Aug 23, 2007 9:38 pm US/Eastern
Tourism Board Wants Mayor To Stop Anti-Gay Remarks
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FT. LAUDERDALE (CBS4) ―
"I am the Mayor that's not going to back down."
That from Ft. Lauderdale Mayor Jim Naugle during a meeting Thursday of the Greater Ft. Lauderdale Convention & Visitors Bureau board. Board members are furious over the mayor's comments about gays, sex in public and AIDS; saying the comments make greater Fort Lauderdale look close-minded and unwelcoming worldwide.
"The damage has been done to the destination," said Nikki Grossman with Broward County's Visitor and Convention Bureau. "We need to get back to work fixing it. The rhetoric needs to stop and the anger, the mischaracterizations and the hurtful mean-spirited rhetoric has to stop."
Tourist boards numbers show gay travel to Ft. Lauderdale is a billion dollar a year industry. Travel industry leaders have reportedly told the board that there are consequences to the mayor's crusade and they're beginning to be felt as groups put their travel plans to Fort Lauderdale on hold.
"I'm asking you to stop," Oina Lee with Travel Host magazine told Naugle. "I'm really asking you to stop."
But the mayor was not to be swayed.
"One of the things that my dad taught me is that it isn't always about the money, it's about doing what's right," said Naugle.
(© MMVII, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
Naugle's Gathers Support Against Public Gay Sex
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