Andrew Gillum, the former mayor of Tallahassee and the Democratic nominee for Florida governor in 2018, has been arrested in Alabama on drug possession charges.
As first reported by TMZ, Baldwin County jail records show Gillum was arrested around 11:44 p.m. on July 2 in Daphne, Alabama, on charges of possessing dangerous drugs, marijuana, and drug paraphernalia. He was released the following day.
It remains unclear what “dangerous drugs” Gillum is accused of possessing.
The 46-year-old could face up to a year in jail and a $6,000 fine if convicted of the marijuana charge, a Class A misdemeanor under Alabama law.
In the 2018 gubernatorial race, Gillum narrowly lost to Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis by fewer than 33,000 votes. After the loss, he became depressed and struggled with addiction, using alcohol to numb his feelings, he later told journalist Tamron Hall during a September 2020 interview on her self-titled talk show.
In March 2020, Gillum was found in a South Beach hotel room with escort and OnlyFans performer Travis Dyson after another man, identified as one of Dyson’s clients, called 911 fearing the two had overdosed on drugs. Paramedics found Dyson suffering from a heart attack, allegedly caused by a methamphetamine overdose.
Responding officers said Gillum was vomiting in a toilet when they arrived and was too intoxicated to answer questions. He was not arrested and later returned home.
Police body camera footage later released publicly appeared to show several prescription pill bottles and empty beer bottles in the room. Officers also recovered three small bags of methamphetamine. However, neither Gillum nor Dyson was charged because authorities said there was insufficient evidence linking either man to the drugs, which were not found on their persons.
After recovering, Dyson told the Miami Herald he had met Gillum on the gay dating app Grindr two weeks before the hotel rendezvous and claimed they had taken drugs together. Gillum denied using drugs, saying he had only consumed too much alcohol, and later checked himself into rehab for alcohol addiction.
Gillum later admitted in his interview with Tamron Hall that he had struggled not only with alcoholism but also with his sexuality, publicly coming out as bisexual.
“I…know that alcoholism is often a symptom of deeper struggles. I am committed to doing the personal work to heal fully and show up in the world as a more complete person,” he told the talk show host.
In 2022, Gillum and an associate were indicted on charges of conspiracy, wire fraud, and making false statements. After a jury failed to reach a verdict on most counts and acquitted Gillum on one false statements charge, a federal judge dismissed the remaining charges against both men.
Two men have been charged with vandalizing a rainbow-colored bench in Miami Beach with graffiti featuring a swastika and references to Adolf Hitler.
Surveillance video from Ocean Drive on May 18 captured two men sitting on the rainbow bench before one of them appeared to scribble graffiti onto the bench's yellow section.
Upon closer inspection, the graffiti included a swastika and the phrase "Adolf was here" written in marker.
Before sitting down, surveillance cameras captured four men approaching the rainbow bench and gathering around it. One of the men appeared to pull an object from his fanny pack and hand it to another man.
The Malaysian government is following through on a pledge to replace references to LGBTQ identity with the term "budaya songsang," which translates as "deviant culture."
In February, Marhamah Rosli, the deputy minister in the Prime Minister's Department (Religious Affairs), argued that replacing "LGBT" with "budaya songsang" in public discourse and on social media would prevent online algorithms from surfacing LGBTQ content and, in turn, prevent the "normalization" of queer culture.
"The more we utter, write, or state , the more 'pop-out' content related to it will appear," she said. "Without realizing it, we are promoting the culture unknowingly."
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