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Coalition Demands Mayor End 'Campaign Of Hate'

FT. LAUDERDALE (CBS4) ― Issuing a call to end his "Campaign of Hate," the NAACP joined forces with a coalition of ministers, priests, and rabbis Wednesday to demand that Ft. Lauderdale Mayor Jim Naugle stop his negative public attacks about the city's gay community.

"We must stand against hate wherever it is, and that is why we're here," said Marsha Ellison, president of the Ft. Lauderdale NAACP. "This is not about anything else, not the gay community, [or] anything other than hate, because we believe that is it's the gay community today, it may very well be or will be the black community tomorrow."

Wednesday evening many were disappointed that the Ft. Lauderdale city commission failed to show their support for diversity and censure mayor's gay comments during their monthly meeting.

"They passed a resolution," said Waymon Hudson, president of Fight Out Loud, "I think it's unfortunate that the mayor would co-opt that resolution and destroy the spirit of the resolution. It was supposed to welcome all people, including the LGBT community, and he twisted it his own way once again to insult and demean the community. I think it's disgusting."

Following the meeting, Naugle told CBS4's Jawan Strader that not everyone agrees that his remarks have been hateful or discriminatory.

"I was told by Elgin Jones from a local newspaper that the NAACP has not voted to take that position, that it was one individual," said Naugle. "I feel 100-percent positive if I could present my case to the NAACP that they would not condemn me and would work with me to make changes here in Ft. Lauderdale.

Tuesday, Naugle received support from a group of Christian clergymen who said the gay community has misunderstood Naugle's message, and that all he wants to do is help them. The group of clergymen met with Naugle privately Tuesday in City Hall to talk about possibly holding a citywide spiritual revival and then made several public statements of support.

Last month Naugle was stripped of his seat the Broward County Tourism Development Council for his anti-gay remarks. After the unanimous vote booted him off the council, the outspoken mayor said he stood steadfast behind his beliefs regarding tourism.

"I want to sell Ft. Lauderdale for our beautiful beaches, our restaurants, and our river walk, the theater, and our libraries, not to direct people to bath houses and sex clubs," Naugle said.

The Tourism Development Council said last year nearly one million gay and lesbian tourists visited Broward County and they spent more than one billion dollars in the county.

Earlier this year, the Naugle proposed that the city spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on so called robo-toilets on the beach that would have the additional benefit of stopping gay men from having sex in public restrooms.

He's also raised more than a few eyebrows by saying the term "homosexual" is a more appropriate term, because "gay" refers to a person's state of mind.

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