Coral Springs school fundraiser with lesbian called off

 

 

 

 

 

 

BY NIRVI SHAH, nshah@miamiherald.com

 

A fundraiser for the band at a Coral Springs high school went down -- in flames -- before it ever began.

The band at Taravella High had hoped to raise money by charging $5 for autographs of Deerfield Beach firefighter Dani Campbell, one of two contestants left standing on an MTV reality show about a bisexual woman searching for love.

But when school district spokesman Keith Bromery learned of the Monday afternoon effort, he prodded other school district officials to take a look at the show -- A Shot At Love With Tila Tequila -- online. The result: the fundraiser was canceled.

Bromery said it doesn't matter that the show involves bisexuality. It does matter that it involves sex, however.

''The episode that I saw was a woman in various degrees of undress laying prone on a bar with guys drinking shots out of her belly button,'' Bromery said. ``Does that answer your question?''

He said he had never heard of the show before Monday.

An organizer of the fundraising effort said word about Campbell's appearance had spread throughout the state and autograph seekers were expected from as far away as Key West and Orlando.

The show is among the top 15 shows on cable and one of MTV's most popular. It features Internet sensation Tequila, a bisexual woman who has built a MySpace network of more than two million friends. All season, she has been searching for her true love, whittling a cadre of 16 men and 16 women to one of each gender.

Campbell, a lesbian, was going to appear at no charge at the band fundraiser. She is a self-described ''futch,'' not totally feminine but not totally butch.

One episode featured Tequila giving Campbell's grandmother a lap dance.

Tila makes her decision, between Campbell and Bobby Banhart of New York, on Tuesday night.

''This person, whoever pulled the rug under this event...if they had known who I am they wouldn't have done it,'' Campbell said, adding that she hopes that students see her as a positive role model.

``They think it's a remedy I've come up with for how to be positive. I want everybody to be as confident as I am, and as positive as I am. This goes for anything -- gay, straight, black, white.''