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SAVE Fires Executive Who Defended Men Accused Of Hate Crime In Gay-Bashing Incident

JOSE A. IGLESIAS
/
MIAMI HERALD
SAVE Executive Director Tony Lima, seen here giving former Democratic gubernatorial nominee Andrew Gillum a high five in Miami on September 24, 2018, was fired Friday.

A Miami-based LGBTQ organization has fired its top administrator after he ignited a firestorm last month by defending four men accused of attacking a gay couple on Miami Beach following a gay pride parade.

Tony Lima, who has served as executive director of the non-profit SAVE since 2013, was fired Monday night by unanimous vote of the organization’s board of directors. The board, citing legal issues, declined to explicitly say why it chose to terminate his employment.

But the circumstances of Lima’s firing revolve around his decision during the organization’s June 14 Champions of Equality Gala at Hard Rock Stadium to celebrate the presence of a group of men who have been charged under Florida’s hate crime laws in the 2018 attack of Rene Chalarca and Dmitry Logunov.

Read more at our news partner the Miami Herald.

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