Why did the Wades feel heat enough to sell their $22 million Miami Beach mansion and leave tax-friendly Florida to live in a state with monstrous taxes?
According to recent revelations, they felt that with Florida’s ever-expanding LGBTQ+ legislation, they would not be accepted. Why? Because they have a 15-year-old transgender daughter.
So, two new words now enter our sexual lexicon, transcontrovery or the shorter version transtroversy. Both mean disagreements, particularly when prolonged, public and heated over those in the LGBTQ+ community called transsexuals.
From where did these new terms come? From your truly. As the WORDSHINE MAN, the title of my latest book about how to make writing inviting, I put them into our soup of words, reserving the respective domains for posterity, at least until all of us awaken from our biases.
And there they’ll remain until we all get our act together and begin respecting one another as equals, including those who might be a little different.
For isn’t this the UNITED States of America or are we becoming the UNTiED STAKES of America playing a risky game of disparaging, censoring and ostracizing people for daring to be different.
In a recent episode of Showtime’s “Headliners,” Dwyane Wade said he no longer lives in Florida because of the state’s intensifying political climate against the LGBTQ+ community, which includes his transgender daughter.
In 2022, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed the Parental Rights in Education bill. Critics called it the “Don’t Say Gay” bill.
“Classroom instruction by school personnel or third parties on sexual orientation or gender identity may not occur in kindergarten through grade 3 or in a manner that is not age-appropriate or developmentally appropriate for students in accordance with state standards,” the bill read, in part, in 2022.
The state’s Board of Education recently expanded the ban “on classroom instruction about sexual orientation and gender identity in all grades, bound to cause more . . .” (what’s the new word?) TRANSCONTROVERSY!
Is there any light at the end of the transcontroversy tunnel?
Yes, it’s coming from Stonewall Museum in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, which holds enlightening conferences, seminars and events like “Back to the Drive Celebration,” a spectacular night of entertainment and artistic expression and surprises coming Sept. 21 at The Venue in Wilton Manors. Funds raised there will support Stonewall’s National Education Project (SNEP).
And I’ll bet you can get a nice cold BUD LIGHT there despite all the transtroversy bubbling over its transgender influencer.
Stonewall National Museum & Archives presents an ongoing 12-month schedule of free LGBTQ exhibits, author readings, films, discussions, special presentations, and a book club, located in the beautiful hub of LGBTQ tourism in South Florida.
Tom Madden is an influencer himself as he is CEO of the award-winning public relations firm, TransMedia Group in what some are calling “Don’t Say Gay Florida.” And one of his clients is, you guessed it, the Stonewall Museum.