January 25, 2010

OPEN LETTER TO
DJ/PRODUCER PETER RAUHOFER
AND THE OWNERS OF THE OPIUM GROUP

We are writing to you about a very special annual celebration that benefits the South
Florida community on many levels – the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force’s Winter
Party Festival. The 2010 Festival will take place March 3-8. As it has for many years, the
Festival will support and be supported by many Miami Beach businesses. The Opium
Group has benefited from an immense amount of business from Winter Party Festival over
the years. This year, however, The Opium Group has not only decided to host a
competing party, it has also declined to contract with the Task Force for use of either of its
South Beach nightclub properties. While the Task Force has found another venue for its
Sunday night party, we are very disappointed that you have withdrawn support from this
important annual fundraising event.

We believe that you may not be aware of the serious repercussions this business decision
may have on the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community of South
Florida. Winter Party Festival is the largest annual fundraising event produced by the
National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, our country’s oldest, most enduring national
organization dedicated to achieving equality for the LGBT community. What makes it truly
unique is that two-thirds of the net proceeds are distributed to nonprofit organizations
serving the Miami-Dade LGBT community through a grant-making program administered
by the Dade Community Foundation. In the past five years, nearly $800,000 in proceeds
from the Task Force’s Miami events has been distributed to local organizations.

The dollar amount dispersed last year was significantly less than the amount raised in
previous years, in part because a competing event at The Opium Group’s Mansion
property resulted in a 32% decrease in revenue for Winter Party Festival’s 2009 Sunday
night dance party. As a result, there was less money to be distributed to the Dade
Community Foundation’s sixteen grant recipients, including the ACLU Foundation of
Florida, Center for Communications on HIV/AIDS, Equality Florida, Miami Beach Gay Pride,
Pridelines Youth Services, Safe Schools South Florida, SAVE Foundation and Switchboard of
Miami.

Winter Party Festival buoys many local businesses by bringing in over 10,000 people from
around the world to shop, dine and experience the Miami Beach nightlife. In fact, the
Miami Beach Visitor & Convention Authority awards the Task Force with a sizable grant
each year to enhance the Festival’s marketing efforts. The Festival’s centerpiece event,
the Beach Party, is the attraction that draws approximately 10,000 guests from around the
world to Miami Beach, but it is the other dance parties that allow the Festival to generate
a healthy return on investment. The Sunday night dance party, in particular, is critical to
the Festival’s success.

The economic crisis our country has been experiencing has negatively affected individual
giving. As a result, our local organizations are more dependent than ever on grants. The
National Gay and Lesbian Task Force and its team of dedicated South Florida volunteers
have been working extremely hard for the past nine months to ensure that the pool of
money from the 2010 Festival is larger than ever. The production of a successful Sunday
evening dance party is crucial to achieving this goal. It is inevitable that a competing
event targeted at the same audience will make this objective even more difficult to meet.

While we realize that that your plans for 2010 are already in place, we hope that,
equipped with a better understanding of what Winter Party Festival means to our local
community, you will not sponsor a competing party next year. We also hope that you will
consider making one of your venues available to the Task Force in 2011. In the meantime,
we ask you to support the Festival and its mission of raising funds for the LGBT community
by making a sizeable donation to the Task Force.

The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force would welcome a further dialogue about Winter
Party Festival and the opportunity to answer any questions you may have. The
organization can be reached through Russell Roybal, Deputy Executive Director of External
Relations, at 202.639.6324.

Rea Carey Perry Ellis

Executive Director
National Gay and Lesbian Task Force Jerry Chasen
Chair, GLBT Community Projects Fund
Steve Adkins Dade Community Foundation
Executive Director
Miami-Dade Gay & Lesbian Chamber of
Commerce Victor Diaz-Herman
Board Chair
Michael Andrews Pridelines Youth Services
Executive Artistic Director
South Beach Chamber Ensemble Edison Farrow
President
Willis “Chip” Arndt SoBe Social Club
Executive Vice President
Merchant Advantage Luigi Ferrer
Executive Director
Thomas Barker Pridelines Youth Services
Executive Editor and Publisher
Wire Magazine Stephen Greenberg
President
Cindy Brown Stephen Greenberg Designs
President
Cenergy, LLC Robert Loupo
Co-Founder and Executive Director
James Brown Safe Schools South Florida
Retail Marketing Director
Jake Miller, Esq. Executive Director
Attorney and Counsellor at Law Care Resource
Law Offices of Jake Miller
Herb Sosa
Babak Movahedi President
Owner Unity Coalition
MOVA
Daniel Spring
Tim Nardi South Beach Insurance Agency, Inc.
General Manager
Shore Club Miami John Tanzella
Executive Director
International Gay and Lesbian Travel
George Neary Association
Associate Vice President of Cultural
Tourism Laura Veitia
Greater Miami Convention & Visitors EWM Realtors
Bureau
George Vesa
CJ Ortuno Manager
Executive Director The Strand Ocean Drive
SAVE Dade

Chad Richter
Retail Sales Manager
Kiehl’s Since 1851

Rick Siclari