By William Butte

Even before 15-year-old Lawrence "Larry" King came out to the few friends he had at E.O. Green Junior High School in Oxnard, Calif., the sweet-faced, slightly built boy endured taunts and anti-gay slurs spewed at him daily across campus, from cafeteria to classroom. As one friend was quoted in the Los Angeles Times: "You'd hear, 'Faggot! Hey, faggot!' That was happening in every class. A lot of teachers knew stuff was going on ... I guess they just didn't want to get involved."

By William Butte

"Are you looking at me, you faggot? You know what I do to faggots? I break their necks!"

Melbourne Brunner heard this expression of irrationality, fear and hatred just moments before he was attacked by a stranger last month in front of a restaurant on Fort Lauderdale's toniest street. Brunner's partner had the temerity to say "Good morning" to the would-be assailant when they made eye-contact as he passed by their table.

By William Butte

Now that the Florida Marriage Protection Amendment – a constitutional amendment targeting the rights of all unmarried couples – will be on the November ballot, what's the chance it will get the 60 percent voter approval needed for passage?

Unfortunately, the probability is too high to ignore.

By William Butte

Inasmuch as marriage is the legal union of only one man and one woman as husband and wife, no other legal union that is treated as marriage or the substantial equivalent thereof shall be valid or recognized. - Florida Marriage Protection Amendment

Are you a heterosexual Floridian who is, as some might describe it, “living in sin”?

By William Butte

Unit cohesion sounds like a phrase used by a high school chemistry teacher.

Instead, it’s the phrase used by the Republican presidential candidates this campaign season to explain why they support the military’s discriminatory “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy that prohibits openly gay service members, a policy supposedly created to stop military commanders from performing witch- hunts against gay service members that instead has been used to discharge more than 12,000 gays in the 14 years since its implementation.