Screening information: Outrage is screening exactly once, Wed., July 15 at 7 p.m. at Tampa Pitcher Show, 14416 N. Dale Mabry, Tampa, 813-963-0578. The film carries no MPAA rating.
If there’s a central message to Kirby Dick’s Outrage, it’s that living life denying one’s sexual orientation is an awful existence. Not only is the closeted person lying to their family and friends — often at great emotional cost to everyone involved — they are lying to themselves. There’s a lot of self-hatred hanging in the closet, and it’s an old saw that the most homophobic folks are the most in denial. Still, a person’s choice to keep their preference private is their own. But what about politicians living in the closet who work to advance anti-gay-rights legislation? Don’t they deserve to be exposed? Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by Wayne Garcia on Jun. 27, 2009, at 6:00 am
By Heidi Lux Daily Loaf contributor
After my brief, stolen moment with Governor C. at the charity fashion show, my life returned to its usual mundane routine. I was a nobody. Why would C. even remember me?
So when I answered my cell phone after class Monday afternoon, I was astonished to find myself on the line with C.’s assistant. Apparently, the Governor had been impressed by me and wished to meet me under better circumstances, and would I be available Friday night? I would. I was instructed not to tell anyone the Governor and I would be meeting, nor was I told where the meeting would take place.
The week passed by me as I sat through my USF classes, unable to concentrate, my entire attention on C. What should I wear? Where would we meet? Was it a date? But the biggest question I had was, why me?
Finally at eight o’clock on Friday night, I stood on the stoop of my apartment building, in a black dress pilfered from my older and more fashionable sister Fate’s closet, and held my breath in anticipation.
Suddenly, a bright light illuminated the scene, accompanied by a loud noise and gusting wind. I didn’t know what to secure first, my hair or my skirt. So I halfheartedly tried to catch both while managing to hold neither, as a shiny, black helicopter descended in front of me. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by Wayne Garcia on May. 28, 2009, at 9:42 am
By Heidi Lux Daily Loaf contributor
Cross-posted from the Daily Loaf blog.
I have a secret I can no longer keep. It burns my soul and pains my conscience. I had an affair. I loved a man powerful in Florida politics, and he loved me back. I cannot reveal his name. My honor and his lawyers do not permit me. I will refer to him only as C. He currently seeks more power, and I know that rumors will begin to fly, so I submit my story publicly to save us both, and our love, from the public’s harsh scrutiny.
It all began in the winter of 2008. I was a 19-year-old USF student, wandering through my studies with no real direction, still trying to find myself among the textbooks and study halls. My life did not live up to my name – Destiny St. Clair – and my bright red hair spoke of an excitement I could not claim. I was, I must say, average in every way, certainly not the type you might soon expect to be sipping champagne on yachts with the most powerful man in the state.
I can remember the exact moment my life changed forever. Jan. 30, 2008, the day John McCain won the Florida Republican primaries. “That man is such a silver fox,” my older sister, Fate, said as we watched the announcement on TV. C. was standing at a podium behind John McCain, looking pleased as they announced the elderly senator’s victory. “How is that man even still a bachelor.”
Posted by Wayne Garcia on May. 12, 2009, at 10:07 am
“Some politicians support trillions in reckless spending…” is one of the attack lines from the Marco Rubio campaign as it launches a full spread of phaser and photon torpedoes (yes, we’re staying with the Star Trek theme until the movie drops below $10m a week at the box office) at Charlie Crist just minutes after the governor declared his candidacy for the U.S. Senate.
The ad, predictably, ties Crist at the hip with President Barack Obama.
Posted by Wayne Garcia on Dec. 5, 2008, at 1:28 pm
The guv has relented and agreed to let one reporter inside at his wedding to NY bizwoman Carole Rome next weekend in St. Petersburg, and it will be pseduo-retired St. Petersburg Times Pulitzer-winner Lucy Morgan. From Buzz:
After mentioning Morgan, Crist said: “Maybe I let the cat out of the bag. So be it. We’re open around here.” Crist and his staff are trying to balance their desire for privacy with media interest in the wedding — the first time a sitting Florida governor will be married since Claude Kirk in 1967. In a pool arrangement, a reporter observes for all news organizations, including competitors.
… He said he was “blessed” to have found Rome, adding of his wedding: “In just nine days, it gets consummated in a very formal way in my hometown of St. Petersburg, and I’m looking forward to it.”
The best thing about the Buzz post, however, are the comments, which illustrate what happens when you combine the speed of the Internet, the ability to remain anonymous and a story that really isn’t news in any way, shape or form (not to mention one that the majority of folks who read political news don’t believe in the least, that Crist is getting married). A few gems:
Posted by David Warner on Nov. 6, 2008, at 9:37 pm
The votes have finally been counted in Hillsborough County, and shockingly enough, the good guys (or rather, the good guy and gal) won. And both wins could pretty much be considered upsets. Kevin Beckner, whose lead in the county commission race had been evident since election night, pulled ahead of incumbent Brian Blair for good with the final count: 55.26% to Blair’s 44.74% (259,831 to 210,399 votes). Yup, he trounced him.
And, with a justice that can only be called poetic, incumbent incompetent Buddy Johnson — the man who presided over the Hillsborough vote-count debacle — lost to Phyllis Busansky in the race for Supervisor of Elections.
Ya think Buddy will call for a recount?
UPDATE: The answer appears to be no. Johnson conceded defeat at about 6 p.m., according to TBO.com:
“Anything we can do to make her transition smooth, we will,” Johnson told reporters. “There’s a lot of big issues to deal with.”
The supervisor dodged questions about his handling of the election but praised his staff.
“The pressure they have been under in this election is tremendous.”
