By JUAN CARLOS RODRIGUEZ Thursday, August 14, 2008

With just a little more than two weeks before the Aug. 26 primary, Mark LaFontaine, the openly-gay candidate for the District 92 seat of State Legislature, methodically makes his rounds knocking on doors in the district on a Saturday morning wearing summer whites and matching Docksiders. “This is crunch time,” La Fontaine says.Getting out in the neighborhoods and attending community meetings is crucial at this point, he said. The race is rife with whisper campaigns and a good amount of mud. Because all the candidates are Democrats, with no Republican opponents competing, the race will be determined at the primary. As if mirroring the rapidly-intensifying race against his opponents, Wilton Manors Mayor Scott Newton and former Deerfield Beach City Commissioner Gwyndolen Clarke-Reed, the temperature on Saturday is creeps beyond 90 degrees and keeps rising. Yet LaFontaine walks at a brisk pace along NW 12th Ave in Jenada Isles in Wilton Manors. Armed with a pile of glossy placards and a list of registered voters, LaFontaine barely breaks a sweat, his hair nearly perfect. His appearance is a stark contrast to Newton, who happens to be dropping off literature at the same time in the same neighborhood. Newton appears red-face and sweating in the summer swelter as he crosses LaFontaine on the 2900 bock of NW 12th Avenue. The two candidates exchange cordial hellos and quickly move on in opposite directions. The neighborhood appears to be desolate in the near noontime heat. Few residents answer doors, but LaFontaine, a professional accountant, makes his pitch to those who answer his knock.“Hello, I’m Mark LaFontaine and I’m running for state legislature,” he says.His door-step stump speech varies little from house to house – he begins by informing voters that there are no accountants in office in the State House of Representatives. “We need people with financial background in Tallahassee,” he says.Then he gives a brief bio: a lifelong Broward resident, the only veteran in the race, his extensive background as an activist for GLBT issues, AIDS and youth.Then he smoothly reveals the detail that could cast him into Florida’s history.“I’m openly gay,” he says. “I’m not running on that premise, but there is a need for the [GLBT] community to have a voice in Tallahassee.” Many of the neighbors recognize LaFontaine. There are plenty of rainbow flags in the portals, and some of the yards and walkways are – for lack of a better word – simply fabulous in the gay context.Jenada Isle and the areas around Wilton Manors are key to the LaFontaine campaign. If elected, La Fontaine becomes the first openly gay state legislator. For the GLBT community his presence can make an impact in debating gay-friendly bills in Florida’s notoriously conservative legislature.“Having a voice and having someone who is openly gay does put a face and personal perspective on this legislation,” La Fontaine said. And while La Fontaine does not consider his sexuality, or HIV status to be the primary part of his campaign, he does not deny that his voter base is the LGBT community.“When you are running a campaign you always look to your base,” La Fontaine said. “Obviously getting GLBT voters is going to be important.”