Mayor of Fort Lauderdale tells gays to stay away

[TownsendPLocke]

Is this guy for real?I guess it proves that even Fort Lauderdale is still in the south.

This week the Mayor of Fort Lauderdale, Jim Naugle, basically said he doesn't really want us to visit his city, something he stated at a news conference on the steps of City Hall, the same news conference where he announced he had just been made aware of a website called Cruising for Sex. The Mayor announced that AIDS was being spread by men engaging in sex in local toilets and that tourists were adding to the problem. He suggested the county tourism dollars should no longer be used to promote the region to gay men since, of course, they bring disease with them.

This all started a few weeks back when Naugle announced the city needed self-cleaning public toilets not because the citizens could benefit from them for the obvious reasons, but in order that homosexuals would stop having sex in the toilets. Local media uncovered the fact that police records listed one arrest for toilet sex in the last three years and local cops were quoted saying this was not a problem.

For those who think he is simply anti-sex, Naugle apparently also refuses to call gay people "gay" because he says there is nothing happy about being gay. Still not enough to convince you? Try these tidbits cited at Wikipedia:

Naugle has said that the American Civil Liberties Union acronym ACLU means "Atheists and Criminal Lobbying Union" and that a proposal for reducing greenhouse gases was "hate-America stuff" concocted by "a bunch of scientists meeting in Paris who've had too much wine." His views regarding homosexuality are that sodomy laws should be enforced and that homosexuality is a sin.

So why punish Fort Lauderdale because of one idiot politician? Well, this idiot has been re-elected every term since 1991, making him the longest serving Mayor in the history of Fort Lauderdale which would seem to indicate the locals have already made up their minds. Maybe now it is time for the rest of us to decide we're not going to spend our vacation dollars here.

According to an article in the Chicago Sun-Times, gay people spend $64 billion dollars on travel money per year so clearly our dollars can help (or hurt if withdrawn) a local economy. Planet Out named Fort Lauderdale "Best Gay Resort Town" in 2006. Travel writer Andrew Collins says Fort Lauderdale is "Florida's leading gay vacation destination." Even the Greater Fort Lauderdale Convention and Visitors Bureau spins this one, citing the city as "America's top gay resort area.".

[Guest Conway]

You have to understand the damage that such a boycott can do to local gay businesses in Ft. Lauderdale. Two of my good friends own and operate a gay bed and breakfast in Ft. Lauderdale which they have poured their hearts and souls into.

I remember counseling them through the project when they ran out of money during the construction process. And I know that the project never would have been finished except for the blood, sweat and tears that they themselves put into it to make sure that it was both completed and opened on time.

A gay boycott of Ft. Lauderdale would likely cause them to lose their business which, by the way, is their home, too. Their years of investment of labor and of developing this unique and friendly place for gay men to vacation would be destroyed.

I'm sure that there are hundreds of others

I don't raise this issue because I disagree with your position on Mayor Naugle. I raise it because I think that the reactionary nature that a number of leaders within our community espouse can be as damaging to our own as it is to the ones that we seek to make examples of.

Life is not black and white. Black and white solutions to complex problems are damaging to large groups of the people disaffected by them. By espousing a reactionary position, we're acting much like Mayor Naugle.

Straight Ft. Lauderdale is hardly going to notice a gay boycott of their city. the people who will be hurt by it are the gay entrepreneurs.

Once the gay entrepreneurs are run out of business, the organizers of such a boycott can give themselves a big pat on the back for having delivered Mayor Naugle's vision for what he wishes Ft. Lauderdale to be: free of entrepreneurial ventures owned by gay men and lesbians.

There are more effective and positive ways to demonstrate to non-gay businesses. Purple lambdas stamped on the money we spend there or the use of symbols similar to AIDs ribbons are positive ways to build an effective an positive bridge between gay visitors and Ft. Lauderdale entrepreneurs.

[Lucky]

What are your gay friends in Ft. L doing to get rid of this guy? He's been in office so long that it seems as if the gay community there just doesn't care.

Last week a jury of Fort Luaderdale citizens actually convicted a guy for masturbating...in his jail cell! No one could see him except for the sheriff's deputy watching on security camera. Yet they wasted time and money to prosecute him.

Sounds like the gay citizens of Fort Lauderdale have been sitting on their haunches, content with the money from gay tourists and not doing much to change the homophobic environment. So why shouldn't we boycott?

[Guest Conway]

I gave my friends a call this morning to get their temperature on this issue. They are very troubled, not so much by the issue of equipping public restrooms with security as they are in the Mayor's general lashing out against the gay community in general.

I think, Lucky, that if you read any of the mainstream news articles on the issue, you'd see that the gay community in Ft. Lauderdale is hardly "sitting on it's hands". In fact, since this issue became news in the past week, there have been several rallies and a number of people, in the gay community, have called for both and apology and the mayor's resignation. My friends have attended and participated in both.

Mayor Naugle, who has been in office since 1991, according to my friends there, has never once shown this recent vitriol toward the gay community. Apparently, his concern was led by the fact that two of the city's parks were listed on www.cruisingforsex.com as prime cruising locations in Ft. Lauderdale.

