Mayor Naugle should get his mind out of the outhouse
Kelly
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
Fort Lauderdale FL
Mayor Naugle should get his mind out of the outhouse
- Michael Mayo
News Columnist
July 10, 2007
The toilet roll arrived in the mail at Fort Lauderdale City Hall on Monday,
its first sheet inscribed with the message: "His Honor -Jim Naugel [sic].
From a very happy homosexual professional & voter. Bye! Steve."
Fort Lauderdale Mayor Jim Naugle, who loves saying outrageous things for
maximum effect, has stepped in it again.
He angered many in the South Florida gay community last week when he said,
"I don't use the word 'gay.' I use the word 'homosexual.' Most of them
aren't gay. They're unhappy."
Naugle made the comments when talking about his support of a proposed
$250,000 robotic restroom on the beach. The self-cleaning contraption would
have a door that automatically opens after a set time. Naugle said the
Robo-John could help curb "homosexual activity" in public bathrooms.
Gay advocacy groups have launched the "Flush Naugle's Bigotry" toilet roll
protest in response.
"This isn't about the bathrooms, this is about his idiotic comments," said
Michael Albetta of Fort Lauderdale, president of the Florida Gay Lesbian
Bisexual and Transgender Democratic Caucus. "How does he know who's happy or
not? What makes him such an expert?"
Part of me wanted to ignore Mayor Naugle's latest comments, because his
biggest accomplishment in recent years has been creating controversy every
few months with calculated remarks. With less than two years left in his
final term, the routine has grown stale.
The mayor needs to realize how ignorant he sounds. An apology is in order.
He traffics in stereotyping and selective alarmism. Closeted gays might have
sex in public places, as the one arrest at a city beach restroom last year
suggests. But plenty of heterosexual couples have sex on the beach and in
parking lots.
"That's illegal too," Naugle said Monday. "But nobody ever complains about
that."
"His comments are a strong insult to the entire gay community," said Dean
Trantalis, a former city commissioner who is openly gay. "It's one last shot
from someone whose time is running short. It's one more way to demonize
another group."
Only one real toilet roll, sent in a big envelope without a return address,
has made it to Naugle so far. But an e-mail campaign has put nearly 300
virtual rolls into his inbox.
"You should be ashamed of yourself," wrote Robert Rosenberg, of Fort
Lauderdale, who urged the mayor to "clean up your mind and your act," and
signed his e-mail "sincerely happy and gay."
"I am sending you this hoping to find out if you could possibly be so
ambitious or maybe just ignorant to actually believe the bilge that you
spew," wrote Julie Cook, of Coral Springs.
The mayor could face an angry crowd at today's commission meeting.
It includes a contentious agenda item about relocating the Stonewall Library
Archives, a collection of books and magazines, into a city building leased
to Broward County.
The county has agreed to the move from a local gay community center to the
ArtServe library, but Naugle opposes it.
"A private collection should be housed by the people who collected it,"
Naugle said. He also expressed concern that some materials are
age-restricted. But he said his main objection is that the city is squeezed
for money and space. With some agencies renting outside offices, Naugle said
it might be time for the city to reclaim the ArtServe building, a former
city library.
Trantalis said he wonders if that's just "a smokescreen being used by people
who aren't happy with the presence of a large gay community, in an effort to
contain it."
Said Albetta: "Mayor Naugle's just a person who likes to shoot from the hip.
But you have to say enough's enough. It's not funny when it's at your
expense."
Michael Mayo's column runs Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday. Read him online
every weekday at Sun-Sentinel.com/mayoblog. Reach him at
mm...@sun-sentinel.com or 954-356-4508.