Activists hoping Florida gets its first openly gay legislator this year
Sun-Sentinel Broward Politics Blog
Broward voters could send the Florida's first openly gay legislator to Tallahassee in this year's elections.
Mark LaFontaine is one of four candidates who have declared their intentions to run in District 92, which takes in Deerfield Beach, Fort Lauderdale, Lazy Lake, Oakland Park, Pompano Beach and Wilton Manors.
Numbers crunchers involved in his campaign estimate that 24 percent of he district's population is gay, the highest in the state.
The incumbent, state Rep. Jack Seiler, D-Wilton Manors, can't seek re-election because of term limits.
Another of the other candidates, Wilton Manors Commissioner Gary Resnick, is openly gay, but hasn't been doing as much campaigning as LaFontaine or the other candidates, Wilton Manors Mayor Scott Newton and former Deerfield Beach Commissioner Gwyn Clarke-Reed.
All are Democrats. No Republicans have signaled intentions to run in the district that's 56 percent registered Democratic, 22 percent Republican and 22 percent independent.
"We have to bring about change. This district that I'm running in is Broward County. The reality is when elected to state office, any legislation put forward by myself would affect the entire community."
LaFontaine, who is an accountant and tax preparer, emphasizes his fiscal credentials, and said he's not running only to deal with gay issues.
"People need to know that we are more than GLBT. We bring more to the table than what meets the eye. We have to outshine everybody else because we have the GLB attached to us," he said at the winter conference of the Florida Gay, Lesbian Bisexual, Transgender Democratic Caucus in West Palm Beach.
Despite the high concentration of gay voters, LaFontaine said "we cannot take it for face value that relying on the GLBT population is going to get us elected."
