy. Commissioner Grieco put it on the floor before, the vote passed.
It would be good to revisit it now that the Justice Department is rolling back
protections. We need to start the HRC process in January. We are self-submitting.
HRC chooses the cities to judge based on certain mathematical parameters.
E) LGBTQ Visibility & Marketing: We were getting funding from Steinberg for the
monument or statute on Lincoln Road. Gayle talked to Steinberg last week. “To Wong
Foo” was scheduled as the film for Pride Week. Edison is in the film.
Meeting adjourned at 1:51 pm