Michele Rayner
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Michele Rayner
Michele Rayner-Goolsby (born September 25, 1981) is an American attorney and politician. She has served as a member of the Florida House of Representatives since 2020, representing District 70 in Pinellas, Hillsborough, Manatee, and Sarasota Counties. She is the first openly lesbian black woman elected to the Florida Legislature. Early life and career Rayner was born and raised in Clearwater, Florida. She attended Florida State University, receiving her B.S. in international affairs and political science in 2003, and M.S. in international affairs in 2006. After graduating from Florida Coastal School of Law in 2011 and being admitted to the Florida Bar, she returned to Clearwater and worked as an assistant public defender in the state's Sixth Judicial Circuit, and then as a lawyer in private practice. Rayner is the lead counsel of Civil Liberty Law. She was also the local counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund. She is a member of the Fred G. Minnis Sr. Bar Ass ...
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Wengay Newton
Wengay M. Newton (born August 27, 1963) is an American politician from Florida. A Democrat, he served two terms in the Florida House of Representatives from 2016 to 2020, representing parts of Pinellas, Sarasota, Manatee, and Hillsborough Counties. Early life and career Newton was born and raised in the Midtown South neighborhood of St. Petersburg as one of eight children of a divorced mother. Newton graduated from Northeast High School in 1981 and attended ITT Tech where he earned an associate degree in Electronics Engineering. After graduating from ITT Tech, Newton went to work for Xerox, where he worked for eighteen years. Political career Newton first ran for the St. Petersburg city council in 2007. His opponent was Gershom Faulkner, outreach director for Congresswoman Kathy Castor. Despite Faulkner being considered the establishment candidate, Newton ultimately prevailed and was elected to the city council. In 2011, while running for reelection, Newton faced Faulkner in a ...
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NAACP Legal Defense And Educational Fund
The NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. (NAACP LDF, the Legal Defense Fund, or LDF) is a leading United States civil rights organization and law firm based in New York City. LDF is wholly independent and separate from the NAACP. Although LDF can trace its origins to the legal department of the NAACP created by Charles Hamilton Houston in the 1930s, Thurgood Marshall founded LDF as a separate legal entity in 1940 and LDF became totally independent from the NAACP in 1957. Janai Nelson currently serves as the eighth President and Director-Counsel, since March 2022. Previous Director-Counsels include Sherrilyn Ifill (2012-2022), John Payton (2008–2012), Ted Shaw (2004–2008), Elaine Jones (1993–2004), Julius Levonne Chambers (1984–1993), Jack Greenberg (1961–1984), and founder Thurgood Marshall (1940–1961). About While primarily focused on the civil rights of African Americans in the U.S., LDF states it has "been instrumental in the formation of similar or ...
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1981 Births
Events January * January 1 ** Greece enters the European Economic Community, predecessor of the European Union. ** Palau becomes a self-governing territory. * January 10 – Salvadoran Civil War: The Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front, FMLN launches its first major offensive, gaining control of most of Morazán Department, Morazán and Chalatenango Department, Chalatenango departments. * January 15 – Pope John Paul II receives a delegation led by Polish Solidarity (Polish trade union), Solidarity leader Lech Wałęsa at the Vatican City, Vatican. * January 20 – Iran releases the 52 Americans held for 444 days, minutes after Ronald Reagan is First inauguration of Ronald Reagan, sworn in as the 40th President of the United States, ending the Iran hostage crisis. * January 21 – The first DMC DeLorean, DeLorean automobile, a stainless steel sports car with gull-wing doors, rolls off the production line in Dunmurry, Northern Ireland. * January 24 – An 1981 Dawu ea ...
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Lesbian
A lesbian is a Homosexuality, homosexual woman.Zimmerman, p. 453. The word is also used for women in relation to their sexual identity or sexual behavior, regardless of sexual orientation, or as an adjective to characterize or associate nouns with female homosexuality or same-sex attraction. The concept of "lesbian" to differentiate women with a shared sexual orientation evolved in the 20th century. Throughout history, women have not had the same freedom or independence as men to pursue homosexual relationships, but neither have they met the same harsh punishment as homosexual men in some societies. Instead, lesbian relationships have often been regarded as harmless, unless a participant attempts to assert privileges traditionally enjoyed by men. As a result, little in history was documented to give an accurate description of how female homosexuality was expressed. When early sexologists in the late 19th century began to categorize and describe homosexual behavior, hampere ...
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USA Today
''USA Today'' (stylized in all uppercase) is an American daily middle-market newspaper and news broadcasting company. Founded by Al Neuharth on September 15, 1982, the newspaper operates from Gannett's corporate headquarters in Tysons, Virginia. Its newspaper is printed at 37 sites across the United States and at five additional sites internationally. The paper's dynamic design influenced the style of local, regional, and national newspapers worldwide through its use of concise reports, colorized images, Infographic, informational graphics, and inclusion of popular culture stories, among other distinct features. With an average print circulation of 159,233 as of 2022, a digital-only subscriber base of 504,000 as of 2019, and an approximate daily readership of 2.6 million, ''USA Today'' is ranked as the first by circulation on the list of newspapers in the United States. It has been shown to maintain a generally center-left audience, in regards to political persuasion. ''US ...
