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State's gay caucus organized, growing

Gay and lesbian leaders step into the political arena as well, working to mobilize voters.

By AARON SHAROCKMAN
Published August 7, 2006

TALLAHASSEE - The man approached from across the pool deck, as Sally Phillips waited for a drink with her partner Ercilia Albistu at the rooftop bar.

The man looked rumpled in a white shirt and maroon tie, and squinted his eyes into the evening sun. He stopped next to the couple.

"I'm Sally," started Phillips, the president of the Hillsborough County Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Allies. She extended her right hand.

"Of course, I remember you!" said the man, grabbing her hand.

It was state Sen. Rod Smith, a Democrat running for governor.

Smith did remember her. He wanted to make sure she remembered him.

The brief exchange, at a meeting of gay and lesbian political activists statewide, underscores a changing dynamic in the Tampa Bay area, where gay political action groups have formed in Hillsborough and Pinellas in the past year.

The goal is to be a better organized voice advocating issues and candidates in the fall statewide election, said Rick Boylan, the president of the local Pinellas chapter, the Pinellas Stonewall Democrats.

"The (gay and lesbian) community is saying, 'We've helped build all of this, we're helping do all of this, now we expect to be able to get a little bit back,' " said Boylan, 49, a former Democratic National Committee staffer. "The next step is the community starting to flex some of its muscle. Our muscle is certainly economic. But we also can have a political effect."

The gay caucus statewide has more than doubled the number of its local chapters in a year - from 7 to 16 - and is considered a model for other states, said Brian Bond, the executive director of the Gay & Lesbian Leadership Council for the Democratic National Committee.

About 100 caucus members gathered in Tallahassee last month to organize before November's state elections.

The group, which included contingents from Hillsborough and Pinellas, learned how to form a political action committee and built a Get-Out-The-Vote campaign for November. The caucus says gay and lesbian voters turned out 20 percent above the general voter turnout in 2000.

"If we organize, we can make a change," said Stephen Gaskill, a spokesman for the group.

Boylan said the Pinellas Stonewall Democrats already are preparing candidate surveys for the 2006 elections.

Phillips, Boylan's counterpart in Tampa, has targeted 27 precincts in Tampa to court potential voters.

Her group, which has 42 members, is also zeroing in on Ronda Storms, the conservative Hillsborough County commissioner who is running for state Senate.

"We will be a voice," said Phillips, 53. "When this community comes together, and is organized, it cannot be taken lightly. We see very clearly it's time for some things to change."

[Last modified August 7, 2006, 01:24:19]