National Gay and Lesbian Task Force recognizing Fla. man

Through Bob Cole's eyes we can see a half-century of change in gay South Florida:

As a frightened Miami Beach teen in the 1950s, reading in The Miami Herald about ''perverts'' hauled away from bars in police raids.

''It was a terrible period,'' said Cole, now 63 and an honoree at tonight's 10th annual National Gay and Lesbian Task Force recognition dinner. (An added twist -- Cole's humanitarian award is sponsored by The Miami Herald.)

As a student at the University of Florida in the early '60s, just after a McCarthy-era witch hunt by state Sen. Charley Johns to root out homosexual professors and students on campus.

The gay social scene in Coconut Grove during the early '70s, followed by Anita Bryant's successful 1977 campaign to repeal Miami-Dade County's gay-rights law.

The 1980s AIDS era, in which Cole and his partner, stockbroker Dick Pollock, raised thousands of dollars to combat the new disease -- and then the discovery in '89 that Cole himself was infected.

Successfully lobbying in 1992 for passage of a gay-rights ordinance in Miami Beach.

''Bob was a witness to all that,'' said retired home builder Sanford ''Sandy'' Pomerance, a longtime friend. Pollock, 61, died in 1997 of pancreatic cancer. ``(The award) is a crowning achievement for Bob. In a way it's for both of them.''

Cole came out to his family after he graduated in 1960 from Miami Beach High. He returned to South Florida after earning a political science degree at UF. Eventually, Cole became a travel agent, a job he still holds today.

He met Pollock in 1965. ''I was 22, he was 30,'' Cole said. ``That was it. I moved in my first night, with my Air Force Reserve uniform.''

For 25 years, Cole and Pollock had a large home on South Miami Avenue and were part of Miami's underground gay social scene.

'We were closeted then. If we went out to dinner in a restaurant, we never went with more than two other men. It looked funny. People would say, `Where are the girls?' ''

It was safe to attend the opera and symphony together. ``We would be going out four or five nights a week. We had a very active social life. We did lunches at Grove Isle every Saturday and Sunday.''

In 1976, newly elected Miami-Dade Commissioner Ruth Shack sponsored a countywide gay-rights ordinance. The law passed. Singer Anita Bryant of Miami Beach then launched a successful ''Save Our Children'' campaign to repeal the ordinance.

The campaign forced many gay people back into the closet. ''It was a terrible period, especially then. You just kept it hidden. Afraid of exposure,'' Cole said. ``We gave up. Nothing happened again until HIV came and we started organizations like Health Crisis Network. The gay community just fell apart.''

Everyone knew men dying of AIDS. At social gatherings, gays and lesbians raised money to care for the sick.

Pollock and Pomerance had an idea: Host a major fundraiser for Health Crisis Network, the precursor to Care Resource -- now Florida's largest AIDS service agency.

``We did a cocktail party at our home for $100. They said nobody would pay that, that we would get 20 people at most. We had about 250 people. We were getting huge checks, up to $1,000 each. We were in shock.''

Checks were payable to the former St. John's Lutheran Church in Miami, where the AIDS network had a small office.

The Friends of Health Crisis Network dinner became a highlight of the gay social scene in the '80s and '90s.

In 1989, Cole's physician encouraged him to be routinely tested for HIV. The test came back positive.

''I got hysterical. I expected it. I don't know why. I was an absolute mess. I thought it would take over my life,'' Cole said. ``At that point, Dick thought he would outlive me. I was 45 and thought I had five more years.''

Cole's been lucky, though. He survived long enough for HIV to become ``a manageable disease, as long as you take the right medications.''

He continues to be involved in gay groups, including the Miami-Dade Gay & Lesbian Chamber of Commerce.

''It's people like Bob -- who are really, really humble about what they do -- that really make a difference in the community,'' said Cindy Brown, who worked at Health Crisis Network in the early '90s and is a member of Task Force dinner steering committee.

''They're honoring me?'' Cole said when he found out.

''It's a mark of a true humanitarian who questions why he is being honored,'' said Brown, now managing director of Miami Light Project. ``He doesn't see it as anything extraordinary, when of course it is extraordinary.''

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