Freelance writer and Viewpoint Columnist
Over the past decade or so I have been blessed to cover some truly remarkable stories about our LGBTQ+ community for Watermark.
In June 2013 I covered the story where the Hillsborough County Commissioners debated to remove a ban on Pride activities in the county. It was extremely controversial and damaging to Tampa’s recognition as an evolving, first-tier city.
After listening to almost two hours of dreadful bigotry in public comment, each of the commissioners was given an opportunity to make a statement before they voted. I remember one rising to inform us he was a deacon of a Southern Baptist Church.
You could audibly hear some audience members gasp, saying things like “here we go,” but to everyone’s surprise the commissioner schooled the crowd. He said Jesus was about loving people, not excluding them.
“I have seen discrimination eyeball to eye in this very city wearing the uniform of this country so I know all too well what it looks like,” then-Commissioner Lester Miller, Jr. said. “Discrimination is discrimination regardless of it form. It’s always destructive and it’s always wrong. I vote to repeal.” He got a standing ovation, and the commission voted unanimously to remove the ban.
Another powerful story I covered was a special piece for our December 2017 World AIDS Day edition. I explored how both gay and straight women were the “Florence Nightingales” for sick and dying gay men at a time early in the epidemic where even some health care professionals didn’t want to be close to AIDS patients.
One that really stands out was a Linda Jaeger in Orlando, a member of the Church of God “megachurch.” Their theology isn’t friendly to LGBTQ+ people but when a friend asked her to join him in attending an informational seminar on HIV/AIDS, she did.
“All I can say is that I was ‘moved’ by the scope and the tragic circumstances that many of these young men were facing,” she said. “I felt at that moment God tapped me on the shoulder and said, ‘Linda, you need to do something to help here and you need to do it right now.”
She said she read everything she could find about the disease. Eventually, she started having condoms on hand wherever she went — she told Watermark she started feeling a little uncomfortable when members of her congregation started referring to her as “the Pentecostal Condom Lady.”
Eventually Jaeger’s passion led her to establish “A PLACE for Comfort” (PLACE stands for People with AIDS Caring for Each Other), an AIDS support organization which eventually grew to have offices in four counties, Osceola, Orange, Seminole and Lake.
Today she serves on the board of both Hope and Health and the AIDS Institute, a national organization with offices in Tampa and Washington, D.C.
The queer community of the I-4 corridor is rich, diverse and outspoken. The best, most interesting and readable stories come directly from this remarkable community. It’s really a blessing to be able to share their stories with you!
