Jul 25, 2007 10:45 am US/Eastern
Mayor's 'Apology' Angers City's Gay Community
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FT. LAUDERDALE (CBS4) ―
An "apology" Tuesday by Ft. Lauderdale Mayor Jim Naugle has further incensed the city's gay community.
Speaking on the steps of City Hall, Naugle apologized for not alerting the public earlier to the serious problem of gay men having sex in public bathrooms.
Naugle used an article written by gay activist Norman Kent to re-enforce his point. In the article, Naugle pointed out, Kent wrote that public sex was socially unacceptable and that society does not tolerate it and neither should the gay community.
Naugle also brought up the fact that a website lists several public bathrooms in the city where gay men could meet for sex. He pointed out that Broward County leads the nation in new AIDS cases in the men having sex with men category.
Naugle then issued a public invitation to members of the city's gay community to help him get Ft. Lauderdale's bathrooms removed from the websites that list plays for gay men to have sex. He also asked everyone to contact the police if they see people have sex in a public venue.
Tuesday afternoon, a pair of rallies were held at City Hall; one in support of the mayor's views, the other protesting his alleged anti-gay behavior.
"He showed his ignorance once again today," said Waymon Hudson, a gay activist, "for apologizing for a problem that doesn't exist with empty rhetoric and no facts."
Ft. Lauderdale police say only 4 men over the last 3 years have been arrested for exposing themselves.
But the Reverend O'Neal Dozier, who organized a rally to support Naugle, felt the mayor was right in speaking out about his concerns.
"It degrades the community to have our public facilities being used as a place where the homosexuals could meet," said Dozier.
The 'Flush Naugle' campaign has promised more protests in the future until Naugle resigns.
(© MMVII, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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