AN OPEN LETTER TO THE BROWARD COUNTY SCHOOL SUPERINTENDENT OPINION LIFE WITH TOTO Jesse’s Journal

Jesse Monteagudo

Good morning, Dr. Smiley. I’m preparing to visit my father out of state who just had his kidney removed and is now on dialysis but feel the need to share what I am hearing throughout my community.

Yesterday while the world observed the International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia, and Transphobia, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed HB1069, expansion of “Don’t Say Gay”; SB254, banning gender affirming care; HB1521, the Anti-Transgender Bathroom Bill; and HB1423, the Anti-Drag Bill. The abhorrent actions by DeSantis now place Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer (LGBTQ) individuals, and their families in grave danger.

Upon introduction of the above stated legislation, Broward County Public Schools has been aware of the high likelihood for them to be enacted by the governor. As superintendent you have failed to advocate and protect LGBT-youth and families and remain idle as the attacks keep coming from Tallahassee.

Regretfully, the community has witnessed your failure to advocate in a transformational manner for the school district to engage authentically with diverse community stakeholders to develop strategies to solve the problems for where we find ourselves today.

BCPS is without curriculum or policy for sexual health education, and district administration have failed to replace the LGBTQ Critical Resource Guide with a tool to assist staff when attempting to support LGBT-youth. Under your watch, LGBT-youth and families have been bulldozed into the shadows.

My tone may sound harsh; however, the LGBT-community has been patient, lied to, and continually disrespected. This is compounded when Broward County School Board Member Brenda Fam continually spews anti-LGBT rhetoric from the dais and is left unchecked by you or School Board Chair Lori Alhadeff. You insisted that Fam prioritizes the interest of every student – yet, her constant hateful rants, especially towards transgender individuals during board meetings demonstrates otherwise.

Broward County Public Schools are not safe for LGBT-students, family, or employees. BCPS lacks single occupant restrooms so transgender individuals can simply use the restroom in peace and safety. To my knowledge, the only single occupant restroom at KCW is in the boardroom. Does the school district plan to retrofit buildings or is your solution to relegate transgender people to use a portable toilet in the parking lot?

I wish you had the same leadership as Leon County Schools Superintendent Rocky Hanna or Escambia County Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Tim Smith to act courageously and speak out against book banning and the anti-LGBT oppressive laws and movements, but you haven’t shown any.

Given the superintendent selection process is underway, and you have weighed in on the issue, the community is concerned with your hand-picked nominee’s ability or commitment to solve some of these critical concerns.

I am urging school board members to ensure our next Superintendent will affirmatively respond to the needs and concerns of the LGBT community.

Regards,

Michael Emanuel Rajner

Fort Lauderdale LGBT Right Activst

Ronald David Farago, known to his friends as “Toto,” is unforgettable, loving, amusing, amazing, comical, and witty. At times he could also be stubborn, opinionated, and insufferable. However good or bad, Ron is the most interesting person that I have ever met. He is also the most important person in my life, at least since the death of my partner of over thirty years, Michael Greenspan.

I met Ron way back in the mid-80s, after I turned 30 and Ron was still in his mid-20s. Marty Rubin, my colleague as a contributor to The Weekly News (twn) and member of the Board of Pride South Florida, introduced me to his young protege. (Marty Rubin, also known as “the old bike daddy,” was a well-known writer, journalist, and leader of South Florida’s leather, SM, and fetish community.) It was Marty who named Ron “Toto,” after the dog in The Wizard of Oz, because he was “cute, lovable, small, and hirsute” (hairy). At that time Marty’s “boy computer genius” lived in Cape Canaveral, where he worked as a computer analyst at the Kennedy Space Center. Marty introduced Toto to the local gay scene where Ron, being young and handsome, was quite popular. From 1998 to 2000 Ron chaired GNOMES (Gay Naturist Orlando Men Enthusiasts Society), Central Florida’s gay nudist club; and attended nationwide gatherings sponsored by GNI (Gay Naturists International) and CMEN (California Men Enjoying Nature). Though Ron and I saw each other now and then, we did not connect until Ron, not yet forty, retired from his computer job and eventually (July 1, 2001) moved to South Florida. During much of that time we were involved with other people, Ron with Jim Chen (one of the nicest guys I’ve known) and me with Michael Greenspan.

During the first decade of this century, Ron and I became friends, and I attended some of the parties he hosted in his house in Oakland Park. But we did not get close until tragedy brought us together. When dementia struck Michael, forcing me to place him in memory care and then in a nursing home, my friends urged me to go out and meet people. I decided instead to go on a sea cruise and emailed my friends in search of a shipboard roommate. Ron answered my email, and the rest is history. By that time Ron had also experienced loss, namely Jim Chen’s untimely death from brain cancer. Ron and I started seeing each other on a regular basis and, after Michael passed away in 2017, we remained close.

My relationship with “Toto” Ron Farago is unusual, to say the least. Ours is an open, honest relationship, with dual residency. We share a circle of friends; we go out to dinner and the theater together; we often travel together; and we share our interest in the gay naturist movement, both in South Florida and elsewhere. I share my troubles with Ron, and I grudgingly accept his constructive criticism. I even played gay uncle to Ron’s lovable dog Popi who, sadly, is no longer with us. Though Ron is no Michael Greenspan, I learned to take him one day at a time, and that is good enough for me.

This is my last “Jesse’s Journal” column for SFGN. But it is not the last of me. I hope to continue writing, in whatever medium, for as long as there is life in me.

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