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VOLUME 117 ISSUE 14
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 2022
Not officially associated with the University of Florida
Published by Campus Communications, Inc. of Gainesville, Florida
Gainesville LGBTQ community mourns transgender lives lost Event persisted despite Colorado Springs shooting By Malori Malone Alligator Staff Writer
Caleb Ross // Alligator Contributing Photographer
Oscar Santiago-Perez holds a candle during a Transgender Day of Remembrance ceremony on the steps of Gainesville City Hall to honor those lost from violence toward the transgender community Sunday, Nov. 20, 2022.
Sofia Clementina Noriega. Matthew Angelo Spampinato. Za’niyah Williams. Ke’Yahonna Stone. Those were just four of the chosen names in a list of more than 340 murdered transgender women named during a Gainesville event meant to commemorate Transgender Day of Rememberance, a vigil for those who have been impacted by transgender violence. More than 60 members of the Gainesville community raised lit candles and umbrellas outside the steps of Gainesville City Hall in honor of the transgender lives lost to violence and hate Sunday evening. The list of names read out — which included transgender women who were murdered in the past two years — came from countries around the world including Brazil, France and the U.S. This solemn night served as a reminder to many in the Gainesville community of the violence and hatred transgender people have experienced, organizer Kane Barr said. “Our lives are important,” Barr said. “The deaths of transgender women — they need to be investigated just as equally;
they're equally as important as anybody else's death.” Barr, a 34-year-old Gainesville resident who identifies as a transgender man, said the event was started to raise public awareness of violence against transgender people, as well as to mourn and honor the lives of those who might have otherwise been forgotten. The night before the event, five people were killed at a LGBTQ nightclub in Colorado Springs, Colorado. But that didn’t stop Cheryl Kaplan, a 70-year-old board member of Gainesville’s chapter of Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays, from showing up in support of her daughter, who identifies as lesbian. Kaplan believes the support of TDOR is needed now more than ever, she said. “People called me and said, ‘Are we still on?’ And I said, ‘Absolutely. We're still on,’” Kaplan said. “This is so important. People need to know about the problems that transgender and LGBTQ+ folks have. We have to call attention to it.” The first TDOR was held in 1999 in the Castro district of San Francisco to honor the memories of Rita Hester — a transgender
SEE LGBTQ, PAGE 4
Stop WOKE Act temporarily blocked: UF student raped in residential hall, alert says UF’s perspective moving forward Suspect hasn’t yet been identified By Omar Ateyah Alligator Staff Writer
UF alerted the campus community Nov.19 regarding a reported rape that occurred at a residential hall Nov. 16. The notice didn’t mention which hall the rape occurred in but stated the crime allegedly took place between midnight and 12:30 a.m. The alert stated the University Police Department is actively investigating the incident. The victim claimed she was raped after she returned to her dorm room with the suspect after departing from “a local drinking establishment,” according to the report.
The suspect is a white/Hispanic male between the ages of 18 to 20, according to UF’s description. It describes him as 5-foot-6 and weighing about 160 pounds. He was last seen, according to the warning, leaving the scene of the sexual assault on the east side of campus wearing shorts and a baseball cap. The suspect hasn’t yet been identified, but UFPD will increase its patrols, according to the alert. The alert was issued as a timely warning, which UF uses to remain in compliance with the Clery Act, which requires universities to inform their communities about active threats to their
SPORTS/SPECIAL/CUTOUT Florida freshman uses relationship with Story description finish with comma, pg# brother to guide him Jonah Braswell’s older brother plays tennis at Texas. Read more on pg. 11.
SEE ASSAULT, PAGE 3
FEDERAL COURT ISSUES TEMPORARY INJUNCTION TO HOUSE BILL 7
By Peyton Harris Alligator Staff Writer
A Florida judge’s decision to temporarily block parts of House Bill 7, also known as the Stop W.O.K.E. Act, Nov. 17 has UF students and faculty once again reflecting on the future of academic freedom. The Stop W.O.K.E. Act was put in place in July. UF, the state’s flagship university, was the first to issue guidance to faculty, according to the United Faculty of Florida. It also has the most to lose financially from violations of the law because the university receives the most state funding.
Tallahassee U.S. District Judge Mark Walker issued the temporary injunction against HB-7 likening the act to something out of an Orwellian novel. If professors aren’t permitted to discuss challenging ideas, democracy will die in darkness, he said. “The First Amendment does not permit the State of Florida to muzzle its university professors, impose its own orthodoxy of viewpoints and cast us all into the dark,” Walker wrote in his decision. UF spokesperson Cynthia Roldan said the university doesn’t have anything to add about the decision. The act prohibits public K-12 and university educators from teaching concepts such as one race being superior to another,
Gators quarterback recruit’s scholarship revoked
Marcus Stokes announced the withdrawal of his scholarship after a video of him saying a racial slur surfaced, pg. 3
that one should feel guilty for racism by their ancestors and races can be inherently privileged or marginalized. Gov. Ron DeSantis championed the law as creating space for academic freedom within colleges, saying no student should be indoctrinated by ideas such as critical race theory — an academic concept that discusses systemic racism in the United States. His press secretary, Bryan Griffin, said they would appeal Nov. 17’s ruling. Sarah Fishkin, a 19-year-old UF criminology junior, said after a teaching assistant wrote “critical race theory” on a whiteboard, her professor erased it without explanation, even though the topic was from a previous cur-
SEE STOP WOKE, PAGE 4
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Explaining Gainesville’s financial controversies
The city has been under fire for international trips, the city auditor’s resignation and late financial reports, pg. 5
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