Charlie Crist A Man That Could Have Made a Difference,But He Dropped that “Ball"
Former Florida Governor Charlie Crist greets former Florida Education Commissioner Betty Castor at the Pinellas/Hillsborough Kennedy King Dinner at the Tampa Convention Center Saturday, May 11, 2013. Crist was the keynote speaker at the event.
Introduction from publisher:
I know Charlie Crist from my days in Florida. He was anti gay rights, a good republican that followed the Republican dorma that is not possible to have a person who is gay and be treated like one that is not. Because being gay sets you apart if not from the human race then it most be from being a good American.
So what happened to Charlie? Well the problem was that Charlie himself is gay. Every gay person in Florida and people that saw him walk and pick up the fork at a dinner table knew that he was gay. I referred to the walk and the fork only as a symbol of Charlie’s non bushy or opposite of butch, would be….let’s see? Femme?
Yea poor Charlie is a flamer! Even though I’m gay myself I still don’t really know why some guys walk one way and some of us walk another way. I actually learnt that most people that walk with a swing are gay(not all, but most).
My first long time partner walked that way. But I will swear to you I never saw it. May be when he was with me he tried walking like me assuming I would not like it. But there were times particularly if there had been some booze around he walked that way…I say this because
I am describing Charlie’s walk. Why? Because he was an anti gay republican that walk like one of my sisters.
I don’t think I will be offending anybody by hurting about Charlie on this because I believe that gay people that walk however they walk are very proud of how they walk. There might be preferences involved in which type of man one will go for, but for one self one is what ever one is.
Well coming back to my ex, I was surprised that people could read him so easily. I mean I introduced him to my boss and people in the office. When I introduced him to my boss, my boss smiled, well smirked at me. He was the Buyer I was His Assistant. One time he also joked saying my ex being my wife. I didn’t like it, but I got the feeling he didn’t like it either, like hre stuck his foot in his mouth, so in an evil way I kinda enjoyed that. Nobody at work knew I was gay until they met my ex. They met friends and other people I dated but never thought I was. Now I didn’t care one way or the other because by this time I had already come out. When we had gay pride I will be one of those guys without a shirt with cut out jeans dancing and yelling behind the boon box truck passing by in front of my building.
Now let me close this and finish my point. Charlie Crist happened to be a gay flamer who deccided to be anti gay rights because he thought it was best politicly for him. That’s why eventually when the non secret came out the republican party in Florida dropped him like a hot potato. By then of coarse he was governor but what he wanted was Washington anywhere he could get it. Senator, Vice President or the big man himself.
He left the party and became independent and now he is for gay marriage because he probably is got a boy friend and would like to get marry himself. Not because he wants to do anything for our community.
This put this man in the same place as dirt. Now I saw an article in the Miami Herald which brought all these bad memories of Charlie Crist. A Man that could have made a difference in Florida but he dropped ‘that’ ball.
Adam Gonzalez, Publisher
BY MOLLY MOOREHEAD
POLITIFACT FLORIDA
Charlie Crist, Florida’s once (and future?) governor, posted a note earlier this month on his Facebook page congratulating two states for legalizing gay marriage.
"Some great news: On Tuesday, Delaware became the 11th state to allow marriage equality. And just a few days ago, Rhode Island adopted a similar measure, which followed victories last fall in Maine, Maryland and Washington. I most certainly support marriage equality in Florida and look forward to the day it happens here," he posted on Facebook on May 8, 2013.
That doesn’t sound like the Crist we’ve always known. He’s a former Republican who turned independent who turned Democrat. He backed John McCain in the 2008 presidential contest but last year endorsed Barack Obama’s re-election.
In other words, flip-flopping is in his past.
At PolitiFact, we put politicians’ consistency on issues on our Flip-O-Meter, rating them from No Flip to Full Flop. The meter is not intended to pass judgment on their decisions to change their minds. It’s simply gaging whether they did.
So what’s the history of Crist’s position on same-sex marriage? Crist, who is believed to be planning another run for governor in his new party, “most certainly” supports it now. Let’s see whether he always has.
2006 GOVERNOR’S RACE
Back when Crist was a "Ronald Reagan Republican," he led a field of GOP candidates vying to be governor. (He went on to win.) During that race, an effort was gaining steam to put a state constitutional amendment on the ballot defining marriage as a union between “only one man and one woman.”
Early in the campaign, Crist said he thought such an amendment was unnecessary because state law already forbids gay marriage. But as the primary rolled on, Crist signed the petition for the ballot initiative and sent mailers declaring his support for traditional marriage.
By the time the measure went to voters in 2008, Crist was a popular governor whose more socially conservative election opponents were in his rear-view mirror. Crist made it clear he wouldn’t stump for the cause.
“It’s not an issue that moves me,” he said in late 2007, when it was clear the effort had enough signatures to get on the ballot. “I’m just a live and let live kind of guy.”
And yet...
On Election Day 2008, Crist supported the ban. “I voted for it,” he said. “It’s what I believe in.” The measure passed with 62 percent of the vote.
2010 SENATE RUN
When one of Florida’s U.S. senators decided not to seek re-election, Crist, who probably would have cruised to re-election as governor, pounced on the Washington opportunity. He ended up in a bare-knuckles battle that forced him to leave the Republican Party and run as an independent. He lost to Republican Marco Rubio.
During that campaign, he released a position paper on issues affecting gays and lesbians. There, he declared support for civil unions that “provide the full range of legal protections” including “access to a loved one in the hospital, inheritance rights, the fundamental things people need to take care of their families.” He also expressed support for anti-discrimination laws that protect gay people, repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell in the military and gay adoption. He did not mention same-sex marriage in the statement.
2014 run for ... ?
Crist’s exuberant Facebook post, which looks forward to “the day it happens” in Florida, certainly isn’t unique among Democrats this year. Notably, Florida’s Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson recently pledged his support for gay marriage.
And Crist, as a newly minted Democrat, has been under pressure from advocates for gay rights to “come to amends with LGBT Floridians.”
OUR RULING
We’re considering whether Crist has flip-flopped on his position on gay marriage.
Looking back through his political career in Florida, we found that Crist’s opinion has traversed the spectrum. As a Republican gubernatorial candidate in 2006, Crist signed a petition to help get a gay marriage ban on the Florida ballot and said he supported “traditional marriage.”
While governor, he appeared to soften on the subject, saying he was a “live and let live” kind of person. But he voted for the ban nonetheless. As a Senate candidate, he stopped short of endorsing gay marriage, saying he supported civil unions that afforded the legal benefits of marriage.
Now, out of office but potentially eyeing a comeback, Crist has made his flip-flop complete, offering full-throated support for gay marriage.
That’s what we call a Full Flop.
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