They indicated to me that Mayor Naugle was very helpful to them with some permitting issues when they were having problems with their bed and breakfast construction a few years back. It seems to me that he views law abiding gay citizens and social pariahs a bit differently when it comes to the reputation of his community.

I happen to agree with Mayor Naugle that it is inappropriate for anyone, be he gay or straight, to have sex in a public bathroom of any sort.

I know that there are people here who will disagree with me, refer to me as a nazi, yadda yadda. I've heard it all before. But, that is simply my perception and my personal opinion. Quite frankly, I'm just not the kind of person who has sex in public restrooms or endorses the same. I generally prefer my own home or a hotel room when I have sex. And, I consider sex in public restrooms pretty disgusting and a blight upon any community that allows it.

That said, I believe that there is far greater power in demonstrating our economic value to that community in a positive way, such as those I have listed above. If that fails, then I would agree with you, that some form of sanctions may be beneficial.

To me, this is only a "gay" issue in that the mayor has lashed out at the community in general as opposed to this very small subset of our community.

[TotallyOz]

Well, they get to get this creep out of office. Ft Lauderdale is an amazing city and I have always enjoyed it. However, such homophobia would inhibit me from frequenting it from their highest ranking elected official.

There is also the power of the pen. Letters and e-mails to the Mayor's office and to others of importance may make him realize the error of his ways.

[Guest Conway]

There is also the power of the pen. Letters and e-mails to the Mayor's office and to others of importance may make him realize the error of his ways.

I completely agree that we, as social community, should voice our displeasure directly to the mayor in a way that demonstrates both the granularity and economic power of the gay economy in that city. That should be the first step because it is one that sends an economic message without harming gay business people in that community.

[Lucky]

I gave my friends a call this morning to get their temperature on this issue. They are very troubled, not so much by the issue of equipping public restrooms with security as they are in the Mayor's general lashing out against the gay community in general.

I think, Lucky, that if you read any of the mainstream news articles on the issue, you'd see that the gay community in Ft. Lauderdale is hardly "sitting on it's hands". In fact, since this issue became news in the past week, there have been several rallies and a number of people, in the gay community, have called for both and apology and the mayor's resignation. My friends have attended and participated in both.

I happen to agree with Mayor Naugle that it is inappropriate for anyone, be he gay or straight, to have sex in a public bathroom of any sort.

I know that there are people here who will disagree with me, refer to me as a nazi, yadda yadda. I've heard it all before. But, that is simply my perception and my personal opinion. Quite frankly, I'm just not the kind of person who has sex in public restrooms or endorses the same. I generally prefer my own home or a hotel room when I have sex. And, I consider sex in public restrooms pretty disgusting and a blight upon any community that allows it.

That said, I believe that there is far greater power in demonstrating our economic value to that community in a positive way, such as those I have listed above. If that fails, then I would agree with you, that some form of sanctions may be beneficial.

To me, this is only a "gay" issue in that the mayor has lashed out at the community in general as opposed to this very small subset of our community.

I also oppose public sex, or bathroom sex in public toilets. I agree that there are other ways to get the message across besides a boycott, so let's do them! Ft L guys take the lead!

[TotallyOz]

I also oppose public sex, or bathroom sex in public toilets. I agree that there are other ways to get the message across besides a boycott, so let's do them! Ft L guys take the lead!

Often times bathroom sex is relegated to those that are more closeted and not "out". I know that there are many that just like it. But, it is also one of the few options that some men have as an outlet. In many parts of this country, being gay is still not acceptable. We certaintly do not have the rights as others do. And, the stigma of being gay is still an issue in many cities in the US. Many men are married and just want to get off with someone. They do this in the quickest easiest way that is possible. Perhaps that is a hookup in the toilets to keep the allusion to others that they are not gay. I have met too many married men who just want to have a little gay sex but stay married and keep the wife and kids and yet cannot afford a hotel or to be seen where gay men go. What do they do? Where do they go? I am not giving answers, as I don't know them. But, I do believe that the less taboo being gay is, the less the toilets are frequented. IMHO

[TotallyOz]

http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/08/08/fort.laud...ayor/index.html

Aparently, this mayor is not backing down from his view or his statements. He said that we are all sinners. hummm.

[AdamSmith]

Small Town Holds Annual Gay Shame Parade

GRAND PLAINS, NE—A tight-knit rural Midwestern farming community commemorated the demonization of homosexuality Sunday with its annual Gay Shame Parade, a three-decade-old tradition that has become a cornerstone of the town's cultural identity. ...

http://www.theonion.com/content/news/small...nnual_gay_shame

[Guest Conway]

http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/08/08/fort.laud...ayor/index.html

Aparently, this mayor is not backing down from his view or his statements. He said that we are all sinners. hummm.

I'm encouraged that the County Commission is taking the steps to make it clear that Naugle's personal beliefs don't represent those on the commission. If they jumped behind Naugle's position, it would be extremely unforunate.

[Guest Conway]

Now, if anyone is looking for a place to boycott and protest, I'll gladly join you here:

http://365gay.com/Newscon07/08/081207italy.htm