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Ron DeSantis
Ronald Dion DeSantis (; born September 14, 1978) is an American politician serving as the 46th governor of Florida since January 2019. A member of the Republican Party, DeSantis represented Florida's 6th district in the U.S. House of Representatives from 2013 to 2018. Born in Jacksonville, DeSantis spent most of his childhood in Dunedin, Florida. He graduated from Yale University and Harvard Law School. DeSantis joined the United States Navy in 2004 and was promoted to lieutenant before serving as a legal advisor to SEAL Team One; he was deployed to Iraq in 2007. When he returned to the U.S. a year later, the U.S. Department of Justice appointed DeSantis to serve as a Special Assistant U.S. attorney at the U.S. Attorney's Office in the Middle District of Florida, a position he held until his honorable discharge in 2010. DeSantis was first elected to Congress in 2012, defeating his Democratic opponent Heather Beaven. During his tenure he became a founding member of the Fr ...
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Reedy Creek Improvement Act
The Reedy Creek Improvement Act, otherwise known as House Bill No. 486, was a law introduced and passed in the U.S. state of Florida in 1967, which established the area surrounding the Walt Disney World Resort, the Reedy Creek Improvement District, as its own governmental authority which has same authority and responsibilities as a county government. The bill, which was sought by and pushed for by Disney, was signed into law by Florida Governor Claude R. Kirk, Jr. on May 12, 1967, allowing Disney to build the infrastructure for the second park. Ground breaking followed on May 30. In Roy O. Disney's last act as the company's CEO in 1968, he officially named the second park Walt Disney World. The status of the law has been challenged since its passage. The Supreme Court of Florida ruled in 1968 that the law did not violate any provision of the Constitution of Florida. Among the proposals that Disney lobbied to get the law passed was Walt Disney's vision of a real planned city wit ...
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Stonewall Democrats
Stonewall Democrats, also known in some states as LGBT Democrats, is a caucus within the Democratic Party that advocates for issues that are relevant to LGBT Americans. The caucus primarily operates through individual chapters or political clubs supporting LGBT rights and affiliated with the Democratic Party. History In 1971, Alice B. Toklas Memorial Democratic Club of San Francisco was the first registered LGBT Democratic club in the nation. In 1975, the Stonewall Democratic Club was established in Los Angeles, California, the first 'Stonewall Democratic Club' in the country established for LGBT individuals and straight allies committed to achieving equality for all and to advancing progressive and feminist values through the Democratic Party. National Stonewall Democratic Federation The National Stonewall Democratic Federation was a national organization of LGBT Democratic clubs and individuals. It was founded on May 8–10, 1998, in Kansas City, Missouri. On January 1, 20 ...
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PinkNews
''PinkNews'' is a UK-based online newspaper marketed to the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community (LGBT) in the UK and worldwide. It was founded by Benjamin Cohen in 2005. It closely follows political progress on LGBT rights around the world, and carries interviews with cultural figures and politicians. The news is split into different sections, with most recent, prominent and trending stories showing on the home page by default. People can filter news by the sections they have most interest in, including: ''transgender'', ''entertainment'', ''world'', ''politics'', ''arts'', and ''opinion''. ''PinkNews'' pays special attention to the topic of religion and homosexuality. It became one of the few LGBT publications to have interviewed an incumbent Archbishop of Canterbury in 2014, when Justin Welby discussed the Church of England's approach to homosexuality. ''PinkNews'' runs the PinkNews Awards, which launched in 2013 and take place annually in Westminster. The a ...
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Jennifer Webb
Jennifer Necole Webb (born December 12, 1979) is an American politician from Florida. She served one term in the Florida House of Representatives, representing parts of coastal southwestern Pinellas County from 2018 to 2020. Political career Webb was elected in the general election on November 6, 2018, winning 53 percent of the vote over 47 percent of Republican candidate Ray Blacklidge. She was the first out lesbian to serve in the legislature."Florida House District 69: Democrat Jennifer Webb defeats Republican Raymond Blacklidge"
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Charlie Crist
Charles Joseph Crist Jr. (; born July 24, 1956) is an American attorney and politician who served as the 44th governor of Florida from 2007 to 2011 and as the U.S. representative for from 2017 to 2022. Crist has been a member of the Democratic Party since 2012; he was previously a Republican before becoming an independent in 2010. Crist served in the Florida Senate from 1993 to 1999, vacating his seat to run unsuccessfully against incumbent Bob Graham for the U.S. Senate in 1998. He won a 2000 special election to serve as Florida Education Commissioner from 2001 to 2003 and a 2002 election to serve as Florida Attorney General from 2003 to 2007. He was elected Governor of Florida in 2006 after winning against Democrat Jim Davis. While he was governor, Crist again ran for the U.S. Senate in 2010. He initially led in polls in the race for the Republican nomination, but was later overtaken by Marco Rubio. In April of that year, he left the Republican Party to run in the gen ...
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Florida Education Association
The Florida Education Association (FEA) is a statewide federation of teacher and education workers' labor unions in the US state of Florida. Its 145,000 members make it the largest union in the state. It is a merged affiliate of the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) and the National Education Association (NEA), and is a member of the AFL–CIO. The FEA was founded in 1886. After leading the nation's first statewide teachers' strike in 1968, the FEA split into two separate federations in 1974. The two groups merged again in 2000. Early history The Florida Education Association was established in 1886 as an affiliate of the NEA. It was an association rather than a labor union, and membership was initially limited to white teachers and administrators only. FEA worked to persuade school boards and the public to increase funding for schools, end discrimination against married female schoolteachers, and more. Local affiliates of the FEA formed in almost every school district. Howe ...
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