Apology Accepted
Jul 30, 2007
Good for Ft. Lauderdale Mayor Jim Naugle:
ht: Kathy at Relapsed Catholic
Ft. Lauderdale Mayor Jim Naugle called a press conference at City Hall Tuesday afternoon telling reporters that he intended to make an "apology." Homosexual activists and reporters expected Naugle to retract comments published earlier in the South Florida Sun-Sentinel in which the mayor said that a proposed self-cleaning, automatic toilet the city was going to buy for the beach would have an added benefit of deterring "homosexual activity.''And a note to my fellow moes... You don't have the right to "lick it and stick it" anywhere you please. Show a little decorum, huh?
Naugle, the city's Democratic mayor, had also gone on record as saying that he preferred to use the term "homosexual" not "gay" since homosexuals are "unhappy" touching off calls from homosexual activists that he resign or apologize.
Mayor Naugle finally did apologize, except that instead of retracting his controversial statements he instead apologized to the citizens of Fort Lauderdale for failing to do more to put an end to the public homosexual activity taking place in Fort Lauderdale's parks, beaches and public restrooms.
"I was not aware how serious the problem was of the sexual activity that is taking place in the bathrooms in public places and parks around Broward County, particularly in the city of Fort Lauderdale," Naugle told reporters Tuesday.
"I've been educated on that and I want to apologize to the children and to the parents of our community for not being aware of the problem."
ht: Kathy at Relapsed Catholic
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12 comments:
So you like it when a mayor makes stereotypical comments about our community? The police have repeatedly stated that there is not a problem with sex in bathrooms or in public anywhere in Fort Lauderdale. He manufactured the problem just to demonize and demean our community. I tend to believe the police, and not this guy who has aligned himself with the most anti-gay churches in our state. This guy is considered a joke by almost everyone in the area. If he ran again, he would surely lose. He has spent his last term making fun of all groups of people, including teachers and police because they cannot afford a house. He called them schlocks.
I have no problem if you follow someone who is conservative, but be careful who you praise. It may cause you to be grouped with a known hateful man that nobody in our community besides an anti-gay minister supports.
So you like it when a mayor makes stereotypical comments about our community?
What community?
Bingo, Patrick.
It changes little, Patrick & Richard. The fact of the matter is that the Mayor deliberately chose to politicize something which his own police department says hasn't been a problem. Naugle did so in a particularly eggregious fashion, singling out gays in general ("community" or not) for this alleged problem. He's trying to score cheap points with a certain group at the expense of another.
Frankly, I like the idea of these automated bathrooms. If he had argued for purchasing them based upon public hygiene or along those lines, none of this controversy would have arisen. It is due to the generally nasty condition of many public bathrooms that I prefer not to use them unless given no other choice. Hence why I for one like the idea of self-cleaning ones.
Oh and Kevin, I agree with you. If anonymous gay sex in public bathrooms were a problem in Ft. Lauderdale, I wouldn't have a problem with him citing that as one of the reasons for buying these. Well, as long as he didn't use that to generalize about gays and indict all of us that is. It would be akin to accusing all heterosexuals of having a problem with soliciting street hookers simply because some areas of cities have such 'ladies' and 'johns'.
No, the antics of Naugle in all of this has been exactly what I find distasteful from liberal nutjobs. That he claims to be a conservative means nothing since it is undone by his behavior.
John, how many straight people cruise for anonymous sex in public places? I'm sure it happens, but not to the degree it does with gay men.
What possible relevance does this have, Patrick? Is there a spree of gay men having sex in public bathrooms in Ft. Lauderdale? The police there do not seem to think so. I'll bet you that in terms of numbers and proportionally more straight men do business with street hookers than gay men do. Is this indicative of a problem with heterosexuality in general, or at least with that in males? Naugle took what is a problem elsewhere, generalized it for all gays and is using it for political reasons. On the one hand that's brill politically, but on the other it's not exactly very ethical. This is precisely the kind of behavior I detest in liberals so what makes you think I'd appreciate it in so-called conservatives?
I gotta go with Patrick on this John. Homosexual men and cruising for sex go together like chocolate and peanut butter. I'm sure straight people do it too, but with homosexuals it's almost a sacrament.
If you go to "cruisingforsex.com" there is a plethora of listings for places to go in Ft. Lauderdale for public hookups.
Look, I won't dare pretend that butter doesn't melt in my mouth, but the mayor has hardly gone off on a tangent against a non-existant problem.
Then perhaps the mayor should start with some "reform" of the FLPD since it has disagreed with the mayor's claim. No doubt it does happen in Ft. Lauderdale and elsewhere, which is why we have laws on the books to deal with that, but thus far the police there do not see it as a major problem. Regardless, the manner in which the mayor has chosen to pursue this is what I find objectionable. Does he single out heterosexuals for picking up street hookers? No. He has latched onto one thing to score political points and in the process demonize all gays since he objects to homosexuality. Unless there really is this big problem with trysts in public bathrooms, which his own police claim that there isn't, he could have easily avoided the brou-ha-ha AND achieved the results he wanted by advocating for these self-cleaning bathrooms in another way. Well, of course unless what he wanted is exactly what this whole thing appears to be: an easy way to score points with the so-called "pro-family" crowd at the expense of gays in general. He didn't limit this to gays seeking public trysts but instead sought to use this to tar all of us. That's something I expect from leftist nutjobs and sad to say it seems to come from many "social conservatives" as well nowadays.
Btw, need I mention again that I for one am all in favor of these self-cleaning bathrooms? Of course, mainly for their most touted feature: they clean themselves after each use!
I guess I just don't see it as a matter of degrees. It happens. It affects public health and safety. It should be stopped. The mayor's personal beliefs may be why he latched onto this, but that doesn't negate the correctness of his criticism.
See the Miami Herald story--
Broward police: Sex in public `not much of a problem'BY STEVE ROTHAUS at http://www.miamiherald.com/293/v-print/story/187654.html
Again, why isn't he working on fixing the budget problems, addressing affordable housing, and fighting crime? He is spending an awful lot of time on a non-issue (3 weeks now).
Anonymous, this problem should not be judged as a matter of degrees. What I'm saying is that cruising for sex in public is a behavior common among gay men. The mayor is correct to criticize this activity and to take steps to crack down on it regardless of its ubiquity.
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