The Timesreported that Johnson also said: “You may not have seen the last of Buddy Johnson.”
Posted by Wayne Garcia on Oct. 8, 2008, at 2:39 pm
What a monumental screw-up at the Joe Biden speech at the Sun Dome in Tampa this morning. The guy that the Obama-Biden campaign brought in to introduce Biden is a Republican who went over to the Dem side for this election because of the tanking economy. Only problem is that Jim Piccalo Piccillo introduced Biden as … John McCain!
Was the question popped when Crist was visiting John McCain for his weekend barbecue/VP selection retreat in May? No, not the “Charlie asking Carole to be his wife” question. I mean, the “John asking Charlie when the hell he is going to get married and squash all those “The Gov Is Gay” rumors” question.
Call me jaded, but this news has got to mean that Crist has been hovering right at the top of McCain’s Veepstakes list — if only the Gov could be de-gayed a little.
Yes, I’m speculating, and no, I guess I’m not much of a romantic.
Congrats Governor Crist +1. I wish you both nothing but the best.
Posted by Wayne Garcia on Jun. 2, 2008, at 11:14 am
Former Tampa Trib newsman Tim Collie has a good piece about Gov. Charlie Crist’s girlfriend, Carole Rome, in this weekend’s South Florida Sun-Sentinel:
She’s been a fixture on the Manhattan charity circuit and has raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for the American Red Cross, the March of Dimes, and other charities that help troubled children and the homeless.
She routinely rubs shoulders with celebrities ranging from Tommy Hilfiger, the Hilton family (her former neighbors in the Hamptons), and John McEnroe, whose wife, former rock star Patty Smyth, is a close friend.
It was during a fundraising meeting in New York in September that she and Crist became close. Rome, a mother of two, was in the process of divorcing her husband, Todd Rome, CEO of Bluestar Jets, an international airplane brokerage.
“It was a meeting about fundraising and she’s very interested in fundraising, like I am,” said Crist, who was in the Keys on Friday evening. “She’s a Republican, her father was a Republican. We have a lot in common — sports, politics, fishing. I care about her a great deal. What can I say? It’s a serious, close relationship.”
The best thing about clicking over to the story, however, will be to check out the photo of the Gov and Mrs. Rome with H. Wayne Huizenga, multimillionaire, who definitely hasn’t traded in for a trophy wife
Posted by Wayne Garcia on May. 29, 2008, at 3:47 pm
Now here’s a story that can knock Scott McClellan off the front pages and 24-hour “news” (and I use quotes there to connote that they do not, in fact, convey any news) networks: Charlie Crist is straight!
HuffPo reports that political trickster Roger Stone is peddling a Crist sex tape:
How interested is Florida Governor Charlie Crist in being John McCain’s VP runningmate? So much so that veteran GOP dirty trickster Roger Stone — who coordinated a few dirty stunts in support of Crist during the 2006 gubernatorial campaign — is quietly peddling a so-called “Charlie Crist sex tape.” That’s what Stone called it during a telephone conversation. And no, it is not a tape of Crist having sex with a guy. In fact, it isn’t even X-rated. The video was seemingly staged to kill the rumors that Crist is gay. Stone claims the tape — which he discussed recently with Politics1, but didn’t show to us (”I’m saving it for the national shows”) — “shows Charlie fooling around in a hotel elevator with his girlfriend … They’re making out.”
I’ve not seen the tape either, nor do I really wish to. Crist has consistently and in a straightforward manner denied being gay, and yet stories to the contrary have popped up for years. Like this one from the New Times in South Florida earlier this year:
The rumors about Florida Gov. Charlie Crist and the Green Iguana just wouldn’t go away.
The story goes that the Florida governor frequented the Green Iguana, a bar in Tampa, back in the early 1990s when he was just starting his political career. He was less careful back then, people say, and during his partying at the Green Iguana, he was openly gay.When I got Rick Calderoni, the bar’s well-known owner, on the phone, I expected him to stonewall me about it.
He didn’t.
Calderoni, who is gay, confirmed that Crist came into his bar quite often and that the two of them became friends.
Getting to the point, I asked him if he knew Crist to be gay.
“Yes,” he answered bluntly. “I just wish he would come out and admit it. That would be a great thing if he did.”
And no less a journalism authority than the CW’s “news” show asked the same question a few years back:
Posted by Wayne Garcia on Mar. 11, 2008, at 11:25 am
The owner of the Green Iguana in Tampa tells the New Times‘ political writer Bob Norman that Gov. Charlie Crist used to frequent his bar in the 1990s and acted very, well, gay:
The story goes that the Florida governor frequented the Green Iguana, a bar in Tampa, back in the early 1990s when he was just starting his political career. He was less careful back then, people say, and during his partying at the Green Iguana, he was openly gay.
When I got Rick Calderoni, the bar’s well-known owner, on the phone, I expected him to stonewall me about it.
He didn’t.
Calderoni, who is gay, confirmed that Crist came into his bar quite often and that the two of them became friends.
Getting to the point, I asked him if he knew Crist to be gay.
“Yes,” he answered bluntly. “I just wish he would come out and admit it. That would be a great thing if he did.”
I asked Calderoni if he was certain that Crist is gay. He told me that Crist socialized with a gay clique of friends but conceded that he’d never actually seen Crist become intimate with another man.
So how can he be sure Crist is gay?
“The way he acted,” Calderoni said.
How did he act?
Calderoni laughed and said, “Very feminine.”
Norman admits this remains circumstantial evidence of Crist’s sexuality.
For more news and reviews of the summer’s biggest movies, check out the CL Movies & Television site. 
I think I just threw up in my mouth…
Posted by: | December 04, 2008 at 08:14 AM