Annual Celebration for Author of First Anti-Gay Hate Crime in North America Here In St. Augustine Last Night!

It happened in 1566. Pedro Menendez de Aviles, Florida's first Governor gave orders to murder (by garroting) a Gay French translator. Menendez' brother-in-law recorded his exact words, calling his murdered victim "a Sodomite and a Lutheran."

In 2005, a federal judge ordered Rainbow flags to fly on our historic Bridge of Lions, based partly on our St. Augustine Gay Pride group's permit application, setting forth an 11,000 year GLBT history of St. Augustine, including the murder.

Now all but government flags are banned from our Bridge, the result of bigotry on the part of then-Mayor GEORGE GARDNER, hypocrite ERROL JONES (A/K/A ERRONEOUS JONES), now our Vice Mayor and DONALD CRICHLOW, who asked Folio Weekly if we'd honor the Humane Society or Audubon Society with flags on our bridge because someone once killed a dog or a bird (comparing Gays to animals).

Humanity is not the City of St. Augustine's strong suit. Hence, the dumb 'ole party where people in Menendez drag commemorate a Spanish mass murderer's birthday. They say in touch at Noche de Gala, without irony, "Viva Menendez! Viva!"

Chile doesn't have parties to honor Pinochet. Iran doesn't have balls to honor the Shah. Russia doesn't have parties to honor Stalin. China doesn't have parties to honor Mao. Washington doesn't have parties to honor Nixon. So why in the name of all that's holy does our City of St. Augustine have an annual fete to honor a murderer, without any acknowledgment of the need to tell our entire history?

Dr. Michael Gannon of UF urges our history be told truthfully. Such is not the case with Menendez, whose war crimes (like killing 300 disarmed Frenchmen) is often overloooked.

Now in 2009, Spain's cool and recognizes Gay marriage. But Spain's former colonial capital of St. Augustine is still run by the same kind of thin-skinned, stiff-necked reactionary authoritarians like Menendez, who killed Gays, indigenous Native Americans while enslaving Africans.

In fact, you might say that the City of St. Augustine has been run buy one unending line of bootlickers, going back in time to Pedro Menendez de Aviles. But do we really need to give out free tickets to a $185/person Noche de Gala (with free tickets long in the budgets of City officials, like the City Attorney)?

The cult of Menendez hereabouts is such that Menendez' likeness graces a statue on City Hall lawn, Mendedez' name graces a public high school, while Menendez' face graces a painting in City Hall where Sunshine violations have often taken place among City Commissioners (before they moved them upstairs and elsewhere).

Let these Menendez-worshipping City freeloaders pay for their own Gala. Let them honor diversity instead of spitting on it. Let them honor Menendez' victims (in a suitable National Park Service museum telling 11,000 years of history.